A Chance This Christmas by Joanne Rock

Author:Joanne Rock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, General
ISBN: 9781947636217
Google: rvcxDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Published: 2017-10-10T22:35:03.112487+00:00

Chapter Eight

Rachel tiptoed up the stairs to the second floor of her mother’s house after the bachelorette party that night. She hadn’t been the last one to leave, but she’d had more fun than she thought she would, remaining until midnight to dance and reminisce with Kiersten about happier times. Diana and Heidi, two of the bridesmaids, seemed to warm up to her a little. Especially when she offered to show them all how to waltz, a ballroom trick she’d learned from her Broadway dancer friend.

With the wedding just days away, everyone had been curious about it and they’d had fun practicing with each other indoors and then—in a crazy idea of Kiersten’s—outside in the snow. Spending time with her friend helped distract her from thoughts of Gavin and what that kiss had meant. At least, it had until the walk home when she’d been once again alone with her thoughts.

What if I don’t want you to leave?

She’d dismissed his question quickly enough when he’d posed it, focusing on her need to be away from Yuletide. But that didn’t address the personal component—the implication that he wanted to be with her.

“Hello? Rachel?” her mother called to her from the far end of the house as Rachel reached the landing. “Honey, is that you?”

Rachel froze for a moment. Because even though she was a grown adult, sneaking into the house late still felt vaguely forbidden. Shaking off the return to adolescence, she called, “Yes, Mom. I didn’t know you’d still be awake.”

Putting aside unsettling thoughts about Gavin, Rachel hung her cape on a peg near the stairs and then headed toward the living room. Her mother sat in front of a lively blaze in the fireplace, her pink sock feet on the coffee table while she worked on a piece of embroidery, her reading glasses low on her nose.

For an instant, Molly Chambers looked just like Rachel’s grandmother—a thought she didn’t share since she wasn’t sure how her mother would receive the news. Molly had had a distant relationship with her mother, which was one of the reasons she’d bought into her husband’s ideas for Yuletide. For as long as Rachel could remember, her mother had done all she could to create a sense of warmth and community here. And, perhaps, the sense of family she’d never found in her own home.

“How was the bachelorette party?” her mother asked, poking the needle with yellow thread onto a blue line from an iron-on pattern. The tiny sound of the thread sliding through the cotton pillowcase brought with it memories of childhood.

How often had Rachel worked on her homework right here in this room while her mom sewed? It had never occurred to Rachel how much of her love of design—and the day-to-day reality of sewing—she’d inherited from her mother.

“I hadn’t planned on going, but Kiersten called to talk me into it and I had fun.” Rachel dropped down into the chair near her mom’s end of the couch.

“And how are the allergies?” she asked, peering over her reading glasses to study her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.