All I Want for Christmas Is You by Miranda Liasson

Author:Miranda Liasson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2019-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

Mitch was having a hard time listening to Mr. Garrison. Partly because he was too distracted by little Katie Russo all grown up. She was gorgeous, yeah, but also feisty enough to threaten a six-foot-one former marine with a poker stick. He could’ve disarmed her faster than she could bat those long eyelashes of hers, if he’d wanted to. He’d enjoyed watching her think she had the upper hand though. He’d enjoyed watching her, period.

“The B and B doesn’t make a profit?” Kaitlyn asked as Mr. Garrison laid out the paperwork.

“Not in recent years, no,” Mr. Garrison said apologetically.

Mitch already knew this. He’d always visited Mable whenever he’d come off a deployment and returned to Sweetwater to see his mom. Since Henry’s death, Mable had been struggling financially. She’d never seemed undone by it though. She was a strong woman, didn’t give up easily, and was as stubborn as the valley here is deep. Mable was always expecting a surge of new business. Always hoping the Sweetwater Bed and Breakfast would return to its glory days.

“This business belonged to my grandparents. It means something. At least to me.”

Mitch swallowed, remembering how he’d sat in this very room after school. As a teen, he’d worked behind the scenes at the bed and breakfast on weekends too. Mable had taught him to cook fancy breakfasts and fold napkins just so. Henry had taught him to care for the landscaping. There weren’t a lot of good memories locked up in this town for Mitch but the Russos and the Sweetwater B&B were some of them.

He turned to Mr. Garrison. “So, you’re telling me that in order for Katie to keep this place, I have to stay in Sweetwater Springs?”

“Kaitlyn,” the woman in question snapped.

“That’s correct,” Mr. Garrison said.

“And if I leave?”

“Then she loses the business as well.”

Mitch rubbed a hand over his forehead. Thanks a lot, Mable. He couldn’t stay in Sweetwater Springs—wouldn’t—and she’d known that. The last few times he’d come to visit, he’d mentioned that he wasn’t reenlisting in the corps. Mable had known he would have time available. But she’d also known he was planning on taking a contract job running security in Northern Virginia. He knew quite a few ex-military who’d done the same kind of work after getting out. The job offered good money. Too good to pass up. This would complicate things.

“Two months?” he clarified.

“Two months. And what a perfect time. You’ll be home for the holidays, Mitch,” Mr. Garrison said, as if that was a selling point.

Mitch hadn’t been home for the holidays since he’d joined the military when he was eighteen years old. There was a reason for that. One that made the stipulations of Mable’s will feel more like a death sentence than a vacation.

“How you go about running things isn’t specified,” Mr. Garrison continued. “After the two months are up, we’ll complete the paperwork and the bed and breakfast is yours to sell or do with as you choose.”

“Please,” Kaitlyn said, turning to Mitch, her brown eyes wide and hopeful.

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.