Bidding on a Second Chance: A Small Town Christian Romance by Emily Conrad

Author:Emily Conrad [Conrad, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hope Anchor LLC
Published: 2023-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

“At least we didn’t have to drive in circles for twenty minutes to find a spot.” Graham rested a hand on Bryce’s shoulder as they hiked from their parking spot toward the store. One Wells getting sideswiped was one too many. He wasn’t going to let Bryce out of reach until they were safely inside.

The kid glowered up at him, but Graham kept his hand in place. It was either that or hold the boy’s hand, and he knew which would go over worse. They followed a trickle of others through the automatic doors and into the store. So far, he’d seen far fewer people than he’d expected.

The noise of overlapping conversations drew his attention left, toward the registers. There, a sea—no, an ocean—of people waited in line. Hopefully, Piper wouldn’t need help at Second Chances this morning, because he and Bryce wouldn’t get out of here before noon.

Why had he agreed to this?

Because when it came to Piper, the craziest things came out of his mouth. Things that encouraged her to date other men. Things like, Sure, I’ll take Bryce Black Friday shopping.

Of the two, the shopping trip wasn’t the worst.

His mental picture of her on the arm of some other guy blurred when it came to her companion, but he could imagine how she’d smile up at the man. His stomach soured.

“They’re this way.” Bryce took the lead and wove through the store like he’d done this often. He dodged a woman with an overfull cart and veered into the aisle of spaceships, cars, and building sets.

Graham gave the lady an apologetic nod as he waited for her to pass. In the aisle, Bryce’s head bobbed as he looked at one half-empty shelf and another, searching for his prize. When he reached the end, he stopped and turned back, his expression wavering between disappointment and determination.

Heavy suspicion seeped into Graham’s gut. He joined Bryce, reading labels on the shelves while the boy double-checked the boxes. Graham found the correct label beneath an empty space on the shelf. Not one of the sets they’d come for remained.

Bryce made it to the end of the aisle again and returned to stand at Graham’s elbow. “They aren’t here.”

“Looks like they’re sold out.”

“But I just saw the commercial.”

“I know, but it probably ran nationwide. They didn’t know our store would sell out of them.” He scanned the aisle for a way to redeem this. Other sets featured astronauts, even if the building blocks were larger, the design more simplistic. He lifted what he estimated to be the coolest of them. “What about one of these?”

“Those are for babies.”

Graham put it back. “We can try online. On the bright side, we don’t have to stand in the checkout line for an hour.”

“But I wanted to build it today.”

“I’m sorry.” Graham rubbed his face and scanned the shelves again. He moved a couple of boxes in case one of the coveted sets had gotten mixed in, but to no avail. “I’ll take you to your great-grandparents’ house.

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.