Gloria: a sweet, small town Christmas romance by Jessica Lynch

Author:Jessica Lynch [Lynch, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

So, it turned out that the garland was the last straw for Franklin.

The next morning, she was woken up by an insistent tapping at her front door. That wasn’t so unusual. Since she moved to Hamlet, despite the remote location of her great aunt’s cabin, she’d grown used to welcoming unexpected visitors.

Usually, though, they had the decency to wait until it was a little later than that. Grumbling a little when the knocking didn’t stop, Gloria threw back her blanket and climbed up off of the couch. She’d fallen asleep downstairs while watching a movie so it wasn’t even like she could pretend she couldn’t hear it.

It wasn’t a loud knock. A simple rap-tap-tap. Whoever was out there wasn’t being rude, but they also weren’t going away.

Gloria tugged open her door, blinking in the morning sunlight as it winked off another round of fresh snow.

“Yes?” she croaked out.

She couldn’t see who it was at first. A big, black shadowy spot stood on her porch, backlit by the brightness outside. But then she heard him clear his throat, followed by the rough rasp to his voice as he said, “I think this is yours,” and she knew exactly who it was.

Her eyes flew open, the last of her sleepiness rushing away as she discovered Franklin standing in front of her, holding out something red and white and sparkly.

He was already dressed and ready for work. The collar of his plaid flannel poked out from the top of his dark brown coat, his short hair styled carelessly, his thin lips turned down in a small frown.

She accepted the garland.

“Leave it alone, Gloria,” he said softly. “You’re only wasting your time.”

Standing there in her pj’s, her messy blonde curls like a tuft of tumbleweed around her head, she stared up at him, garland hugged to her chest. A sudden realization hit Gloria like the little drummer boy banging away on his drums.

Franklin hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he didn’t like Christmas.

He didn’t.

He just… didn’t.

Once she figured that out, it all started to fall into place.

The scowl the day she mentioned seeing the town’s decorations. The way he obviously woke up that morning and just had to take down her whimsically placed garland. How each of the Christmas stuffed toys and trinkets disappeared the morning after she left them on his porch. Gloria expected he threw them out or something, but she never gave in to the urge to check the trash in case she found them in there and it broke her tender heart.

She didn’t say anything in return. Franklin nodded and that was that.

After he wished her a good day and turned toward his truck, she stood in the doorway, watching him go. She thought about calling an apology after him, then decided against it.

Mainly because she wasn’t sorry. Just… just a little taken aback.

Who honestly didn’t like Christmas?

Gloria hadn’t been trying to antagonize him. Not really; at least, not in a mean way. She actually liked her neighbor—more than she should, to be honest.

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