Hold Her Again by Shannon Stacey

Author:Shannon Stacey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

The old schoolhouse was as full as Ava had ever seen it. That was good news for the Santa fund, but it didn’t bode well for any private conversations happening and that wasn’t a bad thing.

Other than that brief moment at the funeral service, this would be the first time she and Jace were in the same space in front of most of the town and people would be talking. And things were different now. Going into the funeral service, she’d felt a lot of things most of them probably expected her to feel. But now they’d kissed and she had no idea what she felt and that she didn’t want anybody else to know, outside of her mom and Whitney, of course.

And she couldn’t help wishing she hadn’t told them, either.

As she’d expected, Jace was the center of attention and she could barely get near him, never mind talk to him. He’d sent her a text message that morning, wishing her a good morning and she’d sent one back. Then he’d said he was excited about the party and sent three emojis. The man’s head. The microphone. The woman’s head.

I’m not singing with you, she’d sent back.

He’d responded with a smiley face and that was the end of the conversation. Jace had always had a tendency to get stubborn about things, but she could be stubborn, too.

Like any function that was in any way connected to the women from church—which was pretty much all of them—the dessert tables reigned supreme. Unlike other events, though, the Christmas party was a bake sale, with all proceeds going to the Santa fund. And there were also silent auction sheets for homemade desserts for the holidays and Ava went all in bidding on the apple crumb cake.

She talked to everybody, but never for more than a few minutes because it was crowded and there were always people bumping or interrupting and shifting around. The entire time, she was aware of where Jace was and what he was doing.

Mostly he signed autographs and took more selfies with people than she could count. He looked relaxed and happy, though, and she figured that must come with practice. Then the Christmas music stopped playing through the speakers and Mrs. Lowry climbed onto the stage.

“Okay, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time! Y’all know Jace Morrow very generously agreed to sing for us tonight, which is quite a treat. Jace, come on up here.”

He was smiling as he took the stage, carrying his guitar case, and she shouldn’t have been surprised when he found her immediately in the crowd and winked. She couldn’t help smiling back.

Once Mrs. Lowry had returned to the crowd, Jace raised the microphone. “Thank you, Mrs. Lowry. I’m honored y’all asked me to sing for you tonight, and it’s a real pleasure. Most of you know I’ve sung at the annual party a time or two in the past, and being able to be a part of Cottonwood Creek’s Christmas is a true joy for me.

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