Long Lost Christmas by Joan Kilby

Author:Joan Kilby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781951190552
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2021-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Wednesday evening, December 18

Blake spent the afternoon finishing his design for a tiny home. It was to be post and beam with a shake roof and a drywall interior. He was really excited by the challenge of working maximum storage into a minimum space. But it had been difficult to focus with the scene with Hayley playing over and over in his mind. After an upbeat morning getting to know her better, renewing his pleasure in his house on Finley Point, and working together on the snow chains, she’d been at the point of accepting his lunch invitation when he’d gone and accused her of spying for the opposition. Not only had he risked losing a client, he’d damaged their blossoming friendship.

Darkness had fallen, and the snow had stopped by the time he headed home to the two-bedroom rental on Sweet Street. It was comfortable enough, but only a stopgap until he could move into his log home. Going through the house today with Hayley had reminded him how much he loved that place and how much of himself he’d put into every nook and cranny. Not long now before he could move in. A month, maybe two. He was counting the days.

He went to the kitchen, Rebel padding at his heels. He fed the dog, then rummaged in the fridge for something to eat. Cold pizza? Pass.

Restless, he went out back to load up a basket of wood for the woodburning stove in the living room, which provided most of the heat and all of the atmosphere. He chucked a few logs on the banked coals and blew on the embers, then sat back on his haunches and studied the flames.

His thoughts drifted to taking Hayley’s hand in the basement. Her skin felt so soft in his. And the way she’d smiled during their little exchange about the games room, as if they were planning it together. It had been so easy to imagine they’d connected on a personal level. He was attracted to Hayley, and he was pretty sure she felt the chemistry too. Then, just when they were getting along so well, he’d gone and screwed up. Was Brianna right, was he scared of getting involved with a woman again?

“I didn’t even stop to wonder why Hayley would go to the trouble of doing the staging if she was a spy,” he said to Rebel. “What’s wrong with me?”

Rebel’s eyebrows twitched, and he repositioned his muzzle on his paws, but made no comment.

“Thing is, boy, I learned the hard way not to trust women,” Blake went on. “With Carrie, I was blinded by my feelings and didn’t recognize that she was planning to pull a dirty on me. So now I look for trouble where there is none.”

Blake fed another log onto the flames, closed up the stove, got a beer, and retreated to the couch. Rebel lay on his mat in front of the heat from the stove, half an eye open to keep watch over his master.

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