Meet Me Under The Mistletoe (O'Rourke Family 5) by Julianna Morris

Author:Julianna Morris [Morris, Julianna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Romance, Fiction, Forever Love, Adult, Yuletide Greetings, Holiday, Christmas, Seasonal, Christmas Time, Winter, Snowy Weather, Festive Season, Mistletoe, O'Rourke Family, Silhouette Romance, Classic, Single Father, Single Woman, Widower, Washington, Committee, Four-Year-Old, New Mommy, Neighbor, Successful, Burnt Cookies, Resurrected, Withdrawn, Little Boy
ISBN: 9780373197965
Goodreads: 785110
Publisher: Silhouette Romance Classic
Published: 2014-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“Down you go, son,” Alex said as Shannon opened the door of the bakery on Saturday. He lifted Jeremy from his shoulders and then held his hand as they stepped into the crisp outside air.

The scents of spice and vanilla and chocolate clung to their clothing and Shannon smiled.

It wasn’t the New Year yet, but she’d made a resolution to look to the future, instead of being afraid of what it might not hold. Of course, that didn’t mean she shouldn’t be careful about Alex. He’d made it abundantly clear that he didn’t want a permanent relationship with any woman, so falling for him wouldn’t be smart.

In the meantime, it was almost like having a family of her own, the three of them walking down the holly- and pine-decorated street. She carried a box filled with perfect gingerbread people; they would add some to the Christmas tree when they got home, and others would be eaten with milk.

Naturally Alex hadn’t let her pay for them. His stubborn pride was sweetly annoying, but she could forgive him. He hadn’t teased her once about the burned cookies, or complained about the odor of smoke in his house.

“Ho, ho, ho,” cried a sidewalk Santa, ringing his bell. “Merry Christmas.”

Shannon reached into her purse and withdrew several bills and a handful of change to throw into his kettle.

“Why’d you do that, Shannon?” Jeremy asked

“Santa is trying to help people,” she explained.

“Daddy doesn’t believe in Santa.”

She gave Alex a stern look. The man needed a kick in his scrumptious rear end.

He cleared his throat. “Actually, I said that Santa is more like a state of mind than someone real.”

“Pop psychology rears its head again.”

They stopped and Jeremy pressed his nose against a store window where mechanical figures simulated Santa’s workshop. Santa wore striped stockings and glasses and peered intently at a half-finished fire engine.

“A little fantasy can’t hurt,” she said softly. “What’s wrong with letting him believe?”

Alex pulled her farther from Jeremy’s ears. “I can’t do that, not after telling him everything would be all right when his mother got sick. It wasn’t all right, and I knew it wouldn’t be, but I still said it.”

Shannon’s heart skipped a beat. “Mom said it would be all right the day we buried my father.”

“Then you know what I’m talking about. I’ve seen the way you miss your dad. What’s all right about that?”

“You never stop missing the people you love,” Shannon said, understanding better than ever before what her mother had tried to tell her. Life was a bittersweet tapestry, with sorrow and joy mixing into the pattern until they were nearly inseparable. “But Mom wasn’t saying we’d forget Dad. She meant that we would go on and that there still would be good days. And there have been, even though he’s gone…and the good is better because of who he was and what he left behind.”

“Jeez, Shannon. How can you open yourself up like that?” Alex sounded almost angry. “You barely know us.”

“I’m doing it because I don’t want Jeremy to be like me, keeping it all inside.

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