Must Love Mistletoe by Christie Ridgway

Author:Christie Ridgway
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061834097
Publisher: HarperCollins

* * *

Bailey Sullivan’s Vintage Christmas

Facts & Fun Calendar

December 11

The original “White Christmas” had an opening verse about a shining sun and swaying palm trees, as writer Irving Berlin was in Southern California when he wrote the immortal song that became a holiday standard.

* * *

Chapter 11

Dan found the woman of his dreams standing in the afternoon sunlight on a sidewalk corner diagonal from The Perfect Christmas. She looked like his Tracy, in khaki pants that hung low on her hips, a thin white shirt that was rolled to the elbows, bare feet shoved into two-tone loafers. Dark glasses and a baseball cap almost hiding her short blond hair lent her a celebrity-on-the-lam air.

He watched a passing couple give her a second glance. The silver-haired husband half gave her a third. Checking out her ass.

It was enough to make him hurry forward to stake his claim. “Hey.”

The woman turned dark lenses his way. He couldn’t tell what the hell she was thinking.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Same as you, I suppose.” He nodded toward the store across the street. “Making sure it’s still standing.”

Tracy returned her gaze to the two-story Victorian that had been her parents’ livelihood, her livelihood, and then theirs. In silence, they watched the steady stream of traffic going in and out of the white-on-blue front door. Eight out of ten people leaving carried the store’s signature bag—Christmas stripes around a centered watercolor version of the storefront.

“Bailey’s holding her own,” his wife finally said.

It had been Dan’s biggest gamble—walking away from the store as well as the house. He’d thought it would wake up Tracy that much quicker, shock her into seeing him, seeing them, when she tried managing the place on her own. Instead, she’d let the cavalry take over.

He’d considered returning to work at that point, but that would have been caving in. If they were going to make their marriage work, they had to forge something independent of The Perfect Christmas. He had to find a way for her to know him again, as a man outside of father and business partner.

“Bailey’s persuaded Finn to play Santa Claus for Story Hour and Christmas Movie Nights.”

Dan’s gaze jolted toward Tracy again. “What?”

A smile quivered at the corners of her mouth. “Alice has been ill and he’s living with her for a while. Didn’t take long for magnet Bailey and magnet Finn to find each other all over again.”

That sidetracked Dan for a moment. Finn had been a father’s—albeit stepfather’s—worst nightmare from the look of him. Sullen at thirteen, dangerous at sixteen, obviously head-over-motorcycle boots in love with Tracy’s daughter, who looked too perfect for one of the delinquent rebel’s tattooed fingers to touch.

But now he could feel almost sorry for the other man. Dan had spoken with Finn on occasion, and noted that he’d grown up into someone with a different kind of hard edge. Bailey, on the other hand, pretended she didn’t have a soft bone in her body. He could imagine all the sparks that were going to fly if—when—they clashed.

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.