No Reservations (Holiday Falls) by Elizabeth Coldwell

Author:Elizabeth Coldwell [Coldwell, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary Romance Fiction
Publisher: Totally Entwined Group
Published: 2023-04-17T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Miranda reached for the bag of oatmeal, the final item on her shopping list. Once she’d bought all the groceries she needed, she intended to go back to the inn and bake a batch of granola for tomorrow morning’s breakfast.

The music coming over the store’s speakers sounded familiar, and she tried to recall where she’d heard it recently. A memory came back of her and Zach sitting in a cozy wooden booth at a bar in Laurel Lake, talking about the movie they’d just seen. This song had been playing on the jukebox there, she was sure, and she smiled as she thought about that evening—cuddling up to Zach in the movie theater, then spending the night in his bed…

Things were going so well between them, and every time she saw him, she fell a little further in love. Even though they hadn’t discussed it, she was pretty sure he felt the same way about her. The way she caught him looking at her sometimes, the smile in his voice when he spoke to her over the phone, the cute little text messages he sent her, punctuated with red heart emojis… Gradually, the walls she’d built up around herself after Tom walked out on her were crumbling down. She’d even stopped worrying that something would come along to ruin her happiness.

A couple of women strolled by, wheeling a shopping cart between them. One of them was Bonnie Dunlop. Miranda had a regular order at her shop, Bonnie’s Blooms, for flowers for the lobby area and living room. The other woman, a redhead—Tara, Tanya? Miranda never could remember her name—worked in the bakery on Fletcher Street. She barely paid either of them any attention until they paused to look at a display of breakfast cereal and the redhead spoke.

“So, are you inviting any single guys to the party?”

“You mean, like Zach Peters?” Bonnie laughed. “Honestly, Tara, you’re so transparent.”

Miranda froze. She’d never been one for eavesdropping—when she was little, her mother had warned her if you listened in on a conversation when you weren’t supposed to, you would never hear anything good about yourself. But try as she might, she couldn’t ignore the mention of Zach’s name.

“Well, he’s hot and he’s available…”

“Not right now, he isn’t. I called him to see if he wanted to come, and he told me he’s seeing someone.”

“Really?” Tara asked. “Any idea who?”

“He didn’t say.”

“Well, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. I mean, you know what he’s like. When was the last time he dated anyone for longer than a couple weeks?” Tara scoffed. “He’s always been the hump ’em and dump ’em type. And when you look like he does, you can pretty much have any woman you want.”

“Harsh, but fair.” Bonnie tossed a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch into the trolley. “The funny thing is, I told Zach he could bring this girlfriend, whoever she is, and he said she isn’t the party type.”

“You know what that means.” Tara put a hand on her hip and glanced at Bonnie as if she were about to impart a piece of sacred wisdom.

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