One Kind Soul by Christine DePetrillo

Author:Christine DePetrillo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: small town romance, rescue, hot cowboy farmer, contemporary romance, Vermont, kindness
Publisher: Christine DePetrillo
Published: 2022-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Christian rubbed his hands as the waitress placed his hamburger in front of him at Mountain View Pizza. He was hungry from hauling debris out to Ben’s and Jared’s trucks all morning. He was still pissed about the store, but together with his friends and family, they’d made a good dent in cleaning up. The store would be ready for the late spring opening he and Rada had planned.

“So how did you convince Nicole to stay another week?” Landon asked. “I tried getting Jackson to stick around after Donovan’s wedding, but he wouldn’t hear me.”

“Convincing Jackson to stick around is asking the impossible,” Donovan said. “I asked him too and he said there was a new dig site he was expected to go to in Brazil.”

“Brazil, Egypt, New Zealand, Iceland . . . is there a place that kid hasn’t gone to yet?” Christian shook his head. “I love the guy, but it’s as if he’s not related to us.”

“I know,” Landon said. “We all like to stay put.”

“Maybe one day he’ll get tired of being Dr. Archeologist,” Donovan said. “Then we’ll get him back.”

Ben and Jared joined them at their table.

“Hey, guys,” Christian said. “Order whatever you want. It’s on me as thanks for being our official garbage men today.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Christian,” Ben said.

Jared nodded. “You treat us right as employees and it’s in our best interests that the store be up and running.”

“I know, but you guys are going above and beyond today.” He nudged menus in their direction. “Now order.”

“You better do as he says,” Landon said. “He nearly wrestled the two of us over paying.” He motioned to himself and Donovan.

“And I would have won that match.” Christian picked up a fry and wagged it at them. “I got the stitches out of my leg the other day and am now back to my usual one-hundred-twenty percent.”

“Looks as if you’ll need to be firing on all engines,” Ben said. “You really think that escaped prisoner is to blame for the store?”

“It sounds crazy when you say escaped prisoner here in Maplehaven,” Christian said, “but I’m not excluding it as a possibility. Nicole is totally convinced.”

“Her sister is also a sensitive subject,” Donovan said. “I didn’t know the woman had a rap sheet that extensive. Tessa had mentioned Nicole and her sister didn’t communicate, but I never thought jail was involved.”

And jail is the least of it. The verbal abuse Lynda had inflicted upon Nicole was far worse. That shit had caused a beautiful person—inside and out—to doubt her worth. Christian wanted to change that perception for Nicole and he’d been making progress. Hopefully the extra week would be enough time to make her see how much value she truly had.

“So back to my original question,” Landon said. “How did you get Nicole to blow another week of vacation on you?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Christian said. “She was the one who came up with that idea. I simply agreed it was a fantastic notion.

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