Peppermint Bark by Roxanne St. Claire

Author:Roxanne St. Claire
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: South Street Publishing
Published: 2021-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Over the next few days, Tim and Colleen saw each other frequently, including a full day’s drive to and from Nashville on what turned out to be a wild-goose chase for a signed baseball at a sports-memorabilia store. It was the only lead he had after hours combing the internet for clues.

It wasn’t the ball Linda May had described, and it wasn’t even signed by Willie Stargell, but another player on the same team, named Bill Mazeroski. However, the day hadn’t been a complete waste, not by any stretch.

They’d talked, laughed, shared a long lunch, and even did a side trip to the Vestal Village Mall to get that record player he needed. With Bucky in tow, they strolled past the Christmas-decorated stores and around the two-story tree while Colleen told him the story of how Agnes Santorini had met her beau there last year.

When a waitress referred to Colleen as “your wife,” neither one of them corrected her, but they shared a look and a smile, knowing it was an easy mistake to make.

He’d gone to dinner at Waterford Farm on Wednesday, too, which was every bit as fun as their day trip. The group was smaller and more intimate than it had been on Thanksgiving, giving him a chance to talk more in depth with her brother and one of her sons, Connor.

Every day, he got a little more comfortable in Bitter Bark in general, and with Colleen in particular. So tonight, he wanted everything to be absolutely perfect for her. He was here to make amends to people, and somehow, he felt that finally “taking her to the prom” would make up for a mistake from long ago.

Yes, she’d gone to that dance, and that had worked out well for her. But the fact was, Tim had stood her up and let her down. Tonight, he was going to erase that memory and create a new one for the two of them.

He’d thrown a suit in his bag at the last minute, since he’d been uncertain what he’d be doing once he’d arrived in Bitter Bark, so he chose that for tonight. He’d even set up his records in order of the songs he wanted to play, having cleared Dad’s sunken living room as a dance floor.

All in all, he was pleased with his efforts and very much looked forward to seeing his date, straightening his tie as he climbed out of his rental car and walked to her front door to ring the bell, daisy corsage in hand.

When the door opened, he felt his eyes flicker in surprise at the sight of Colleen’s oldest son, Declan, on the other side.

“Hello, Declan.” He extended one hand and lifted the boxed corsage in the other. “I hope she explained this to you,” he added on an awkward laugh.

“She did,” he said. “But my mother’s not here. She tried to call you.”

A ping of disappointment shot through him as he patted his pocket and realized his phone was sitting in the living room next to his records.

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.