Pine For You: A Small Town Holiday Romantic Suspense Novella by J.M. Leigh & Alexis Layne

Author:J.M. Leigh & Alexis Layne [Leigh, J.M. & Layne, Alexis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798987256947
Publisher: Happileigh Ever After,
Published: 2023-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

When Orion woke up content and snuggly, I decided to take advantage. Every day was hard, but mornings were the hardest. But I'd managed to turn the day around yesterday and have a wonderful evening with my nephew. I know these moments were far too few to pass up.

So when I realized we were going to be late, I didn't care. Ri and I took a break from watching his favorite cartoon on his tablet to video chat Oma and let her know we'd be there after breakfast and not to wait up. After all, I was sure Holden would be there to annoy me. I mean, help her.

Orion loved the idea of video calls, but when he asked to try with his mom, my heart broke. I cuddled him closer and tried to explain why he couldn't. Not an easy topic to cover with a toddler. Ten minutes of tears later and we'd managed to get back to enjoying his show. And I had reaffirmed for myself that caring for Orion and the Farm were all my heart could handle right now.

After another hour or so of soaking in time with Ri, we decided to go to the Farm. He had started asking about truck rides with Opa and Oma's cookies, and I did have work to do. Conrad's comment was still floating around in my mind, even if I had been able to push it most of the way down. It was time to live up to my own words, though, and that meant facing the day.

For once, Ri was happy to put his jacket on and I barely had time to ensure everything we needed was packed up before he was running to the car. The whole way there he chattered about Christmas and Opa's truck and all the things he was going to do today. He even mentioned Holden and my chest squeezed.

"'Den has blue truck," I could see his grin in the rearview mirror. Orion loved trucks, so Holden had already won points there. But he didn't like strangers, and that's what Holden had been just a couple of days ago. Too much, too soon.

I did not park at the front of the Farm like I had the day of the vandalism. As soon as we reopened, it was so busy I didn't want to risk leaving my car there and having someone just leave because they couldn't find a spot. It made me realize I needed to include a budget for expanding the parking area in my proposal. While that tipped the costs higher, I was glad to have discovered the need early.

So I wasn't prepared when I walked onto the Farm through the side lot and heard absolute silence. No kids squealing, no boots crunching the icy snow that always accumulated closest to the trees. I deviated from the path to the house and turned toward the cottage. As I got closer, sounds of Christmas music filtered through the still air, but that was it.

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