Second Chance Christmas by Casey Dawes

Author:Casey Dawes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crimson Romance
Published: 2017-10-20T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Findlay brushed her hair one more time, trying to get a section of it neatly behind her ear so she could clip it into submission. Maybe she should grow it out long, like she’d had it when she was in high school.

Well, in the beginning of high school. The night after her father had committed suicide, she’d chopped it all off, horrifying her mother even further.

But there’d been a satisfaction in the brutality of the cut. She’d kept it short ever since.

Why was she even going out to coffee with Reese? There was no such thing as a second chance in romance. That only happened in movies and novels.

She plucked her father’s diary, the latest one she’d been re-reading, from its hiding place in her top dresser drawer and stuffed it in her purse.

“I should be back in an hour,” she said to her mother as she walked through the living room. “I’ll pick up Kelly Anne on the way home.”

“So nice for her to have a play date.”

“Yes.” Her daughter’s new friend lived on the south side of Missoula. She was an outgoing girl—the daughter of Mexican immigrants who’d come to harvest Flathead cherries and stayed to work other small farms and ranches in the area.

Findlay checked her lipstick one more time in the driver’s side mirror before pulling out of the driveway and heading toward Orange Street, hoping to avoid whatever lingering traffic there was from the university’s football game.

Drum Coffee was typical of many Missoula coffee shops—created with a garage look that allowed fresh air and outdoor sitting with the flick of a grumbling switch.

Li had told her the coffee was like nowhere else in the city, and from the aroma that greeted her when she walked in the door, her friend was right.

Reese rose from his stool on the far side of the room where he waited.

Hearts didn’t really stop like this, did they?

Apparently hers did.

Forcing a foot forward to restart the engine, she made it to the stool next to him.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi, back.”

“I hope you don’t mind—I ordered for you. Lattes used to be your favorite. Still true, I hope?”

She hadn’t had one in years. Chris had labeled them girly drinks, and that had ended any desire she’d had for them.

“That would be great,” she said with a smile, meaning every word.

With a little bit of luck, maybe she could recapture a tiny bit of the innocence she’d had before her world had been flushed down the toilet.

“What did you find out from your mother?” she asked.

“Just general stuff.” He stared at the plank table that provided a shelf between them and the garage door windowpanes.

“Nothing specific?”

“Not really. I don’t know. Just a feeling. Sam was a lot more involved in the company in the beginning than I’d thought at first. He was a silent investor early on.”

“Odd. You’d think he’d have more of a managerial position then.”

“Apparently, he’s a money guy. He always wanted to know where every penny went. Still does.” Reese glanced at her.

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