The Christmas Promise by Janice Carter

Author:Janice Carter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-10-14T19:51:44+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ELLA PUT A second load of laundry into the washer. Her monthlong absence from her rental condo had been broken only by the few days of preparation for her visit to the Cove. Except for the small pile of mail to sort through, there really wasn’t a lot to do. That was a benefit of living by herself. She made her own rules and set her own schedules. She never had to compromise. The only person she needed to please was herself. She’d enjoyed those benefits since her divorce and had liked being on her own, until seeing Grace and Drew together.

The washer revved up, and Ella wandered from the compact laundry-storage room to the sliding doors leading onto her small balcony. She’d moved into the condo days after the one she and her ex had owned together was sold and was glad now she hadn’t purchased it. For the first time since then, she felt the unit’s size close in on her, smothering her like the memories of the past weekend in the Cove had. Cut it out, Jacobs. Move on with your life.

If only she could. Now she regretted booking time off over Christmas. She’d thought she’d need a rest after the tour, and there were always social events to look forward to in the season. Yet for some reason her calendar for the next two weeks was unusually blank. Then she thought back to the emails and voice messages she hadn’t gotten around to answering.

Why? Her only explanation was that after receiving Grace’s note weeks ago, she’d gone into autopilot mode. Life on tour hadn’t been as glamorous or exciting as she’d anticipated: cycling through the book talks in a string of small cities and large towns; repeating the same story over and over; signing books and smiling. Then Grace’s invite had overshadowed every thought and word. I’m going back to the Cove had been in her mind the whole time.

Ella stared at the sliver of gray water visible between the skyscrapers around her condo building—the “waterfront view” that had been the unit’s lead in the rental ad—and thought of the units Ben hoped to build overlooking the peninsula and the lighthouse. There was no chance of skyscrapers blocking that view. She hoped he got investors and town approval for the project, because it was a good one and she knew how much it meant to him. She wished now she’d told him that rather than fixating on her obsession about his apology.

Funny how perspective alters emotions. What happened that Labor Day weekend had dominated her few days in the Cove. She couldn’t seem to escape the past. Now that she was back in Boston, she realized she hadn’t given Ben a fair chance. He wasn’t the same person he’d been back then, and neither was she.

Too late for thoughts like these. She picked up her pile of mail to sort the junk into her recycling and scanned a handful of bills. Then she decided to make some phone calls.

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