The Cottage on the Corner (An Apple Valley Novel) by Shirlee McCoy

Author:Shirlee McCoy [McCoy, Shirlee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zebra
Published: 2014-08-05T00:00:00+00:00

She was going to die. On the way to church, in the middle of the icy street, her face planted in the boxes of coffee cakes she was carrying. Her body would probably be discovered right around the time the women’s mission team was scheduled to meet. Some hapless woman would swerve to avoid Charlotte’s frozen body and drive into the copse of trees to the left of the road. Or worse, swerve to the right and head down the steep hill that led to Riley Park.

Either way, the accident and Charlotte’s frozen carcass would be the talk of Apple Valley for the next century or two.

Not a pleasant thought, but she couldn’t avoid thinking it.

She hadn’t realized just how steep the road to Apple Valley Community Church was until she started walking it. She hadn’t realized how cold she was going to get until she’d been out in the wind for about ten minutes. She glanced back at her good-for-nothing station wagon and its good-for-nothing tires. It would take longer to get back to the car than to get to the church, so she’d just have to keep walking forward.

“If I survive this, I’m joining a gym,” she vowed, her breath forming a cloud in front of her face. “And I’m working out every day, so that the next time the stupid car won’t make it up the stupid hill, I can jog the mile and a half to the church and avoid freezing to death.”

Of course, if she had a heart attack from overexertion, she wouldn’t have to worry about freezing.

She readjusted the pile of boxes. Six coffee cakes for the ladies’ mission meeting that was going to be at the parsonage at eight.

The parsonage that was at least another tenth of a mile past the church.

A tenth of a mile that she was going to have to walk in the freezing cold on the slick road.

She groaned and kept walking, the distant sky tinged pink with dawn, the mountains gray-blue. Ice coated the trees and grass, sparkling in the faint morning light. If she hadn’t been near dead from cold and exertion, Charlotte might have stopped and admired the view.

Since she was both, she trudged forward, the boxes getting heavier with every step. An engine broke the silence, purring up behind her. She stepped to the side but didn’t stop walking. If she did, she didn’t think she’d start again.

Max’s Corvette rolled past, stopped a few feet away.

Perfect. Just the person she wanted to see at seven in the morning when she was ice cold, out of breath, and about to die.

The driver’s window unrolled and Max stuck his head out. “Need a ride?”

“Yes.”

“Hold on.” He jumped out of the car, keys jingling in his hand as he jogged to her side. He took the boxes. “It’s ten degrees, Charlotte. You should have stayed in your wagon and called for help.”

“Called who? Everyone I know is retired. I didn’t want to wake them up this early in the morning.

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