An Irish Christmas Blessing by Roxanne Rustand

Author:Roxanne Rustand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Irish romance, Christmas romance, Wholesome romance, second chance at love, travel adventure romance
Publisher: Roxanne Rustand
Published: 2020-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

WITH DEVLIN SAFELY asleep in his room and no worries about him risking a fall, Eve opened the store for the afternoon. Business was slow until teenagers started drifting in after school, followed by a surge of Christmas shoppers in the late afternoon.

"Happy holidays," she said as she handed a receipt and sack of purchases to a man in a long wool coat. "I'm sure your kids will love these books."

She smiled as the next people in line stepped forward. "Merry Christmas."

The woman dropped her gaze to the young boy standing at her side, his head bowed. She shook his shoulder lightly. "Come on, do ye have something to say to this nice lady, boy?"

He twisted out of her grasp without lifting his head. "Sorry, Miss."

Eve glanced between the two of them, mystified. "About what?"

"Sean?"

At the hint of impatience in his mother’s tone the boy finally looked up, though he fixed his gaze on the wall instead of Eve. "I'm sorry for calling the Gardai down on ye, miss."

Now that she could see his face, she remembered him well. "I thought you were very brave, actually. You saw something suspicious going on. You told me what you would do about it, and you did. If I'd been a thief, I would've taken off running and had less time to steal things. So you were doing Shauna O'Connor a great favor."

He shot a quick glance at his mother, then dared meet Eve's eyes before looking away. "Thanks, Miss."

"We are surely sorry for any trouble Sean caused ye, with the Gardai and all. I heard it was your first day here, and not such a good welcome to the village."

"No problem. You've done a great job at raising your son to be responsible."

The grim set of the woman's mouth softened. "I do what I can. Not easy, without his da around."

Now Eve noticed the threadbare edges of the cuffs on her coat, her son's shaggy hair and the faded plaid shirt peeking above the collar of his faded denim jacket. "Do you work around here?"

The woman's laugh was bitter. "As if it's even possible. Times are hard around with the economy the way it's been. If someone has a job they'd be an eejit to let it go."

It wasn't possible to make a world of difference here, but maybe this was one small way she could try. "I would need to talk to Shauna...but I think she could use some part-time help here, if you'd be interested."

A look of raw, desperate hope flared in the young woman's eyes. "That I would."

"I can't promise anything except that I'll try." Eve grabbed a small notebook and pen, and handed it to her. "Write down your name and phone, and I'll see what I can do."

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