Room at the Inn for Christmas by Mary Connealy

Author:Mary Connealy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Swerve

Chapter Seven

Saturday, December 24

Christmas Eve

She didn’t make the appointment with Benji, but he wasn’t a busy man and this would be a hefty commission. She was sure she could reach him and have him over on short notice—though she didn’t dare to leave it too late on Christmas Eve.

She spent the middle of the day going through the inn, including the books. What she found there, how valuable the inn was, confused her enough she phoned and changed her flight. She had to spend more time going over things. She hadn’t delayed calling due to any indecision on her part, she just knew what a final step it was, and she wasn’t up to taking it yet.

And then Angel made the star cookies with the date filling.

Only when Mandy bit into them did the deep assurance of her decision begin to thin. The chocolate star cookies had murmured “home” to her and she considered them the inn’s signature Christmas treat.

But these took her away. These cookies said Mom, Christmas, childhood, love. That rocking horse ornament had nearly done it, but she’d been so upset she’d resisted the wash of sweet memories.

As she took a second bite of the delicate sugar cookie, two layers thick, with a sweet date filling, her heart warmed until it burned in her chest. She’d been doing routine things, helping, but now she wanted almost desperately to have baked these herself.

Rolling out dough and cutting the shapes had been one of her favorite Christmas activities.

Angel was in one of her vivid, flamboyant Christmas outfits. Mandy had worn a bright blue sweater with a beautifully draped cowl-neck and the same black pants she’d worn yesterday. She hadn’t packed much and she had one outfit left. She hadn’t planned to stay through Christmas, but she’d packed one spare change of clothes. She held that one clean outfit back just in case she spilled a cup of coffee down the front of her shirt or Dipstick jumped up on her with dirty paws.

It was Christmas Eve and there was plenty she could do back at work. She could always keep busy at the Halston. But she had weeks of paid time off she never took, and she’d warned them she might be delayed. They wouldn’t expect her, and they’d manage without her. She told no one, and since Angel didn’t know the time of her flight and Cart wasn’t around, there were no questions to answer.

There were sixteen guests staying at the inn. Eight rooms, each rented to a married couple—most of them older, staying here while they visited family in the area for Christmas. Not all of them were coming for tea and they had said so this morning at breakfast, but four couples planned to show up. It was common for guests to have dinner plans, tours, family gatherings, that kept them away. And even these eight folks had plans later, to attend church and spend their evening away. Most folks stayed here for a place to

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