The Christmas Blanket: A Second-Chance Holiday Romance by Kandi Steiner

Author:Kandi Steiner [Steiner, Kandi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kandi Steiner
Published: 2020-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

The rest of the morning and afternoon, we were quiet.

I did my best to stay out of River’s way. He turned on his small radio long enough to tune into the weather report — which essentially said conditions were still terrible and to stay inside. They did predict that the wind would die down overnight, and that the snow would stop falling — both of which meant I might still be able to be home on Christmas.

But only time would tell.

Once he shut the radio off, River busied himself around the house. He worked on the boot barn, read a little, played with Moose — all while not saying anything to me. And for once, I didn’t push him. I suffered my boredom in silence, even picking up a book off his shelf just to keep myself busy, and even playing a few games of solitaire.

I felt awful for what I’d asked.

It was a harmless question, or so I thought, to ask about his parents. But I’d never expected his answer to be that they were no longer with us.

Dawn and Cole Jensen may have just been in my in-laws in technicality, but for all intents and purposes, they were just like my real parents.

Sure, Dawn was sassier than my mother, with her fiery auburn hair and can’t tell me shit attitude. And Cole was broody and severe compared to my warm-hearted father. But they’d brought me up just as much as my own parents. I’d stayed as many nights in their home as I had my own in the years between when I was sixteen and eighteen, and even well after River and I had moved in together.

Dawn and River had a good relationship, but the whole town knew that River was closer with his father.

Dawn had battled with drugs for many years, and though she’d found her way out, it was during that time that River and Cole grew to be inseparable. Cole kept River focused on school, even when he didn’t want to be. And River kept Cole strong, even when he didn’t want to be.

They were a team, through and through, and if I knew one thing about my ex-husband, it was that no one in this world mattered more to him than his father.

Which meant it must have killed him when Cole passed.

And then to have Dawn go just as quickly…

My stomach was sour all day at the thought of it, and I couldn’t release the thought of it. All I could think about were the memories of the times we’d all shared together, the stories River had told me about his childhood, the way Dawn and Cole had helped us as newlyweds just as much as they could manage. I thought about how fiercely they loved their son, and me by proxy.

And I thought about our last conversation, a phone call that was quick and shallow and cut short by me needing to catch a train.

I didn’t know that would be my last memory of them.

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