Chapter One
Itwassogoodto have her feet solidly on the ground…
…even if it was covered in snow.
Felicity Wright stepped forward and settled into the backseat of her rideshare.It was taking her from the Burlington airport to her hometown of Kringle Falls.Her stomach was still nauseous from her hour-and-a-half flight from New York City.The turbulence was next-level.Books, glasses, everything went flying, including a flight attendant.Thankfully, Felicity had worn her seatbelt the entire flight.
She pushed the troubling memory from her mind.The driver was an older gentleman with a salt-and-pepper beard, ruddy cheeks, and a friendly smile.He’d tried to make casual conversation when he’d first picked her up.She answered his questions but didn’t offer any words of her own.She didn’t intend to be rude.It was just that her head would not stop pounding.
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” played on the car speakers.She concentrated on the lyrics, hoping they would help her unwind.This Christmas, she wouldn’t have to imagine that she was home for the holidays.Although, it wasn’t exactly her idea to make this trip at this particular time.
Two weeks ago, her boyfriend had invited her to dinner.She really hadn’t had the time, as she’d been working toward a promotion to full editor, but he made it sound important, so she made the time.She thought for sure he was going to pop “the” question.
In a crowded Manhattan restaurant, he’d promptly dumped her.He’d claimed she worked too much, which she couldn’t deny.But it wasn’t going to be that way forever…just until she landed the promotion.He didn’t want to hear it.He said he needed someone who put him first in their life.
Initially, she had been shocked and hurt—but surprisingly not as hurt as she would have expected.Maybe she’d put their relationship on autopilot for so long that she didn’t realize it was no longer working.That was on top of her apartment building serving notice to its tenants that they were turning the building into condos—something she couldn’t come close to affording.
Her grandmother had always told her that bad things happen in threes, so when she was called into her boss’s office and told she didn’t get the promotion, she shouldn’t have been surprised.And yet she’d felt utterly shell-shocked.She’d been the perfect employee—arriving early, working through lunch, and staying late.She thought she’d had the promotion locked down.Oh, how wrong she’d been.
The coffee churned in her empty stomach as she recalled the horrifying moment when she’d learned she lost not only the promotion but also her current position.They’d called it restructuring.Felicity called it something unseemly.
She assured herself that things would turn around.These were just speed bumps on the highway of life.Once she was past all of the awfulness, her life would follow a smooth pathway.She hoped.
She stared out the car window as the large snowflakes twirled and danced through the afternoon sky before drifting ever closer to the frozen earth.It was picturesque and serene.Normally, she would have loved the view, but not at this particular moment.
As the car moved ever closer to her childhood home, the pain in her temples grew in intensity.Her empty stomach felt as though it were tied in a great big knot.And she’d swear the driver had the heater on full blast.She unzipped her coat, but it didn’t help much.
She hadn’t returned to Kringle Falls since her father’s funeral.The thought of her father not being at the house when she walked through the doorway sent an arrow of pain into her heart.Even though she was almost thirty, she felt too young to have lost her father.Although, she didn’t think there was ever a good age to lose a parent.
She leaned her head against the window.The coldness radiating from it felt good against her flushed skin.She closed her eyes and listened to the steady rumble of the tires as they approached Kringle Falls.Everything will work out.
Although the last time she saw her mother, they’d gotten into a huge fight.It was right after her father’s funeral.Felicity couldn’t remain in Kringle Falls as long as her mother had wanted her to stay.Her flight was the day after the service.
She hadn’t wanted to leave so quickly, but she’d recently been promoted to assistant editor.And her boss continued to remind her that she only had five days of bereavement.Felicity had known when she got back to the office that her inbox would be overflowing.
In the book business, the manuscripts with the authors’ hopes and dreams attached came in almost non-stop.And Felicity had her own big dreams.She knew it would take hard work and determination to make her dreams a reality.
Her mother hadn’t understood.She’d blamed Felicity for not being there when her father died.Felicity had wanted to explain that her father hadn’t lived long enough for her to make it home to say goodbye, but she’d bitten back the words.By then her mother was on to complaining about how she never came home and that she valued her job over her family.What was Felicity supposed to say?In that emotional moment, nothing would have sounded right.
To this day, there was still a strain when they spoke on the phone.Come to think of it, she hadn’t spoken to her mother for quite a while.It hadn’t been intentional.In her race to be promoted to editor, she’d neglected so much in her life.Her whole world had revolved around that office.
And now, she’d lost out on the promotion…and her job.
The acknowledgment chipped away at her battered pride.Tears stung the back of her eyes.She felt betrayed by her boss, who chose her male competition with his sexy-man-of-the-year good looks and flirtatious smile.
But did he have the dedication that Felicity had?No.Did he have an eye for the next big book?No.Felicity had three breakout novels that she’d discovered.All Tanner had was a bunch of tanned muscles, and she’d wager that his tan came out of a can.
She blinked repeatedly.She wasn’t going to arrive home with her makeup smeared.She pushed aside the troubling thoughts as her hometown came into sight.The news of her being let go from her job would come out soon enough—hopefully, after she landed another job—a better job.
Even though she hadn’t been home in a couple of years, it didn’t appear her Kringle Falls had changed.That was one of the reasons she’d been so anxious to hightail it out of town after she’d finished high school.She didn’t want the rest of her life to be the exact same thing day after day—year after year.
She needed some excitement—some unexpected twists and turns.Maybe she should have been more careful about what she wished for because she could have done without this unexpected twist of fate.
She glanced out the window as they pulled up in front of her childhood home.The two-story house seemed somehow different.Not in a big way.Maybe it was the knowledge that her father was no longer down in the basement, working on one of his wood projects.
The house still had gray shingles, white siding, and red shutters.But her mother’s normal Christmas holiday decorations, including Santa’s sleigh in the front yard next to the blow-up Christmas tree, were missing.In fact, there were no decorations at all.That was strange.Maybe her mother hadn’t gotten to them yet.
With her backpack slung over one shoulder, Felicity exited the car.After retrieving her suitcase from the trunk, she stopped and once more stared up at the house.The Christmas candles that were always in the windows weren’t there either.Instead, there was a full-length snowman covering the front door.That was definitely new and didn’t seem like her mother’s style at all.
