Chapter One
December 1st
Breck
Breck Mitchell glanced around the busy street corner, looking for the best place to set up his camera. Filming in public without a script and without actors was a risk. At any point in time, someone could steal one of the three cameras he used to get different angles, heckle and completely ruin a good shot, or get angry that he was blocking foot traffic and drop a swear word that would take him off Santa’s good list. But the risks were worth the smiles on children’s faces and the brightness in people’s eyes as they were genuinely amazed by one of his card tricks.
Hopefully, some of that wonder and awe would translate through the cameras, because he really needed this MyHeartChannel thing to work. There were dozens of magicians with their own channels. They explained how to do simple tricks and even showed the workings behind the curtain that made stage magic appear real. He had no desire to do any of that. What fun was there in a magic show if you knew how the trick was done?
Breck blew on his cold fingers. The temperature had dropped overnight, turning the slush to icy crystals that crunched underfoot. It was the kind of day mint gum commercials were made of. He grinned and puffed air so it gathered around his head. In another half hour, the temp would reach its predicted high for the day and he wouldn’t be able to see his breath.
He’d better be filming by then or he’d miss his window. Stepping up to the streetlight post, he secured the camera with a zip tie. The image on his phone showed the top of his head, so he moved aside and his small, hip-high table appeared. Perfect. The gold tinsel he’d wrapped around the edge of the table showed up well, and the mistletoe on the camera stand screamed holidays. He tugged on his fur-lined Santa hat. Yep, Christmas was in the air.
He quickly checked the angles of the other cameras. One pointed down at the tabletop to allow the viewer a close-up of the cards. The third was pointed over his shoulder as he stood at the table to catch his volunteer’s reaction. He widened the lens slightly so that others could be seen as well. Not that there was a crowd—yet.
They’d come. Three in the afternoon was the time when shift workers switched. It was also when school got out. Kids were good for the crowd because they were expressive and believed that magic was real. Well, itwasreal, at least at Christmas time.
He pulled out a deck of Santa-themed cards and shuffled them in the air, then fanned them out and cut them one-handed to loosen up his fingers. He could sure use some of that Christmas magic this year.
With a deep breath to calm the stage-frightened butterflies in his stomach, he called out to the silver-haired man in a camel-colored trench coat, “Pick a card!”
Chapter Two
Harmony
Harmony Hall—no, HarmonyGreen—tightened her purple pea coat around her body to ward off the December chill. Who was she kidding? It wasn’t December that had left her cold to her bones—it was divorce mediation.
There weren’t many things in her life that she’d like to go back in time and undo, but if she had to make a list, then marrying Sam would be at the top—even if she checked it twice!
Before she knew they were having problems, before she understood that her husband wasn’t happy, he’d taken the money they’d saved for a house, $60,000, and run off to Barbados with their real estate agent. Bambi—what a name!—was a leggy blonde with brown doe eyes and a penchant for giggling. Harmony had given her heart to the man, and instead of protecting it, he’d tossed it to the wolves.
She’d dealt with most of the pain. Looking back, she could see the warning signs were there all along, but she’d been too naïve to see them for what they were. Well, she wasn’t naïve anymore.
But finding out that Sam had cashed in his retirement and hidden it in an offshore account that her lawyer couldn’t get to was a blow she felt like an icicle to the chest. Half of that retirement fund should have been hers. The money was her ticket to Georgia, where she could start fresh. Tears formed as she thought of her parents’ warm fireplace, the stockings hung with care, the tree aglow with multicolored lights, and the scent of cinnamon and vanilla filling every breath.Home. How she longed to be in a place where people loved her and waved as they passed on the street. The big city was no place for a small-town girl, though she’d loved Baltimore when she’d first arrived.
For a brief moment, as she crunched along the thin layer of ice on the sidewalk, she contemplated asking her parents for money to buy a train ticket, but her pride got in the way. They’d warned her not to marry Sam. Yes, they’d come to the destination wedding and been the perfect parents of the bride. But Mom had pulled her aside the night before and expressed her concerns over Sam’s “wandering eyes.” Harmony had brushed her off, saying that Sam may look, but he loved her with his whole heart and it didn’t bother her that he admired beautiful women. What man didn’t?
Good men didn’t. Men who were faithful to their wives and their wedding vows. That’s who.
Her steps slowed as the sidewalk grew more and more congested with afternoon traffic. She kept her eyes on the black boots in front of her as she waited for the light to change.
She was too raw right now, too broken to jump into a conversation about how right her mother was and how she should have listened. So asking her parents for money was not an option. Besides, she was embarrassed at how much Sam had taken from her.
“You there—in the purple coat!”
Harmony felt eyes on her and lifted her chin. The crowd waiting for the light to change all stared at her. The man in the black boots ducked his head and moved to the side, giving her a glimpse of his white hair under his black fedora.
“Yes, you. Hi!”
Her eyes found the source of the greeting, and her mind did a double take. A guy in a Santa hat and an ugly Christmas sweater waved. A quick assessment of the situation told her that no one was waiting for the light to change. She’d stumbled into a street show of some sort.
“Me?” She pointed to her chest.
His smile grew wider. “Yes, you. Come on over here and pick a card.” He fanned out a stack of white cards with a red-and-green decoration she couldn’t quite make out.
The man in the black boots nudged her forward. “Go on.”
A woman with two kids next to her nodded her head in encouragement.
