Page 49 of A Second Chance Christmas Kiss

My grandmother grinned at me. “Pretty sure.” She gestured at the television. “Would you turn that off while we talk?”

I pressed the power button and sat next to her, taking her hand carefully into mine. “How are you today, Grandmother?”

She cocked her head to the side. “The question is, how are you?”

I couldn’t help but spill my guts to her. This woman was so dear to me. I told her about being auctioned off as a date, and I thanked her for sending the credit card. I told her about the rest of the night and how when we’d been talking on the phone and Melody had started crying, I’d taken a chance and gone to her.

Grandmother sniffed and wiped away a tear as I told her about Melody’s ex-husband and the way he’d treated her. “I never liked that Peter.”

That made me smile, because my grandmother was a loyal person. ‘Loyal to a fault’ would be the perfect way to describe her.

I slid my arm around her shoulders and pulled her into me. “You are the best grandmother.”

She sniffed and said, “Will you ever forgive your grandfather for what he did?”

“I don’t know yet.” I leaned in and kissed her head, then stood. “I have to get ready and then go back to her. I promised I would help her in the store today. I’ll plan on being back around five and getting ready, and then we can go to the fundraiser together. Does that work?”

She shooed me away with her hand. “Of course. I am just grateful that you two found each other again.”

I didn’t want to jinx this whole thing. “Me too.” I began walking toward the door.

“Charles?”

I paused and turned back. “Yep.”

“Do you love her?”

I didn’t even miss a beat. “Of course I do.”

A smile played at my grandmother’s lips. “You always have, grandson. You always have.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Melody

When I was growing up, I’d always wondered why people waited until Christmas Eve to do their shopping. I would help my mother in the store and lament the fact that so many people waited until the day before Christmas to actually buy Christmas presents. When I was raising Will, I had Christmas done a couple days after Thanksgiving. I’d prided myself on that. The only reason it even took until after Thanksgiving was because many times I would wait for Black Friday deals.

Today, I had no judgment about last-minute shoppers. Truly, I was on cloud nine. Charles worked by my side the entire day. Many of the customers didn’t know Charles, but a good number did. They were surprised he was there, and then they were coy about it. This was a small town, so of course many people who came to my shop and wanted to buy a doll knew my history with Charles.

It was delightful, especially because Charles was not pretending like we weren’t in a relationship. On the contrary, he was acting like we’d never stopped dating. He snuck kisses and randomly took my hand and smiled at me.

The only person who blatantly made a big deal about it all was Gretchen. She walked into the shop around two and asked, “Do you have any extra printing paper?”

I was behind the cash register, finishing with ringing someone up. “I think so.”

Charles stood up from straightening the Christmas display. “Do you need me to grab it?”

Gretchen’s whole body froze. “What are you doing here?” She looked back and forth from me to Charles. Then a huge smile spread across her face.

I couldn’t help but giggle.

Charles walked toward me, taking me into his arms and lightly kissing me. My pulse raced.

“Holy moly,” Gretchen said softly.

I giggled again and held on to Charles. “What?” I asked, turning to smile at her.

Charles pushed his nose into my hair. “You’ve been giggling a lot. Maybe she’s wondering about that?”

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