Page 75 of Second Chance Christmas

Lewis that fucktard. God she wished she could erase that man from her life, her memory.

A plethora of should-wouldas.

She rolled over on her stomach and buried her face in the warmth of her comforter. About the only thing that felt right lately. That wasn’t true. Not entirely. Aspen felt right. But where had he gone off to? She hoped like hell he didn’t think she wanted to get back with Lewis.

Her memories fell back to the way Aspen had her gasping and moaning all through their shared sleigh ride.

Amazing didn’t begin to describe how wonderful the night had gone. Aspen, hot and hard for her, snowflakes, hellacious orgasms, warm blankets and a sleigh.

Her heart quivered at the thought of how peaceful her world turned the second his arms slipped around her and pulled her into his warmth.

Their conversation rolled through her mind.

She flipped over and caught the graceful flutters of flakes coming down outside. Like opportunities and promises, once they slipped past they were gone forever lost in a sea of pure blank white noise.

While Lewis sat up there with mistakes she wished she could forget, Aspen made her feel hopeful again. She’d called him last night but he did not answer. How he fit into her overall plan she didn’t know yet.

She sighed heavily and sent a lock of hair into the air and she threw her arm over her face to block out the encroaching morning light.

“Are you going to wallow in your self-pity all morning or get up and have some donuts and coffee with me?”

Max rustled in the blanket next to her and jumped down from the bed as Ivy sat up. Her hair was a complete mess just like her life. “Are you actually giving me a choice?”

“Not really, but I thought I would offer, anyway. I’ll give you ten before I eat all the jelly-filled bear claws.”

“You’re getting too good at this blackmailing stuff, Gran. You pick up a side job I should know about along with your new fiancé?”

“If I told you I would have to…”

“Gran!” Ivy exclaimed, loving her all the more for the attempt at cutting through the morning blahs with humor.

Gran opened the door wider and brought around one of those aforementioned jelly bear claws and took a healthy bite that had her stomach growling.

“You play dirtier than a politician.”

“I’m cuter, though.” She winked and Ivy laughed.

“I’ll be down in five and you better hold two of those for me.” Ivy pointed at the sugary breakfast as she rounded her bed toward the private bathroom each of the rooms had, thank God too because she would die if anyone besides her gran saw her looking like she went a round with a weed-eater.

Ivy made quick work of brushing and pulling back her hair then picked a pair of jeans to go with her favorite red hand-knitted sweater from her newly found suitcase. When they had arrived home from the town Christmas party they had found it on the doorstep with a note from the airline.

“Small miracles.”

Ivy slipped into the warm material of the sweater with a sigh. Gifted to her by her mom last Christmas, each stitch held a copious amount of love and she would need every last thread of it to get through the day.

Back in the bathroom she took a couple of extra minutes to work magic with some mascara, and a couple of wipes and dabs of concealer to hide the dark proof of no sleep under her eyes. “As good as it gets, girly.”

Ivy found her gran parked on her spot at the island with her favorite mug and Max lounging by her feet as she entered the kitchen.

“We went halfsies on that second bear claw that was supposed to be yours. Sorry ‘bout that but the coffee is freshly brewed.”

“You did warn me. Five minutes tops. I took ten.”

Gran nodded with a smile. “So now what are you going to do?”

“If I knew that I wouldn’t be moping around here, Gran. Aspen isn’t returning my calls.” She leaned on the counter and placed the mug down between her hands. “Everything I’ve done so far has turned out wrong.”

“Not true.” Her gran’s matter of fact tone brought her gaze up from the steamy cup of java. “You graduated college, have a business of your own, you have clients that adore you and who will chase you down from opposite sides of the continent, might I add. That stands for a heck of a lot more than you think, sweetheart. When your grandfather and I started this B&B we didn’t know what we were doing, only that we had a beautiful slice of heaven on earth and wanted to share it with the world.”

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