The Christmas Girlfriend Read online

  The Christmas Girlfriend

  A Return to Snow Valley

  Taylor Hart

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Epilogue

  Married by Christmas—Prologue

  Also by Taylor Hart

  About the Author

  Copyright

  All rights reserved.

  © 2018 ArchStone Ink

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. The reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form whether electronic, mechanical or other means, known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written consent of the publisher and/or author. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This edition is published by ArchStone Ink LLC.

  First eBook Edition: 2018

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the creation of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  Michael Hamilton, Jr.—Mike to his friends—stood in the Billings airport four days before Christmas. Actually, considering his mother’s and sister’s excitement over Lacey getting married on Christmas Eve, he should really be saying it was three days before Lacey’s wedding.

  He couldn’t say he shared their enthusiasm for the wedding. The only thing he was excited about was seeing his family. It’d been six months since he’d been home because he was in his first year of an MBA program at Harvard, much to his father’s approval. Even though he didn’t love Boston or the program, he was proud that he’d been selected.

  His phone buzzed, and he braced himself as he answered it. It was showtime. “Think of the devil, and he shall call.”

  His father laughed. “Hey, you’re on the ground, then?”

  “Yep.”

  “Ready for the wedding?”

  Mike thought about all the prep that needed to be done. “Nope.”

  “I can honestly say I’m glad to have backup.”

  “I bet you are.” Mike grimaced, imagining how unbearable it would be.

  “Yeah, it’s getting dicey around here with the womenfolk, just to warn you.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “So how is Ann doing?”

  Every part of Mike froze. His girlfriend had broken up with him two weeks ago, and it was still fresh. He’d decided to wait to break the news until after the wedding so he wouldn’t have to hear everyone in town comment about it. He’d put his parents off, not telling them about the breakup either. Not wanting to sound pathetic. “Ah, she ended up having to go home for Christmas.” That was true, at least.

  His father tsked his tongue. “Really? Too bad. I would have liked to meet her.”

  A flutter of angst wove through Mike’s gut. He never liked lying to his father.

  “Fair warning: Nellie Bells has been asking about you at the flower shop.”

  He cringed at the thought of his ex-girlfriend. “Great.”

  “Yeah, she’s persistent.”

  Mike didn’t want to talk about Nellie. “So you left the truck, right?”

  “In the lower parking lot.” He cleared his throat. “It’s snowing really hard right now, and I’m worried about you being able to get home tonight.”

  Honestly, Mike hadn’t even noticed the thick blizzard outside. He turned to a window and peered out. “Montana never disappoints.”

  “I know.”

  The carousel for the luggage started turning, and Mike saw that his bags were the first ones off, and he snatched each one before it could pass by. “Don’t worry about it, Dad. I have four-wheel drive, and if it’s too bad, I’ll just stay the night here.”

  His father sighed. “Okay. I do need you to check the storage units, because we’re going to be headed back down there on the twenty-sixth with all of the toys from the toy drive.”

  “Right.” Mike smiled. The toy drive was the only part he was looking forward to.

  “Be safe,” his father said.

  Mike walked out of the terminal and rushed across the street, heading for the parking lot. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours, Dad. Don’t worry.”

  “Love you.”

  “Love you too.” Mike ended the call and surveyed the sky. Yep, snow galore. He picked up his pace to a jog. He wanted to make it out to Snow Valley tonight.

  Chapter 2

  Zoey Harper stood in the freezing cold outside of the storage unit she hadn’t been back to in six months. The storage unit held her deceased husband’s things.

  She’d never thought she would be this person. The kind of woman that got married at twenty-one to a guy she’d only known for three months. The kind to fall head over heels in love. The kind that waited in the wings as he enlisted in the army to serve his country. Yet here she was, and she was a widow.

  They had been married right before Thanksgiving, and then he’d left the next week for Afghanistan. It wasn’t even a year later that those men had shown up with the stupid flag. She squeezed her eyes shut, missing Josh all over again. Sucking in a breath, she tried to re-center herself, then opened her eyes and stared at the storage unit.

  She hadn’t been able to get rid of it her husband’s things, so she’d stored them. Too bad she couldn’t afford to pay for the storage any longer. Somehow, the letter notifying her that the storage unit was going to get rid of her stuff, had landed beneath a pile of mail she hadn’t gone through. She’d been too busy lately, trying to juggle finals, her waitressing job, and the internship. The internship was over but she felt like she was still trying to do way too much with no help.

  Tears assaulted her, but she choked them back. Tears had never done her any good. Not when her parents had been killed in that plane crash the day after she’d graduated from high school. Not even when she’d stood over Josh’s grave and cried her eyes out. Tears didn’t help.

  The temperature felt like it was below zero with the wind chill. She needed to get those three bonds. He’d told her each was worth five hundred dollars. She had no idea if they would be worth more now—she didn’t know anything about bonds—but last night, Josh had been in her dream, and he’d told her to get them.

  She was already worried about being able to pay January’s rent, but there was also something else she’d been tossing back and forth. The Voice. There was an audition in Salt Lake on the twenty-seventh of December. Salt Lake was a long drive, roughly thirteen hours from Billings, but if she could fix her car and figure out a way to keep her waitressing job while she took the time off, she could try out. If she got it, she would take a loan, do anything, to make it work. She would l
ive her dream!

  The bonds Josh had left her just might be the ticket. The key twisted in the lock, but it wouldn’t budge. She cursed and kicked it. Why wouldn’t it just turn?

  Sadness erupted inside of her like a geyser exploding on the National Geographic show she’d watched the other night. She thought of Josh. They’d had plans. Part of the reason he’d enlisted was because they needed the money to pay for college, to make something of themselves. She hadn’t wanted him to, had begged him not to. He’d simply held her and told her that he’d promised to take care of her and he wouldn’t let her dreams die. He’d wanted to give her the chance to become something, whether that was a nurse or a famous singer. He’d told her she could have all of it.

  “Ahh!” Zoey screamed into the night sky. Her voice was small and quickly lost in the blizzard. She never had outbursts like this. Maybe that just meant she was long overdue.

  The snow wouldn’t quit. She stared at a slowly growing pile of it next to the storage units. There had been so much snow lately. The pile where the snow had been cleared was almost as tall as the storage building. She thought about how she could probably climb up the heaping mound of snow and stand on top of the building.

  The thought appealed to her. She’d always loved to climb things while growing up. Her mother had called her a tomboy, and her father had loved to challenge her. Any tree at any park they’d gone to on Sunday picnics had been fair game. She had never tired of climbing them and looking down and laughing at how small things felt from way up in the tree.

  Suddenly, she wanted to get to the top of the storage unit, just so she could have that feeling again. Of being on top, of everything below getting smaller. She rushed to the end of the snowpack and ran up it as fast as she could. It was amazing, even though she almost fell before she got her footing. She scooted to the edge, keeping one foot on the snowpack that had brought her to this point.

  Dang. It was different up here. Everything looked clean and white. They’d probably had over a foot in the last four hours. It was a soft darkness, gently lit with the lights of the storage unit place. There were lights over the side road, but not much traffic. The moon was huge as it peeked through the clouds. She sucked in a breath and grinned with pride. She’d made it to the top.

  Her father’s face staring up at her flashed through her mind. Why hadn’t she appreciated her parents more when they were alive? Why had she taken for granted the things they’d done for her and the way they had doted on her? Her heart ached from missing them, combined with the earlier jittery, worried feeling that had forced her to hitchhike to the freeway exit, then walk here. She didn’t even want to think about walking back. She had boots, gloves, and a big coat. She would be fine, but …

  She missed Josh. She missed her parents. Why did everyone around her die? She slammed her hand down on the roof and felt some of the ice on it give way. A bolt of fear ran up her spine; if the icy sheet cracked, she would fall off.

  Staring down, she thought how easy it might be to just fall. Maybe it would feel good, like she was flying. What was she thinking? No, she couldn’t fly. Man, she’d been in a bad mental place for a long time.

  Without Josh, she’d felt lost. Sure, she’d kept going. She’d thrown herself into work and school, but it hadn’t been enough. It never felt like enough. Tears burned in her eyes, and she hated them, wanting to gouge them from her face. “Why?” she yelled. “Why?”

  Her mother had always told her she should pray when she didn’t know what to do. Unfortunately, Zoey knew praying didn’t work either. At least, it hadn’t when she’d been in the hospital before the doctor had told her neither of her parents would make it. She resisted, but prayer would have made her mother happy, so she quieted her thoughts as best she could and said, “Dear Lord, help me. Please help me.”

  Without warning, a horn blared and truck lights pulled in.

  She jolted, almost losing her balance again.

  It was a black Ford truck, all lifted and decked out. The driver’s side window rolled down, blaring rock music loud enough for the next block over to hear. A guy in a beanie cap stuck his head out of the window and yelled, “Are you crazy? Get down!”

  Anger and pain and sadness seethed inside of her. She felt frozen, paralyzed.

  “Hey!” the guy driving the truck yelled again. “Get down!”

  She glared at him. “No!”

  The guy clambered out of the truck. He was a big guy, too. He wore jeans, lumberjack-looking boots laced up the sides, and a big, brown coat to match. From this height, she could make out dark hair, a beard, and a beanie cap that had a Boston logo on it. “What’s wrong?” He stared up at her.

  She’d been about to yell that he’d better stay back, but his question took her off guard. “What?”

  Snow was falling harder, and she saw the blizzard in his headlights. He walked closer to her. “You’re clearly frustrated. You have no idea how much I get that right now. So what’s wrong?”

  “Oh.” She liked the way his voice sounded. It was a low tenor. Not rushed, not hurried, but persistent. She imagined he might make a good nurse, the way he was good at handling a crisis situation. Which was stupid, because this wasn’t a crisis. She just had nursing on the brain. “I’m fine.”

  “Um, I don’t think so.” He crossed his arms. “I’m coming up.” He looked at the snowbank, and she knew what he was thinking.

  “No!” she yelled.

  He ignored her, taking the hill like a grizzly bear with both hands and feet. It wasn’t long before he was standing right beside her, scowling.

  Abruptly, the ice on the roof was slipping, and both of them slid off the side of the roof way too fast. They kind of skated down to the snowpack. Then she started rolling, and the guy tumbled down, too. It wasn’t long before she collapsed at the bottom, snow burning her neck, face, everywhere.

  “Man, that was a rush.” The guy laughed right next to her.

  On impulse, she sat up, picked up a pile of snow, and dumped it on his head. “You almost killed us.”

  “Hey!” He stood quickly, the snow coming off of him like a dog shaking off the water after a bath. “I tried to help you!”

  She pointed to the roof. “That whole sheet of ice could have landed on top of us!”

  He frowned, investigating the pile of ice next to them. “No, it broke up enough that we would have been fine.”

  “Not the point! Why did you do that?”

  His lip tugged in a slight smile. Briefly, she thought he was handsome. His face had a scar beneath his right eye, but his eyes were a magnificent movie-star blue. “Why should you be the only crazy one?”

  Unable to shake the weird feeling about how this guy had showed up just after she’d prayed, she felt somehow vulnerable. “Go away,” she said, storming back to the lock.

  He laughed. “No. C’mon, that was fun!”

  She bent to fiddle with the lock again. “Your idea of fun almost got me killed.” Stupid ignoramus. It annoyed her that her heart was racing. Dang, he was cute.

  “I’m sorry. I was really trying to help you. You looked like you needed …”

  She cast an icy glance at him.

  “Help,” he finished weakly.

  “Oh, you were trying to be a hero, were you?”

  “You could be a little grateful,” he said.

  “I don’t believe you were really trying to help me. It seemed like you had a death wish.”

  He bent down by her, his face too close to hers, looking at the lock. “Is it stuck?”

  It was obvious this guy wasn’t going to be scared off easily. “I can’t get my storage lock open, and I need something out of my husband’s things.”

  His eyes met hers, and he pulled back from her. “Where’s your husband?”

  Why had she said husband? Why had she opened herself up to these questions? “He’s dead,” she said flatly as she tinkered with the lock.

  A little intake of breath showed he was sufficiently shocked. “O-
kay.”

  Zoey felt shame and humiliation course through her. She hated being a widow, unable to even open a stupid lock. She stood. “Never mind.”

  “Wait.”

  “What?” she snapped.

  “I’m sorry about your husband.”

  Their eyes locked, and she bit back her automatic retort. It felt like she knew him from somewhere. “Do I know you?”

  Giving her a once-over, he shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He put out his gloved hand. “I’m Mike Hamilton. I’m from Snow Valley, but I’ve been at school the past couple of months in Boston. Before that, I attended MSU. So we might have seen each other on campus.”

  Chills washed over her. It was like she was having a moment here, and she didn’t care to guess what it meant. “Hmm.”

  “I just flew in. I’m home for a few days for Christmas. And for my sister’s wedding.”

  She took his hand and tried to place him. “I’ve heard of Snow Valley. A girl in the nursing program is from there.”

  “Who?” Mike asked. “I’m probably related.”

  “Chelsea Snow.”

  Mike grinned. “Second cousin, once removed.”

  She pulled her hand back, his knowledge of that putting her off guard. “You honestly know that off the top of your head?”

  His grin widened, and she saw he had pretty teeth. Then she felt bad for noticing.

  “What?” he questioned.

  “Nothing.” When had been the last time she’d really thought about how a guy looked like in any kind of attractive way? She couldn’t remember.