Like Never Before Read Online Free PDF

sputtered down Main. “Oh, here we go. It’s about to happen.”
    â€œWhat’s about to happen?”
    â€œYou’ll see.”
    Just a breath later, as if tapped by a magic wand, everything blinked to life at once, a glow of yellowy-white against the deepening sky—the globe lights atop the lampposts, the lanterns hanging from the band shell, strings of twinkle lights draped over wrinkled branches.
    â€œWow.” C.J. released the word in an awed sigh.
    â€œPretty, isn’t it?” Wind-dusted snow sparkled against the light.
    â€œMagical.” C.J. uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “Possibly worth the cold.”
    Satisfaction, warm and sweet, glided through Amelia.
    Until C.J. tilted her head. “I wonder how much it costs the city to keep it lit up like this.”
    The question landed with a thud. “The lights don’t stay on all night.”
    C.J. stood. “So where’s the coffee you promised?”
    Amelia swiped at her disappointment as they retreated the same way they’d come, their footprints from before already smudged out of sight. Silly, probably, thinking a few minutes and some pretty lights might change a businesswoman’s mind.
    But then, that was the problem with Amelia. Always hoping in the wrong things. Almost three years post-divorce and apparently the lesson still hadn’t sunk in: Some minds don’t change. Some fights you don’t win.
    Yeah, well, C.J. wasn’t Jeremy.
    And Amelia wasn’t the same Amelia she’d been back in Des Moines: broken, emptied, drained of any fight.
    The riverfront came into view as they rounded the block. Sheets of ice bobbed in the tumbling waterway that split the town in half. The river had flooded early last fall—damaging not only the News office, but the bridal store next door and the coffee shop they were about to enter. Amelia had been out here, sandbagging with the rest of the town in the hours before the flood had its way. That same summer they’d been pounded by a tornado.
    But there’d been happy times in the last year, too. Seth Walker had turned an old, abandoned bank building into the coolest restaurant around. An ex–NFL quarterback had moved to town and opened up a nonprofit. The community had pulled together to keep its historic railroad running.
    And in the midst of all the big things, everyday life moved in a rhythm not all that different than the river’s—fast and whooshing some days, slow and serene others. But always, it moved.
    â€œYou’re upset.” C.J.’s heels clipped against the sidewalk as they neared the coffee shop.
    â€œNot upset, just . . . frustrated. It’s not only paper and ink we’re talking about. It’s people’s jobs. We’re a family in that office. Kat’s a single mom trying to put two sons through college. Owen’s saving up for grad school.”
    â€œAmelia—”
    â€œIf you close the office, their jobs will go away.” Along with her dream of running the paper herself, finally cementing her place here in Maple Valley. If she’d had the money, she’d have bought the News herself the second Freddie mentioned selling. “I’m just asking you to consider—”
    â€œWhat in the world?” C.J. halted in front of the coffee shop, focus hooked on its stretching windows, a clamor of rising voices, along with the brisk aroma of Coffee Coffee’s brew, eking outside.
    Amelia glanced at the crowd inside. “Not unusual for Coffee Coffee to have mobs reminiscent of Depression-era bank runs. We’ve sorta got a town-wide caffeine dependency.” She cupped her hands to the window and peered through. “But this looks way more organized than usual.” Yes, there was Mayor Milton Briggs up near the order counter, waving his hands from his perch atop a chair.
    Great. Just when she needed this town to make a good