Making Spirits Bright Read Online Free PDF

worked.
    “Okay, I’ll see you in a few,” Melanie said, and hung up the phone. She gazed longingly at her now-cooled pot of tea and the new book she’d been dying to sink her teeth into. There was always another day to do nothing but lounge around and read.
    But maybe not, she thought as she scooped up the tray carefully and placed the treasured old teapot and her mug in the sink.
    If she were lucky, soon she’d be too busy to lounge around. Hopefully, by this time next year, she’d have a family of her own to take care of.
    She crossed her fingers and said a quick prayer.
    A child of her own. Could life get any better? she thought as she raced through the condo like a kid at Christmas.

Chapter 5
     
    Cars and four-wheel-drive vehicles were filling the driveway as Melanie parked her Navigator on the street at the edge of the snow-and-ice-covered lawn. Balancing a plastic-covered cake container in one hand and her purse and car keys in the other, she lifted an Ugg-booted foot to close the car door.
    The small sidewalk leading to the front porch steps had been cleared of all snow and ice, courtesy of Patrick. Before Melanie had a chance to figure out how to press the doorbell, Ashley opened the front door.
    “Auntie M, you came! Ella is here and so are her mom and dad,” she said excitedly, as Melanie stepped inside the warm, festively decorated house.
    Melanie laid her purse on an antique bench, careful to keep a tight grip on the cake container. She stooped down to Ashley’s eye level and gave her a one-armed hug. “Of course I did. I wouldn’t miss your Christmas party for all the money in the world,” Melanie said. Ashley grabbed her free hand and led her to the kitchen, where Stephanie was standing in front of the sink.
    “Look, Mom, Auntie M brought a cake.”
    Stephanie rinsed her hands off, and dried them with a paper towel. She took the cake container out of Melanie’s hands and placed it on the counter next to three other cakes.
    “Should’ve kept it, huh?” Melanie said as she spied the desserts.
    Stephanie leaned in for a quick hug, then stood back, grinning at her friend. “Nah, Patrick’s here. He’ll take care of whatever leftovers we have,” Stephanie assured her. “Bryce has been asking about you.”
    Blushing, Melanie shook her head. “He’s just being polite, Steph.” She wished everyone would stop trying to throw her and Bryce in one another’s path. She’d met him more than once, and, yes, he was attractive, and, yes, she liked him, but she had a feeling Bryce wasn’t into the “healthy, outdoor type” such as her. No, he probably preferred tall, skinny blondes with little or no brains. He was just too good-looking, she kept thinking. Men like him didn’t date women with brains. She looked at her faded jeans and snow-covered Uggs. Definitely a Colorado kind of girl. It didn’t matter that she wore a Stella McCartney sweater, or that her blond hair was really her blond hair. Guys like Bryce went for the glamour girls.
    “Melanie, how are you? It’s been too long,” Bryce Landry said as he entered the kitchen.
    Melanie’s heart did a double beat when she felt him come up behind her. She took a deep breath. She could actually smell him. He smelled like winter. Pine and something else she couldn’t identify. She felt her face turning ten shades of red. Thankful he couldn’t read her mind, she turned to face him, and said, “Thanks, it’s nice to see you, too, Bryce. You’re right, it’s been too long.” She cringed at her words. What if he thought she’d been fantasizing about him?
    Melanie couldn’t help but admire Bryce’s good looks. He certainly wore them well, she’d give him that. Dressed in a black turtleneck sweater and black jeans, his ebony hair hanging over his ears and down the back of his neck, he was extremely sexy, certainly not the look of a history professor, or at least any that she’d had in college. He stepped away from her as though he just