Mistletoe in Maine Read Online Free PDF Page A

Christmastime arrived with one primary expectation: to have a memorable, fun-filled holiday. That was something Paul felt comfortable in ensuring. He’d do well to leave thoughts of shoring up his beaten-down heart out of it. Heck, he’d be moving to Montreal by this time next year, anyway.
     
    Beth lathered her hair, pondering this gift of the fates. While her cancelled flight to O’Hare was anticipated, given the weather, running into Velma and Zach at the gate had been a genuine surprise. Getting invited to come back here had been even more unexpected. Paul had been her first, wonderful love. Naturally, she’d thought of him from time to time over the years. Especially after things ran cold with Jack, she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d made a mistake. While they’d all been friends in high school, somehow, going away to their separate universities had changed things. Goofball Jack had become more confident, morphing from a gangly teenager into a disarming and dashing young man. Ready to sweep her off her feet with his charm and good looks. Having been a high school beauty, Beth had become unsure of herself in her new coed world. Ever-stable Paul was really the only one of them who hadn’t seen the rush to reinvent himself in college. He’d always been focused and mature, maybe more mature than she’d been ready for or had completely understood at the time.
    To her, Paul had appeared so predictable, unwilling to take chances and spread his wings. Jack wanted to get away and start over, far from their families and homegrown expectations. That had proved extra appealing to Beth, who couldn’t imagine going home again after her four years at Wellesley. Always having been good with his hands, Paul had long ago set his sights on this place, here. It had been foreclosed on when they were still kids, but he’d made a vow to restore and reopen it, even if he had to do most of the grunt work himself—which he apparently had, shortly after saving up funds from his student jobs and majoring in business. His new girlfriend, Nancy, had wholeheartedly supported his dreams. She’d been his partner and his helpmate, until a car accident had taken her unexpectedly shortly after the two of them had opened the inn they’d worked for years to lovingly craft together.
    Beth shut off the water, thinking she’d heard something. She was quite sure she’d locked the door, but the way the latch went seemed backwards to her, so perhaps she hadn’t set it right. She’d tried the other bathroom first, but the door had either been locked from the inside or set so snugly in its frame she couldn’t budge it open, no matter how hard she tugged. Giving up, she’d opted to try this bathroom here, where the door opened much more easily. Too easily, she thought with a start, as a cool blast of air invaded her warm space. She heard bright whistling and lunged for a towel as a ponytailed man pulled back the curtain with a jerk.
    “Ack!” he shouted, falling back in shock as Beth shrieked at the top of her lungs. Seconds later, the other inn guests flooded the hall.
    Beyond the open door at Zach’s back, Velma stood clutching a container of Ageless Skin Cream, her jaw dropping.
     
    Zach sat on the bed with Velma, his arm around her shoulder. She still clutched her open jar of face cream in shock.
    “You’re getting way too keyed up about this,” he told her. “It was nothing, I swear.”
    “Of course, I know you’re right. It’s just that… Zach!” She capped her cold cream, turning toward him. “She was right there with you—in a towel!”
    “It was more like a washcloth, really. Pretty tiny, actually,” he teased.
    “Enough!” She fell back on the bed with a moan.
    He smiled sympathetically and patted her thigh through her bell-bottom jeans. “You’re not jealous?”
    She raised her head to look at him. “Who me? Of a woman thirty years younger, half naked in a bathroom with you?”
    He scooted down on the bed