The Christmas Wish Read Online Free PDF Page A

to look away.
    ***
    Lucas stared back at Tess, marveling at the transformation in her expression as he stood up for her. It made him feel like a king, like a god, like someone handsome and upstanding and worthy of goodness in his life. Despite his beating a man almost to death, despite spending three years incarcerated, despite failing his little sister and having a face that would spoil milk, the look of admiration and approval in Tess Branson’s big blue eyes made Lucas Flynn feel like second chances were possible. Nothing showy or complicated. A little happiness, like what his folks had before his Pop passed away. He had a faint, fleeting memory of his father’s protective arm over his mother’s shoulders as his Pop’s gruff voice shared the secret to happiness: It’s a simple recipe, son. A lot of goodness. A lot of loving. A little hard work.
    He stared at the beautiful woman across the table from him gently holding his hand. “No one has a right to treat you bad, Tess.”
    She flinched, dropping her eyes.
    “How can you live in this town?” he asked her, feeling the wonder in his voice. “How do you stand it?”
    She drew her hand back and unwrapped her straw, plopping it into her soda. “I’m a waitress. I live with my mother. I’ve got savings, but not much. Where am I going to go?”
    “Anywhere’s got to be better than this.”
    “Like where?”
    “Kitten, I hate to tell you, but they need waitresses everywhere. Bozeman, Livingston, Great Falls. Helena. Billings, for God’s sake!”
    Her eyes were sparkling and her lips tilted up tentatively. “Kitten?”
    “If I had a blond-haired, blue-eyed girlfriend from Gardiner, I’d definitely call her Kitten.”
    She grinned at him, and he swore he’d call her Kitten a hundred times a day until the end of time if she’d smile at him like that forever.
    “I’ve never been to Billings,” she confessed, cheeks blushing prettily.
    “Billings is great,” said Lucas, grinning back at her. “It’s only a few hours away!”
    “They have skyscrapers there.”
    “Yes, they do.”
    “And an orchestra.”
    He was intrigued by the dreamy look on her face. “What else do they have in Billings?”
    “Museums,” she said, tilting her head to the side and smiling, her face flushing further as her voice filled with warmth. “And every month there’s something special going on. Like, right now? They have a Festival of Trees and, um, they have a Christmas stroll coming up. We just had one in Gardiner, but ours is smaller.”
    “What else?” he asked her.
    “Oh, um, they have lots of movie theaters. You’d like that, right? And microbreweries!” she exclaimed. “More than any other city in Montana!”
    He couldn’t stop looking at her, loving the transformation in her face, her voice, her mood, as she talked about Billings like it was New York City. Is this how she’d be if she could get away from Gardiner? Bubbly, open and adorable?
    “What else?”
    She shrugged, looking down at the table, grinning like she had a secret.
    “Come on. You’ve done your research. What else?”
    “Well, don’t laugh…”
    “I’m not laughing. I’m stunned that the nice girl I took out to dinner happens to be an authority on a city she’s never visited.”
    “They have a zoo.”
    Of all the answers he’d thought she might give, that one hadn’t come close to making the list. “A zoo.”
    “Have you ever been to one?”
    “You have Yellowstone in your backyard. What do you need with a zoo?”
    She gave him a brief dressing-down with a roll of her eyes, apparently disappointed that he didn’t immediately understand the appeal and merits of a zoo. “Does Yellowstone have tigers? Red Panda bears? It does not. But Montana Zoo does. And something else besides.” She took a deep breath, searching his eyes. “It has a preschool.”
    “A preschool,” he repeated. He was lost now. But utterly fascinated.
    “The Zooschool Preschool.” She grinned. “Remember