Lucky in Love

by Kristen Ethridge

  Lucky in Love

  Port Provident: Holiday Hearts

  Kristen Ethridge

  Contents

  Dear Reader

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  You Don’t Have to Leave Port Provident!

  Sneak Peek: May I Have This Dance—Chapter One

  The Holiday Hearts Series

  About Kristen

  Acknowledgements

  Dear Reader

  Just about a year ago—before the whole world as we knew it came to a screeching halt—I took a trip for my job out to Las Vegas. I was working behind the scenes at the company’s annual leadership and sales kickoff meeting. But because my role was completely under the radar, I had some extra time to see the sights.

  I ate in all the best restaurants Mandalay Bay had to offer. I checked out the pool (even though nothing much was going on there in the dead of winter), I rode the gondolas at the Venetian, I sat in jaw-dropping awe as I watched One, the Cirque du Soleil tribute to Michael Jackson, and I put my face on M&Ms to take home to my kids (mom of the year right here—what kid doesn’t want a souvenir with mom’s face all over it?)

  And as I dined on risotto and sampled bread pudding and saw the sights, a book came together.

  All the best books are inspired by real life. Or at least I think mine are. I love taking something that’s everyday real and making it sparkle and shine through the lens of fiction.

  And I loved getting to spend more time with Lisa Fleming. You met her in The Cupid Caper—and now she’s back and getting her own chance at love. I think you will love Lisa and Ryan—and Nana and Pops. There’s a lot going on here, and it all comes together with a touch of kismet that only a place as over-the-top as Las Vegas can bring.

  (But don’t worry...you’ll still get to spend some time in Port Provident too!)

  Here’s to the adventures we’ve all been holding in our hearts for the past year while the world’s been on pause. May the doors to our world open back up soon—and until then, may stories like Lisa and Ryan’s sweep us away to destinations in our imagination.

  All the best-

  PS... I’d like to invite you to become a part of my reader community today. Just go to www.kristenethridge.com. You’ll see the box to join right at the top of the page.

  One of my signature Sweet Escape Romances is Layla and Ridge’s story, A Place to Find Love. Layla’s spent her whole life searching for a greater meaning in her life. She comes to Port Provident running on fumes, but once she meets Ridge, she begins a journey that fills her with more than she ever hoped for—faith, family, and a place to find the love she’s always longed for. I’ll send you a copy just for joining my reader community, plus you’ll be able to keep up with the latest on my books and Port Provident through regular emails and more reader bonuses.

  I promise these stories will lift you up and leave you with a smile.

  One of the best ways to get to know Port Provident even better is to get your Passport to Port Provident. It’s a behind-the-scenes reader exclusive that’s available when you join me on Facebook Messenger.

  www.kristenethridge.com

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  The Port Provident Community Center

  Chapter One

  “Pops, there’s no way you’re convincing me you brought those for the USO lounge.”

  Ryan McBride nodded his head in the direction of the two dozen roses, wrapped in cellophane and tissue and tied with an oversized crimson-red bow.

  Ryan caught a glance at Pops, who looked like he won the Miss America pageant. That explanation seemed just as ridiculous as this last-minute trip to the florist and then the airport—since Ryan knew neither had anything to do with America’s heroes. That much was as clear as the plastic sheet surrounding the bouquet.

  Bill McBride climbed in the car and sat down, careful not to crush the flowers as he buckled his seatbelt. “I support our troops, Ryan.”

  “I didn’t say you didn’t, Pops. I know you do. You’ve been one of them and had their back ever since.” Ryan let his eyes leave the road long enough to give his grandfather a stern stare. “But usually when I take you to the airport to welcome home our troops, you let a ‘thank you’ and a handshake suffice. And you usually wear your American Legion cap. Not a tie. Pops, don’t lie to me. What’s going on here?”

  Bill stared ahead stoically, seemingly considering his words before he spoke as they made their way down Interstate 15 to McCarron International Airport.

  Ryan decided he would just let Pops have the next word. Ryan read the bluffs of others for a living, a very lucrative living.

  And he’d just called Pops’s bluff. He had Pops, and the old man knew it.

  “Well,” Pops dragged out the syllable, still unwilling to commit to revealing whatever he had up his starched long sleeve.

  “Mmm-hmm?”

  “You see, I’m meeting someone there.” Then he added hastily, “Not a service member, though.”

  “I figured that one out already, Pops. Keep going.” Ryan turned into the main entrance to the airport. “What airline, Pops?”

  “American. She’s coming from Texas.” Pops pointed at the sign just ahead, which directed them to the terminal where American Airlines landed. “Ok, so, keep going. What’s her name?”

  Pops bent his head low, smelling the flowers, almost as though he was enjoying the perfume worn by his mystery woman.

  Ryan snuck another glance at Pops. When had he had time to meet a woman? And especially one from Texas? When Bill had moved to the retirement community a year ago, Ryan half expected him to find companionship over the Friday night bingo cards.

  But Texas?

  Something wasn’t adding up.

  Was it possible that Pops wasn’t playing with a full deck anymore?

  And while Ryan didn’t understand the whole situation right now, he did understand odds. And the odds of his ninety-two-year-old grandfather meeting a woman from halfway across the country were virtually non-existent.

  “Gina Mae,” Pops lowered his voice and ran the syllables together into a mumble. “Her name is Gina Mae Lee. Well, Gina Fleming now. But back when I knew her, she was Gina Mae Lee. And she was something.”

  A career as a card shark had made Ryan mostly immune to displays of emotion. Emotion got you burned. Emotion opened the door to letting someone take advantage of you.

  Emotion was for losers.

  “Ok, Pops. Gina Mae Something from Texas is coming to visit. And you got her flowers.” Ryan swung into a parking space and put his sports car in park. “Why?”

  Pops turned his head toward the window and stared as though he was seeing another time and another place.

  “Because she’s getting ready to become Mrs. Bill McBride, and every gal deserves something special on her wedding day. Especially my gal.”

  “Your gal, Pops?” Ryan finally let emotion sneak out in his words. “This is a little ridiculous, don’t you think? First, you tell me we’re going to greet the troops. Then you come out carrying an entire florist’s shop, and now you’re marrying some girl with a bunch of names at the airport?”

  Ryan couldn’t figure out why Pops was trying to deceive him. Their relationship had been built on trust and honesty, for as long as Ryan could remember.

  Bill cut off Ryan’s questions. “She’s not some girl with a bunch of names. She was my first love. And she’ll be my last. You’ve got a cynic’s heart. You’ll never understand.”

  Bill placed a defiant hand on the door latch and
gave it a strong pull that was more Chuck Norris than Chuck E. Cheese.

  “Won’t understand? First love, last love, huh? Where does Memaw fit in? Did you forget about the woman you were married to?”

  Pops stopped his exit from the car and turned to look right at Ryan. His fluffy white eyebrows lowered like fanciful caterpillars over his ice-blue eyes. “She’s been gone since you were four, Ryan. And that’s a long time to live with nothing but memories when all you want is a hand to hold. I doubt I have five more years on this earth, youngster. I’m going to make my time count. And that’s exactly what she told me to do, for your information.”

  He put one leg deliberately out of the car, then stood carefully, cradling the riot of red blooms like a newborn baby. “And whether you stay or leave me to call a taxi to take me and my bride back to town, you’ll never speak so disrespectfully to me again, young man. Do you hear?”

  Ryan took in a slow breath. If he didn’t back off, Pops was going to take a cab to a little white chapel.

  “I hear you, Pops. I don’t get any of this. But I hear you.”

  “Good. Then let’s get going. Gina Mae’s never been to Las Vegas. I don’t want to make her wait in a crowded airport by herself.”

  Ryan watched Pops stand a little taller as he walked to the door. He had moved Pops out here to the desert southwest to try and improve his health and quality of life. Sadly, it seemed like nothing had made much of a difference...until this moment.

  Ryan followed his grandfather’s eager steps through the airport. He scooted around women toting pink rhinestone doggy carriers. He slid past groups of men slapping each other on the back and gearing up for a bachelor party. He ducked out of the way of tall blondes with fake tans and faker female features, the Playboy-cloned girls looking to make it big at some club, some hotel, some limelight.

  Everything Ryan saw as they walked made sense to him. They were all part of the biggest stereotypes about Vegas.

  The only thing head-scratcher was everything Pops had just told Ryan. He couldn’t make sense of how this all happened and Ryan never suspected a thing. Wasn’t he supposed to watch for “tells”—those little behaviors that signaled something to come?

  Maybe he was losing his touch.

  But he would make absolutely sure he wasn’t going to lose Pops.

  Ryan McBride didn’t know a thing about Gina Mae What’s-Her-Name. But he knew he’d protect his grandfather from lions, tigers, bears...and gold diggers.

  Which was about the only explanation Ryan could come up with for flying halfway across the country and marrying someone you hadn’t seen in decades. Every other explanation defied logic. And logic and odds ruled Ryan’s life. He always went where the logic led. Let others be led by gut feelings. Ryan McBride hadn’t gotten to the top of one of the highest-stakes games in the world by trusting his feelings.

  Right now, he didn’t trust Pops’ feelings, either.

  “There she is, son!” Pops raised his arms and waved the flowers furiously over his head. “Gina Mae!”

  Ryan saw a diminutive tuft of white hair coming their way. The little walking cotton ball didn’t look like much of a threat. But Ryan had seen enough bluffs at the tables to know things weren’t always what they seemed.

  If what happened in Vegas was supposed to stay in Vegas, then Lisa Fleming wasn’t happening.

  Because she sure as Cirque du Soleil wasn’t staying here.

  And neither was Nana. Nana just didn’t know it yet.

  But since the moment Lisa had come home from her last day of teaching high school before Spring Break and Nana had handed her a plane ticket to Las Vegas, then blurted out a hare-brained scheme that she’d reconnected with her first childhood love on social media, Lisa had felt like she had joined a movie with the National Lampoon’s squad about the worst vacation ever.

  But, no. That wasn’t enough. As soon as the flight attendant served Nana a tiny glass of overpriced wine, Nana had to go and drop the Nana bomb.

  She wasn’t just going on vacation to see the fountains at the Bellagio or to waste Lisa’s inheritance one shiny coin at a time in a nickel slot machine.

  Nope, Nana announced she was getting married in a Vegas chapel to her early-days-of-World-War-II sweetheart.

  At that moment, Lisa had flagged down the flight attendant and ordered a tiny bottle of whatever the airline was serving. And now, with every step she took through the airport, she wished she’d ordered one for the road. Or the terminal. Or the baggage claim. Or whatever.

  Nana was over ninety years old. Lisa couldn’t keep her from going on a trip. But somewhere over New Mexico, empowered by that teeny-tiny adult beverage, Lisa decided she could keep Nana from making the biggest mistake of her life.

  It was completely possible for Nana to go to Vegas and catch up with an old friend.

  She just didn’t have to marry him, for Pete’s sake.

  And if that meant giving up a nice, relaxing Spring Break to ensure that Nana, the woman who protected Lisa her whole life, stayed away from little white Vegas wedding chapels—then so be it.

  Once safely past small airport lounges filled with cigarette smoke and dreams of jackpots, Nana gained speed. Lisa found herself trying to keep up with Nana’s imitation of the Senior Olympics track squad. Then, once she’d cleared baggage claim, Nana sprinted toward a gentleman in a perfectly starched dress shirt and fell straight into his arms as though she had tripped and landed there.

  As they stayed locked in a warm embrace, Lisa began to feel as though she were intruding. They were surrounded by strangers and serenaded by the sounds of luggage carousels, but still Lisa like an outsider at this moment that had been more than six decades in the making.

  She’d never had a relationship that had been more than six months in the making.

  Lisa looked over Nana’s shoulder and above the white-haired man’s softly bent head.

  She couldn’t miss the sight of midnight blue eyes, black hair, and a chiseled chin locked in a light dusting of yesterday’s beard. Of all the people in this busy airport, the man behind the couple-of-the-moment had caught her attention.

  The way he was staring at Nana and her friend made Lisa uncomfortable, like when she watched scary movies and knew something was about to happen just by the music.

  “Are you waiting on something?” Lisa could hear the shortness in her own voice come out like the lead housewife on a catty reality show. “You can just get your suitcase and move on, you know.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Can’t.”

  “Didn’t your mother teach you staring was rude?”

  “Nope.”

  Ugh. Did the man know how to put two syllables together? Lisa’s inner diva had reached a fast, bubbly boil. There was nothing she could do to prevent what was about to happen.

  “Well, she should have. I can correct that right now, if you’d like.”

  That was her Grade-A teacher voice. The beast had been unleashed. No going back now. Mr. Annoying needed to get his suitcase and head for the exit.

  “Not really.”

  Well, at least he used more than one syllable. The Grade-A teacher in her appreciated that.

  Her eyes unlocked from his and swept downward.

  Whoa, diva... Now Lisa’s inner teacher was speaking directly to her, reminding her that this was no time to appreciate any of his finer qualities. Not his syllables...or anything else.

  He might have been nice to look at, but his manners didn’t match his looks. “There are plenty of taxis outside just waiting to take you wherever you need to go. This is a private moment.”

  Before Mr. Midnight Eyes could reply, the older gentleman pulled two steps back out of the embrace with Nana.

  “He can’t go get a taxi. He is the taxi,” Bill said. “Gina Mae, this is my grandson, Ryan McBride.”

  Ryan tilted his head toward the reunited couple, in a wordless form of greeting.

  Cocky jerk. He could have just answered her original question. She�
��d just used her teacher voice for nothing.

  “Well isn’t that fun?” A smile came over Nana’s face and she gestured back at Lisa. “Bill, this is my great-granddaughter, Lisa Marie.”

  Ugh. Every time Nana said that, Lisa felt like she was about to be painted on velvet and hung up at Graceland.

  Lisa held her palm up and tried to deflect. “Lisa. Lisa will do.”

  The world was only big enough for one Lisa Marie in a town with an Elvis impersonator in every white chapel on every corner.

  Bill McBride walked over to Lisa and picked up her hand. He lifted it and gave a short peck just over the crest of the knuckles. “Pleased to meet you, my dear. Thank you for bringing my Gina Mae safely to me.”

  The sincerity with which Bill spoke touched Lisa’s heart and made her feel a little guilty for having zero intention of abandoning her plan to circumvent this wedding somehow and get back to this airport as quickly as possible in order to go home.

  But since her Nana had always been a big believer in the adage that said you get more flies with honey than vinegar, she was willing to be sweet for now. Goodness knows Nana had drilled the concept into Lisa’s head over the years.

  She packed up the teacher voice.

  “If I’d known we were meeting a true gentleman like you, we’d have been here sooner,” Lisa said with a smile. Honestly, the groom-to-be held an irresistible charm, like a chivalrous teddy bear.

  Nice to know there were men like that in the world. Too bad they were all ninety years old.

  Lisa could feel the stare of Bill’s grandson from his staked-out spot just a few feet away. Sooo. The apple fell pretty far from Bill McBride’s gallant tree.

  Too bad. Those eyes would have been a perfect complement for chivalry. Wasn’t blue the color of something knightly? Lisa couldn’t remember the old stories. She left those things to her friends in the English department.

  But hey, it wasn’t like Lisa had time to flirt anyway.

  She needed to save Nana from herself, her crazy plans, her long-suspected memory issues, and one well-mannered teddy bear who was probably in the same synapse-induced twilight that Nana was.