by Linda West
Firework Kisses
and
Summertime Wishes
By
Linda West
Dedicated to my Mother
Thanks Mom for being the best
Copyright May 2016
Linda West
If you haven’t read the first three in the #1 Best selling series
“Love on Kissing Bridge Mountain”
please check them out!
What happy readers are saying about
Christmas Kisses and Cookies…
“A heartwarming and delightful read! The inhabitants of Kissing Bridge were adorable. If you want some perfect feel good uplifting holiday fun, this is the go-to book. I wish I could give it 10 stars!”
S. Stevens, Kindle Good Reads
“Within a matter of pages, I was laughing my socks off and immediately fell in love with the slightly crazy Summer … Linda West has such a knack for the humorous side of characters … Her writing style is so upbeat and unique. I hope to see more of these characters I’ve come to love - can’t wait to see what happens next in the cute town of Kissing Bridge!”
M. Sinclair
“This is exactly the feel-good holiday romance book I was looking for! From the start I was absorbed in the magic of the season and had a smile on my face. I laughed from the fist page and finished it in one sitting! I’d love to see a movie made out of this.”
D. Dragna
Prelude:
After a long day it’s nice to relax and unwind. Take a moment to get a cup of coffee and a nice sweet bread and sink into your comfy chair with a warm blanket. You are about to go on a lovely ride through the enchanting town of Kissing Bridge Mountain! Wonderful things happen here in Kissing Bridge and miracles have a way of coming true.
Firework Kisses and Summertime Wishes is the fourth book in the “Love on Kissing Bridge Mountain Holiday Series.”
I was inspired to write the first book, Christmas Kisses and Cookies, because I was unable to find the warm, feel-good holiday book I wanted to read. So I wrote one myself! I laughed the whole way through. After becoming a number one best-selling book and receiving hundreds of letters from fans asking for the series to be continued, I wrote the next two books in the series. This is the fourth book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Wishing you a love-filled holiday season.
Firework Kisses
and
Summertime Wishes
By
Linda West
Chapter 1
“But I thought…I thought… you loved me…” Elle Saunders stammered trying to hold back the tears from falling from her big green eyes.
She looked around the fancy restaurant in Burlington that her boyfriend Todd had taken her to and realized what a fool she had been.
“When you said you wanted to have a serious talk, I thought you were going to ask me to marry you…”
The tears she had fought so hard to hold back now flooded down her freckled cheeks as she stared at the menu, not even seeing it.
Her Irish red hair hung about her face and for once she had no inclination to pull it back as she usually did. Now it afforded her some kind of privacy, shielding her from Todd’s staring.
Whoever thought that a public place was the appropriate spot to end a three year relationship was obviously not someone who had ever gotten their heart broken before.
She stared at the menu trying to look concerned about the dinner choices while holding back her tears.
Todd was unusually quiet for him.
She had never seen the break up coming.
The bouncy duo had been the most popular couple in Kissing Bridge High. They had started dating as freshmen when Elle was a cheerleader and Todd was the varsity quarterback. It had been love at first sight and Todd had chased her and courted her until she couldn’t resist.
Elle, who had always been an awkward child, was overwhelmed by the attention of the class president and most popular boy in school. She could barely believe he liked her. Both his parents were prominent lawyers and the whole family was always in the papers at some exciting event or another.
They had the perfect family and they had let Elle be a part of it. She had found what it was like to be part of a real family for the first time.
Todd was her hero. She had always dreamed when she was young that her hero, her prince her knight, would come and whisk her away to forever happiness. Todd was that guy.
They had been a couple ever since.
Both were bubbly, free spirited and smart, and everyone thought them the perfect couple. After three years together everyone expected them to get engaged and despite the fact he had set his sights on an out of town college for his law degree she had never thought it would come between them.
Until this moment.
Todd cleared his throat across the table.
“Don’t cry Elle. I just think we need to see other people we’re young and we need experiences.”
Elle couldn’t look at him.
Couldn’t let him see how much this devastated her. He seemed almost irritated now.
“Come on, Elle, you’ll see you’ll find someone awesome for you.”
“I thought I had,” she mumbled in disbelief. “You… you don’t love me anymore…?” It squeaked out of her like a rusty hinge.
Todd looked around uncomfortably.
“I’ll always love you, Elle, you know that. Heck, we practically grew up together. You’re my best friend.”
She lifted her eyes to meet his.
“Then why are you doing this, Todd? Maybe we just need a break for a minute, or a vacation away…” She looked up into his eyes, daring to hope.
After a moment of looking like he was sitting in the dentist’s chair waiting for some painful procedure, he leant forward and blurted out, “I’m in love with someone else Elle. I’m sorry.”
The restaurant spun around. She clutched the sides of her chair and barely recognized the squeaking voice that came out of her.
“Who?”
“Buffy Adams.”
A vision of long blonde hair and preppy perfectness popped into her head.
Elle had often seem them together on the college campus when she met Todd for lunch, but it had never occurred to her that Todd might be having romantic feelings for her!
Now she realized how naive she had been.
“We both got accepted at UB law school,” he explained. “We’re leaving tomorrow for freshmen orientation and to get our class schedule.”
The floor dropped out from underneath Elle and she felt like she was falling through Alice’s looking glass. This couldn’t be happening. This was all a bad dream. She had thought they were getting engaged when instead he was in love with someone else.
Leaving with someone else.
How had this happened?
“You know it was just a hometown thing with us, Elle, you couldn’t expect it to last forever.” He gave her a pathetic shrug.
She cleared her throat but her words still sounded like a little frog croaking. “But, but, why, why couldn’t it? Your parents went to…?”
“Well, my parents are different,” he interrupted. “They both have masters degrees from Brown. They expect big things from me.”
She swallowed hard facing the truth.
“Just say it, Todd. You said it didn’t matter but it does. I have no pedigree for you to leapfrog off of. A future Senator needs connections. I’ve heard
you say that a million times. ”
He stared at the menu and whispered to her.
“It’s different. She’s different. I’m sorry Elle but I have to make the best choices for my future. The right wife is an important part of that.”
Elle was staring at her menu trying not to cry. She wiped a lone tear away quickly, then looked through her purse for a hankie.
She caught sight of her nails as she did so. Darn it, she had forgotten to paint them before dinner! Working with the horses and helping at the diner was a tough combo on a girl’s hands. The sight of them made her realize just how far away from each other they really were.
She glanced over at Todd’s perfectly manicured man hands and felt kind of grossed out.
No man’s hands should look that unused, in her opinion.
But Todd wanted a girl with hands as pretty as his.
Elle recalled Buffy always had perfect nails.
Drat her!
Didn’t that girl ever work in her life?
But of course Elle knew the answer to that. Buffy came from a rich and prominent family. She had never worked a day in her life.
They couldn’t have been more different.
The perfect heiress bent on law school. The free spirited orphan that just longed to be a mother and have a family.
She had thought that’s what Todd wanted as well. But she was wrong.
Todd wanted Buffy.
Elle stood up and tossed her long beautiful locks away from her face and collected her things to leave.
As she raised from the table her green eyes flashing she leaned in and whispered to him.
“I thought you were my prince and my hero. I would have loved you forever. You’re going to regret this Todd Vanderling.”
And with that she swept out of the room, leaving him gaping behind her and not realizing the amazing acting job she had just pulled off.
As she strode toward the door she realized she didn’t have her car with her.
She rummaged in her purse to find her phone, and then dialed the Inn.
Her grandpa Earl answered.
“Eagle’s Point Inn. May I help you?”
All of Elle’s bravado fell away when she heard his familiar loving voice.
“Grandpa, it’s me….”
Earl’s voice changed immediately at the sound of her voice.
“Murielle? You don’t even sound like you. What’s going on, darling?”
“I, I’m in Burlington. I don’t have a ride home…” Her tears overcame her now she was alone and she sobbed, unafraid to be real with the one person who knew her best.
“Darn cell phones, Grandpa.”
“Stay put, sweetheart. I’m coming to get you.”
Chapter 2
Earl Elkins and Ethel Landers were soon in the car on their way to get Elle. Earl was unusually quiet and not his normal bouncy, happy self. Ethel could tell he was worried. When he had gotten off the phone and said he needed to go to Burlington right away she had just nodded and got in the car with him, no questions asked.
They drove a long way before he looked over at her and spoke in his soft, drawling way.
“It’s Murielle. I’ve never heard her like this before. I’m worried, Ethel, real worried.”
Ethel reached over and took Earl’s gnarled hand and they shared a look of comfort.
Ethel Landers and Earl had just recently started dating at the ripe old ages of 62 and 63 respectively. Earl was a known figure around town as the lodge keeper and owner of Eagle’s Peak. The Elkins’ family had owned the lodge since the 1800’s and Earl was much beloved amongst the townspeople. Everyone trusted his good sense and he was always the first to lend a hand if you needed a barn roof fixed or just a good breakfast.
Ethel Landers was a native of Kissing Bridge as well. She had grown up in Kissing Bridge and had always been a beauty. Her natural good looks had blossomed over the years into the stunningly handsome senior she was now.
The Landers ladies had always made their mark on Kissing Bridge. They were famous for their cookies, their bakery, and oddly for their family curse as well. The interesting family had had its share of unusual circumstances that had lent credence to the belief that the Lander’s curse – that relationships could never work out for these ladies - was real.
But since Summer Landers, Ethel’s daughter had married Brad Anderson, thus becoming Mrs. Anderson; they agreed the curse had been broken.
Now, for the first time in thirty years, Ethel had been open to the idea that maybe it wasn’t too late to find love.
Earl felt comforted to have Ethel by his side. He had been alone along time now since his wife passed away. Raising Elle had taken up much of his time and energy so he hadn’t missed love in his life. Still, as Earl looked at Ethel’s sweet face and concerned look for Elle, he knew he was a lucky man. She understood being worried about the people you loved.
He shook his head.
“Darn cell phones.”
Chapter 3
Once outside the restaurant, Elle broke down and cried as hard as she wanted. No use masking the truth to herself.
When she was happy she was happy.
People loved her.
Charisma they called it.
Laugher and joy filled the room whenever Elle showed up and she was rarely down.
But she was down now.
Usually she would berate herself for wallowing in low feelings but today she would be real at least with herself.
All her dreams had just broken apart like a big pin pricking her beautiful red balloon.
She looked down at the lovely red dress she had bought just for the occasion, hugging her slim body.
Tonight she had thought she would become engaged.
Instead she had become single.
Without Todd she suddenly felt worthless.
Her hero prince was gone and her empire had toppled.
She was alone again with all her old insecurities.
She closed her eyes tight to stop all the old feelings from coming back.
Elle had had a tough time as a child. She had been an awkward child, overweight, short, with red hair and freckles.
Her mother’s choice to name her after her great grand mum had not helped either. Murielle.
Born chubby, naturally clumsy and with a funny name. The cards had been stacked against her from the start.
But Elle had always had her parents to love her and they had assured her she was wonderful.
She had the most beautiful laugh and people just seemed to adore her even if her classmates couldn’t see her light yet.
When her mom and dad had died suddenly in a car wreck, leaving her orphaned at only seven years old, Murielle was beyond devastated. She felt like she had died right along with them, but somehow her body had gotten stuck.
She’d had to leave all she knew in her home in Florida and move to Kissing Bridge Mountain to live with her Grandpa Earl, who she had only met once before.
Earl was a nice man and overjoyed to have Murielle with him. It helped ease the loss of his daughter.
But Murielle refused to talk. For over a year she wouldn’t say anything and Earl feared the loss of her parents might be something she would never be able to get over.
Then miraculously one special Christmas she had finally started to speak.
“Mistletoe,” she had said as Earl had held her up underneath it.
He had never been so happy.
Brad Anderson had given her a peck on the cheek for her first mistletoe kiss ever and the smile that had spread over her face warmed Earl’s heart.
It was the beginning of a change in her.
Earl owned and ran the Eagle’s Peak Lodge, which also had stables and gardens.
Murielle had slowly found her solace and center in the horses. Although humans seemed to disappoint her, the horses never did.
They didn’t judge her.
They just loved her back unconditionally.
As a young g
irl she would ride daily off into the mountains and leave all her loss behind. With the horses she could lose herself in the feeling of the union when they would gallop and the wind would whip her hair around and she felt God with her.
In time she became an expert horsewoman with blue ribbons decorating her room.
By the time she entered high school she had sprouted into a tall slender beauty and shortened her name from Murielle, to Elle.
When she met Todd her freshman year and their love blossomed she finally felt like her life was good. She felt sure that together they would build the life she had always dreamed of but never had, and she would finally have her own real family.
So much for that.
Chapter 4
Jason Anderson sat across from his brother Brad at the kitchen table, looking over some business notes. It was Sunday morning at the Anderson house so as per usual, the large silver cooking pot was on the stove. The pot sat simmering with tomatoes and spices and meats in preparation for their traditional Sunday night dinner with the family.
It was the custom that the family would all start arriving early Sunday morning, each of them bringing something to add to the spaghetti sauce - fresh sausage, homemade meatballs, fresh garlic.
As the mixture simmered throughout the day the family would gather for conversation and then all go to mass before convening back at the Anderson house for dinner and the eating of the pasta and special sauce.
Grandma Christiano was full blown Italian and Mrs. Anderson had learned to make all her traditional specialties from Tuscany. She had grown up with the “Sunday Sauce” tradition.
Over time many a Kissing Bridge native had become privy to this information and would suddenly find themselves stopping by for a surprise Sunday visit, and dinner.
Of course they were always welcome at the Anderson house.
Mom came in from the garden carrying some fresh basil. It was June in Kissing Bridge. The snow had long cleared and the garden was full of fresh greens and vegetables and she intended to take full advantage of them.
She kissed both her boys on the cheek. “It’s so nice to have you both here. Your brothers are on the way.”
She couldn’t help but give them each a big hug. Although all her other boys had stayed in Kissing Bridge, both Jason and Brad had just recently come home.