Welcome To Winterville: A Small Town Holiday Romance

by Carrie Elks

  Another cheer rippled through the crowd. Thank goodness everybody looked happy. Well, almost everybody. She spotted Josh’s grandparents sitting in a little shaded area to the right. His grandma was smiling at her, of course. She and Holly had been in regular contact since Christmas, and Holly had visited Cincinnati a few times with Josh. He only drove back occasionally now, when there was a big meeting his new CEO couldn’t handle.

  But boy, the reconciliations more than made up for it.

  Josh’s grandfather was more taciturn. Holly wasn’t sure if it was because he was wearing a full, wool suit with a vest, or because they’d proved him wrong. The Winterville Inn was already fully booked. Not just for the summer season, but for the holiday season, too. Josh and North were talking about buying more land to build a second Inn.

  “During your stay here in Winterville, we very much hope you’ll enjoy the newly remodeled Cold Fingers Café, run by our very own Dolores.” She grinned at the café owner. “And for dinner, if you don’t want to eat at the Inn, we highly recommend our brand new restaurant in town, Candy’s Canteen. And for those of you over the age of twenty-one, why not stop by to try out the bar there?”

  She glanced down at her notes. “Oh, and while you’re here, please make sure to visit our amazing gift shops. Since we celebrate Christmas all year round, why not stock up on all your gifts and decorations? You’ll be the envy of your friends having Christmas wrapped up by the end of summer.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at her cousins and Josh, wondering if she’d forgotten anything. But they were all staring proudly at her. Taking a deep breath, she nodded at Gray Hartson, who nodded back.

  “So without further ado, let me introduce the wonderful Gray Hartson and his band. They’ve kindly agreed to play for us today, and we are so grateful to them.”

  The crowd went wild. Gray was a big deal, not just here but all over America and the World. His low, rough voice and his heartfelt songs made women go weak in the knees. And men want to save them from falling.

  Gray winked at her, then walked up to the mic, kissing Holly on the cheek. “Ladies and gentlemen, please give a huge cheer to Holly Winter and her cousins, North, Gabe, Alaska, and Everley. Without them, none of us would be here today.”

  Everybody was raving about the concert Gray and his band had put on. Staff dressed in their summer uniforms were handing out glasses of champagne and orange juice, along with popsicles for the children. Josh slid his hand into Holly’s and looked out at the throng of guests.

  “Are you happy?” he asked her with a soft smile. She looked beautiful today, in a white summer dress, and a thick brown belt that accentuated her slim waist.

  “So happy. How about you? Did you make the right decision?” She pulled her lip between her teeth. She’d asked him this before.

  Was he sure he wanted to be here in Winterville and not in Cincinnati?

  Was he certain he was ready to leave his business in others’ hands?

  Was he okay with pissing his Grandad off, even if the old man had forgiven him since?

  The answer to all three was yes. Moving here with Holly was the best decision of his life. How could he regret it when it had given him the one thing he wanted.

  Her.

  “I absolutely made the right decision,” he murmured. Happiness bubbled through him. “I’m part of this. Right along with you. And I’m so happy. I am.”

  “So am I.” She leaned her head against his shoulder.

  He pressed his lips to her brow. “Can I make you even happier?”

  She looked up at him. “Is that a come on?”

  He laughed. “No. But maybe later. I just want to show you something.” He slid his arm around her waist. “Come for a walk with me.”

  She gave him a quizzical look, but walked with him anyway. Around the back of the Inn toward the newly renovated cabins that lined the slope down the mountain. This had been his project. The cabins had been ten years old when he’d started to work on them, and their age had been showing through. Now each one was gleaming new, with all modern conveniences inside. They were able to rent them out for a premium, both in summer and for the winter ahead. He was damn proud of that.

  “Where are we going?” Holly asked him, as they passed the cabins and made their way down the hill beyond.

  “You’ll see.” He took a left, then smiled because she let out a little gasp.

  “You didn’t knock it down?” she asked, her voice filled with wonder. She was staring at her old cabin, though it didn’t look old anymore.

  “Nope.” It had taken an act of will to stop her from coming down here to inspect the cabins while they worked on them. Thank goodness he’d gotten her cousins to distract her. Because he hadn’t wanted Holly to see her old cabin until it was ready.

  And now it was, and her eyes were shining with tears.

  “I worked on this one myself.” With his own two hands. And the work had taken him about three times as long as it would have a builder. But he wanted it to be special. To be theirs and theirs alone.

  Holly walked toward the cabin, reaching out to touch the wooden door. Above it, he’d hung a hand painted sign.

  Holly’s Cabin.

  “You’re going to need to change that,” she told him, looking over her shoulder. “Your name should be there, too.”

  “Holly and Josh?” he asked her.

  “Josh and Holly.” She smiled, remembering Everley’s couple name for them. “Jolly.”

  He laughed. Because the contraction of their names was just so damn apt. Better than Bennifer and Brangelina and Kimye. Not that any of them had lasted.

  Jolly, on the other hand, was here for the duration. They would last forever.

  “Go inside.”

  She pushed the door open, revealing her one-room cabin. He’d repaired the roof and cleaned out the fireplace, then laid a new floor and painted the walls.

  And then there were the beds. Two of them with butterfly coverlets.

  “It looks the same, only better.”

  He smiled, pleased. “That was the plan.”

  “You did this for me?” she asked him, her voice cracking.

  “For us. Because this is where we started. And maybe for our kids, when they’re older and they want to get away from us. It’s the perfect hideaway.”

  “Kids?” She grinned goofily at him.

  “One day.” He nodded. “Right?”

  “Right.” She twirled, looking around the cabin again. “Hey, you cleaned out the fireplace.”

  “Yep. It’s in full working order.”

  “But what about the pebble?”

  “The pebble?”

  “Your old butterfly pebble. We put it in there on Christmas Day.” She blinked, the smile melting from her lips. “Don’t tell me it’s gone.”

  He swallowed. “Look in the grate.”

  She walked over to the fireplace, dropping to her knees. “It’s here.” She sounded relieved. “There’s something else, too. What is it?” Her voice trailed off as she picked her discovery up from the grate. “Josh?”

  When she turned to look at him, he was already on one knee. She was holding the ring in her palm, looking at it with surprise.

  “Holly Winter. You beautiful, intelligent, amazing woman. I pinch myself every day when I wake up and see you in bed next to me. I keep waiting for you to run, but you never do. And now that I’ve got you, I want to keep you forever. So will you do me the honor of agreeing to marry me?”

  She shuffled toward him on her knees, a tear rolling down her cheek. “You planned all this?”

  “Yeah.” He’d thought of it months ago. “Keeping it a secret has been a bitch. North’s had to stand on Everley’s feet about five times today to shut her up.”

  Holly laughed. “I saw that! She was cursing North to hell. She told him if she couldn’t dance again, it was his fault.”

  Josh smiled, because he loved Holly’s cousins. Working alongside North to get everything ready had
given him a grudging respect for him. And Gabe always kept everybody amused when he visited. Everley and Alaska had always been on his side – and for that he was grateful.

  “So what do you say?” he asked her. “Want to take a chance on a city boy like me?”

  Her eyes sparkled just like the diamond on her palm. “Yes, I really do.”

  He breathed out heavily. He hadn’t even been aware he was holding his breath. “Thank God.” He took her hand in his, sliding the ring onto her slim finger. Then he pulled her close, his lips capturing hers, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back with so much love it made his heart ache.

  “Let’s make it a short engagement,” he whispered, sliding his hand through her hair, tracing the line of her spine through the fabric of her dress.

  “How short?”

  “A week?”

  She laughed. “Give me a few months at least. I want to get married when there’s snow on the ground.”

  “Here?”

  “Definitely.” She kissed him again, delight making her skin glow.

  “November,” he agreed. “When the first snow arrives.” He could wait until then. If he had to. Because, let’s face it, Holly Winter was worth waiting for.

  He’d done it for eight years, he could do it for another five months. And while they were waiting, he’d keep kissing her and loving her and pinching himself every morning.

  “I love you,” he whispered, taking her hand in his. She was still clutching his old pebble. It made him smile.

  “I love you, too,” she told him.

  And there was nothing better in his life than hearing that.

  November…

  “She looks beautiful,” Everley whispered to Alaska, as Holly and Josh kissed beneath a floral arch, Josh’s hands tangling into her tumbling curls. As bridesmaids, she and Alaska were wearing red velvet dresses, white roses woven into their blonde hair. Alaska was openly crying, tears smearing mascara over her cheeks. Everley smiled and hugged her sister tight, blinking back her own tears.

  One of them had to be strong. And it was usually her.

  The pianist started to play a beautifully slow version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, and Josh took Holly’s hand in his, a smile pulling at his lips when he touched her new wedding ring. Then they walked down the aisle, smiling at their family and friends, though their gazes kept returning to each other.

  Everley let out a little sigh, because Holly and Josh deserved to be happy. They’d fought hard to be together, after all. And they’d fought hard for this town, too. Everybody here loved them.

  And she thought she might love them most of all.

  As Josh and Holly made it out of the ballroom and the wedding party followed, the guests stood and followed them down the aisle. Alaska and Everley waited with their cousins. Gabe had agreed to be Josh’s best man, and North had walked Holly down the aisle. Now they were welcoming the guests as they walked into the lobby. Kris hadn’t been able to make it over. Though they were still hoping he might make it back stateside in a few months.

  It had been way too long since their sixth cousin had made it home.

  “Um, Ev?” Alaska sounded wary.

  Everley pulled her gaze from her cousins. Alaska was frowning as she looked over her shoulder. “What’s up?”

  Alaska’s voice was tight. “Have you seen who’s with Charlie?”

  “Is it Dolores? I swear those two have a thing going.”

  Alaska slowly shook her head. “Not Dolores. Look at the back of the line.”

  A shot of electricity prickled down Everley’s spine as she turned to look in the direction Alaska was indicating.

  Sure enough, Charlie was standing there, talking rapidly to somebody next to him, his arms gesticulating as though he couldn’t keep control of them.

  And that’s when her gaze caught his. Pale blue eyes she knew all too well. Dark hair, cut short, revealing a line of paler skin above the tan he must have gotten from all his time working in Africa.

  Dylan Shaw. Charlie’s son.

  Her childhood sweetheart. Her first love. The one who left her all those years ago.

  Her ex-husband.

  She hadn’t seen him in years. It had felt like a gift from God that he’d been working for Doctors Overseas in Africa. Because dammit he was still as beautiful as she remembered.

  Maybe more so. The years had definitely been kind to him.

  “What’s he doing here?” Alaska asked.

  “I have no idea.” But whatever it was, her heart needed to calm down. Right now it was doing a loop the loop behind her ribcage. “Just stick with me, okay. I don’t want to talk to him.”

  Alaska nodded. “Of course. I’ve got your back.”

  Everley swallowed, lifting her shoulders back to regain her poise. She was an actress, a performer. She could feign nonchalance. Even if her body was screaming that it was very much not cool with this situation.

  The guests shuffled through, shaking their hands one by one. And with each moment, she could feel Dylan getting closer.

  What would she say? Would he touch her? Could she deal with it? She took another deep breath.

  This was Holly’s wedding. She’d have to deal with it.

  “I wish they would hurry up,” Gabe said, oblivious to her turmoil. “I don’t want the champagne to run out.”

  It took another minute for Charlie and Dylan to reach them. Charlie shook North’s hand, then Gabe’s, before leaning to kiss Alaska’s cheek.

  “Sweetheart,” he said gruffly, pulling Everley against him.

  Once upon a time he’d been her father-in-law. For such a short time. But even before that, they’d been close.

  “Thank you for coming,” she murmured as he released her.

  Then Dylan was standing in front of her. All six-foot-two of him. He was wearing a blue suit, with a white shirt and yellow tie. And dammit, he still smelled good. Too good.

  “Hello. Thank you for being here. Please go through and grab a glass of champagne.” She kept a smile on her face, despite the best effort of her muscles.

  “You look beautiful.” His voice was smooth and deep. “How are you?”

  Her heart hammered against her chest. “I’m good. Real good.”

  He nodded. “I’m pleased to hear that.” He leaned forward to kiss her cheek, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut. Her heart did another three-sixty leap. “Can I talk with you later?” he asked her. “In private?”

  Alarm bells clattered in her ears. “I don’t think I’ll have the time today. I’m the maid of honor. I have a lot to do.”

  His gaze flickered to hers. “It’s important.”

  She frowned. “It can’t be that important. I haven’t seen you for years.”

  Dylan exhaled heavily, his beautiful lips parting. “It’s really important, Evie. We have a problem we need to sort out.”

  Evie. Only Dylan had ever called her that. She felt her cheeks flush.

  “What kind of problem?”

  He leaned closer, his breath tickling her ear. His voice was low and smooth, and made her shiver. But not as much as his words did. Because they were the last thing she expected to hear as his sweet voice caressed her skin.

  “A really big problem. We’re still married.”

  Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed Josh and Holly’s story. The next book in the Winterville series is HEARTS IN WINTER. Find out what happens when Everley discovers she’s still married to the love of her life — Doctor Dylan Shaw, the man she thought she divorced years ago.

  CLICK HERE TO PRE ORDER NOW!

  And if you want to know more about Josh and Holly’s stolen days together eight years ago, you can download their FREE prequel novella here A KISS FOR CHRISTMAS - A WINTERVILLE PREQUEL NOVELLA

  Dear Reader

  Thank you so much for reading Josh and Holly’s story. If you enjoyed it and you get a chance, I’d be so grateful if you can leave a review. And don’t forget to keep an e
ye out for HEARTS IN WINTER, Everley and Dylan’s story, releasing on November 30th.

  I can’t wait to share more stories with you.

  Yours,

  Carrie xx

  Also by Carrie Elks

  THE WINTERVILLE SERIES

  A gorgeously wintery small town romance series, featuring six cousins who fight to save the sound their grandmother built.

  Welcome to Winterville

  Hearts In Winter (releases Nov 30, 2021)

  Leave Me Breathless (releases 2022)

  ANGEL SANDS SERIES

  A heartwarming small town beach series, full of best friends, hot guys and happily-ever-afters.

  Let Me Burn

  She’s Like the Wind

  Sweet Little Lies

  Just A Kiss

  Baby I’m Yours

  Pieces Of Us

  Chasing The Sun

  Heart And Soul

  Lost In Him (releases 2022)

  THE HEARTBREAK BROTHERS SERIES

  A gorgeous small town series about four brothers and the women who capture their hearts.

  Take Me Home

  Still The One

  A Better Man

  Somebody Like You

  When We Touch

  THE SHAKESPEARE SISTERS SERIES

  An epic series about four strong yet vulnerable sisters, and the alpha men who steal their hearts.

  Summer’s Lease

  A Winter’s Tale

  Absent in the Spring

  By Virtue Fall

  THE LOVE IN LONDON SERIES

  Three books about strong and sassy women finding love in the big city.