Backward Blessings
Blessings of Love Book Six
By
RACHEL A. ANDERSEN
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Rachel A. Andersen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: [email protected].
First paperback edition October 2019
Book design by Jessica L. Elliott
www.amazon.com/author/rachelandersen
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Books in the Blessings of Love series
CHAPTER ONE | Jake
CHAPTER TWO | Teresa
CHAPTER THREE | Jake
CHAPTER FOUR | Teresa
CHAPTER FIVE | Jake
CHAPTER SIX | Teresa
CHAPTER SEVEN | Jake
CHAPTER EIGHT | Teresa
CHAPTER NINE | Jake
EPILOGUE | Lilian | One Year Later
Books in the Blessings of Love series
Brushstrokes and Blessings | Blessings of Love Series Book 1 | by | DANIELLE THORNE
CHAPTER ONE
Brushstrokes and Blessings | Blessings of Love Series Book 1 | Purchase the first book in the Blessings of Love Series on Amazon! | Acknowledgments
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
About the Author
Follow Rachel Andersen on:
For all those who pick themselves (and others) up after they’re down, find the strength inside to try again, and learn lessons of grace, courage, and compassion along the way.
Books in the Blessings of Love series
Brushstrokes and Blessings by Danielle Thorne
Blessed by the Fake Boyfriend by Lacy Andersen
Bless His Heart by Jessica L. Elliott
Abundantly Blessed by Rachael Eliker
Twice Blessed by J. J. DiBenedetto
Backward Blessings by Rachel A. Andersen
CHAPTER ONE
Jake
“Melissa, what Norman Rockwell nightmare have you planned this Thanksgiving?”
Jake Littlefield could almost picture his sister’s eye roll though she was about five hundred miles away. “You’ve been in Blessings for a whopping thirty seconds. What makes you think this is going to be a nightmare?”
“The corn stalk decorations on the streetlamps, the gigantic Welcome to Blessings sign, the fall festival rerouting traffic away from Main Street, take your pick.”
“You know, Jake, most people might think that sounds like the perfect place to celebrate Thanksgiving. Festive, even.”
He turned his back on the large farmhouse with a cheery sign proclaiming it the site of the Beautiful Blessings Bed and Breakfast. “Mel, you know I’m not most people. Is there a reason we couldn’t spend Thanksgiving in Bora Bora?”
Melissa harrumphed. “Thanksgiving in Bora Bora is the same kind of avoidance you’ve perfected over the last three years. That’s why I searched the internet for the best places to spend Thanksgiving. Blessings, Kansas was number one.”
Jake ran his fingers through his hair. When would she get it through her thick skull? Thanksgiving made his skin crawl. “Bikinis and beaches aren’t avoidance. They’re a vacation—a vacation better suited to me than some idyllic small town that starts celebrating Thanksgiving a week early.”
“I’ll admit that I might have gotten a little carried away when I planned this Thanksgiving trip, but I’m worried about you. You’re drifting through life. No anchor. No foundation.”
“So, you blackmail me into vacationing in the living shrine to the one holiday I cannot stand, and then you abandon me to my fate.”
Melissa groaned. “That’s not fair. No one could have foreseen Dan’s emergency appendectomy yesterday.”
He glanced back at the farmhouse. Two eyes peered out at him through the blinds of a second-story bedroom. Maybe this town was less American nostalgia and a little more horror film. Just one more reason he shouldn’t want to leave, right? “So, our deal is null and void. I can get back to the airport in less than an hour, and I’ll be in Miami by tomorrow night.”
“You mean, the deal where I stop mentioning how long it’s been since you’ve been back home in exchange for a Thanksgiving in a location of my choosing?”
Jake scowled. “Yes. That one.”
“What makes you think that the deal’s null and void?”
“Well, there was the implication that I wouldn’t be alone in the world’s campiest town for Thanksgiving.”
His sister chuckled. “It can’t be that bad.”
“Melissa, there was an inflatable giant pumpkin in the town square. There were high school couples strolling hand-in-hand. I think I even saw a band in the town’s band stand.”
“Sounds charming.”
“It sounds too picture-perfect. Maybe I’ve seen too many movies, but it’s about now that the serial killers, robots, or aliens come out of the woodwork.”
Melissa sighed. “Trust me, big brother. There are no serial killers, robots, or aliens hiding in Blessings, Kansas.”
“Didn’t one of the world’s best-known superheroes come out of a small Kansas town?”
“Jake.”
“Come to think of it, he was an alien too.”
“Jacob.”
Melissa’s voice was sharp like a verbal slap to make him take control of his faculties again.
He took a deep breath. The oxygen helped to clear his mind.
“This is why I’m worried about you. You see danger lurking everywhere, even inventing it to protect yourself from opening up to anyone.”
A lifetime of sisterly lectures giving him grief about his emotional vulnerability was starting to look less bearable than a week in Suzy Homemaker’s autumnal paradise.
“Okay, sis. I’ll stay.”
Melissa fell silent. It was almost enough to make him laugh. She’d been expecting more of a fight. “I’m sorry. What did you just say?”
He straightened, a sense of determination growing stronger with each passing moment. “I’ll stay, but only on one condition.”
“Okay?” Her voice hinted at a conditional acceptance of her own.
“We put a one-year moratorium on the emotional vulnerability crap.”
“Explain.”
How much plainer could he make it? “I stay in Blessings for one week, starting today. Friday to Friday. If I make it the full week, then you must stop commenting on how emotionally available I am for one year. Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving.”
She was quiet for a moment, probably thinking through all the ways she might kick herself in the next year if she made the deal.
“I have a counter-offer.”
Melissa sounded more like a Wall Street broker than a South Dakota homemaker. Something about that made the hair on his arms stand up straight.
“I will agree to your terms if we include the following addendum. You have to find a date for the Harvest Ball tomorrow night.”
Jake’s eyes bugged out of his head. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me. You’ve got your pilot’s uniform. That will be acceptable evening attire for a small-town soiree. Take a date to the Harvest Ball...and you must treat her the way Mom would have wanted you to. None of the high school pick-up and ditch shenanigans.”
; Jake’s eyes narrowed in concentration. “Do I have to take her to dinner?”
“Dinner’s optional, but you have to be with your date for at least two hours. Flowers, compliments, the whole nine yards.”
Jake rubbed his eyes with one hand. “You make it sound like I don’t know how to date.”
“You don’t. You know how to booty call. It’s not the same thing.”
This conversation was making him lose faith that his sister would be able to hold to her side of the bargain when he won. Every conversation with her had running commentary. “Do you accept the terms of the agreement or not?”
“I’ll email you a survey to give your date tomorrow night.”
At this rate, his sister would be the one to kill any hope of romance in this date she was insisting on. He’d enjoy pointing that out when she wondered whatever happened to that girl you took out to the Harvest ball? “I can’t think of a good date I’ve had where I didn’t get a good review on my end-of-date survey.”
“Do you or do you not want me to give you a year off of sisterly intervention?”
Jake huffed. “End-of-date survey accepted.”
A screen door slammed behind him. He turned and glanced at the woman who exited the farmhouse and marched toward him.
So, the welcome party was choosing to be more proactive than just peeping through the blinds. This was going to get interesting.
Jake turned his attention back to the call. “So, we’re agreed. I’m in Blessings for a week. You send me a survey I’ll give my date for the Harvest ball. Once I leave next Friday morning, you give me a year off from your sisterly concerns about my emotional well-being.”
“Agreed.”
“Then, I’ll look forward to your email.”
“I’ll look forward to reading the survey results.”
The words of sentiment he felt got jumbled in his mouth as he moved to speak. “Tell Dan to get well, okay? I may be annoyed by some of your antics, but I’m glad he’s safe.”
Why couldn’t he just say what he meant?
“I love you too, big brother. Take care of yourself. I’d hate to be wrong about the serial killers, robots, and aliens.”
He laughed as he hung up the phone.
“Excuse me!”
He turned to find a woman with light brown hair standing only a foot away from him. She was pretty enough, but she was doing a good job hiding it in her leggings, tunic, and ponytail. “Hi.”
“You can’t park here.”
Jake’s brow furrowed as he looked back at his car. “I can’t?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She put a hand on her hip. “There’s plenty of parking at the church and at town hall. If you’re looking for something more convenient, there’s off-street parking anywhere else. This parking lot is for guests.”
He studied the strip of gravel just off the street. “I think you might be exaggerating if you call this a parking lot.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Regardless, it’s private property. Only guests of the bed and breakfast can park here.”
He stifled the smile that threatened to break his cover. “And you’re not expecting any guests for check-in?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but no. I got a cancellation this morning from the one check-in I expected.”
He reached out a hand as he allowed himself a chuckle.
She examined his hand with a wary eye like he was offering her a bruised banana for no good reason.
“I think there may have been a miscommunication. I was supposed to arrive here around the same time as my sister and her husband, but they aren’t able to make it.”
She frowned. “You’re checking in?”
He pulled back his extended hand. No sense in leaving it out there for public humiliation if she wasn’t going to take it. “If there’s still a vacancy, of course.”
“The festival tends to bring in a few tourists, but they’re usually only here for the day from Kansas City. Anyone else from out-of-town is staying with family.”
Jake eyed her. “So, there is a vacancy? Or do I have to find another place to stay?”
She pursed her lips. “I’m Teresa Rampton. I’m the manager here at Beautiful Blessings. Can I take your bags?”
He looked back toward the car. In his hopes that Melissa would let him off the hook, he’d left his suitcase in the backseat of the rental car. “It’s just the one bag, and I’ve got it.”
She shrugged. Her body language read whatever you say loud and clear.
He’d hardly gotten his suitcase out of his car before she walked back toward the farmhouse. “You’ll be in the American Buffalo room, Mister—”
“Littlefield. Jake Littlefield.” He looked down at his pilot’s uniform. Technically, it was First Officer Littlefield, but he wasn’t going to quibble.
“It’s the first room on the right when you get to the top of the stairs though it’s clearly labeled. Breakfast is every morning from seven to nine in the dining room. Other meals are available for a surcharge.”
They walked up the four stairs to the wrap-around porch as the front door opened. It would have seemed like automation or magic if a tow-headed boy hadn’t poked his head around the corner. “Welcome to the Beautiful Blessings Bed and Breakfast. I’m Logan.”
Jake looked from the boy to the woman beside him. Something about the boy’s eyes reminded him of the woman who was orienting him to the workings of the bed and breakfast, just less guarded. Maybe she was his mother?
The boy reached for Jake’s suitcase. “Did Teresa tell you what room you’re staying in?”
Jake sneaked a peek at Teresa who had raised her eyebrow. “While I appreciate the professional tone, Logan, this bellhop calls me Mom from now on, got it?”
The boy’s ears turned pink. “Right. Sorry.”
Jake bit back a laugh. “Your mom said I’m in the American Buffalo room. I’m not sure if that’s a commentary on my personality or if it’s just the only one available.”
Logan grinned. “Oh, Mom likes to put guests in rooms that remind her of them. She probably thinks you’re a wild animal.”
Jake stole a glance at Teresa. She avoided his gaze, but her cheeks turned pink.
Oh, he could get along with this kid. This kid was all right. If anything was to change his mind on his confirmed bachelor state, it was more likely going to be this boy than his sister’s goading. He could be proud to have a kid like this.
Though the suitcase was two-thirds the size of the boy, Logan maneuvered it to the staircase and lugged it up the stairs.
Jake mentally reviewed the contents of his wallet. Did he still have a few dollars he could use to tip the eager assistant? He hoped so.
He caught Teresa’s eyes on him. He couldn’t read her expression. There was a bit of pride in her son, but there seemed to be something else. Concern, maybe? Worry that he would do something to ruin the boy’s attempt at independence?
“Are you going to the Harvest Blessings festival?”
Jake turned his attention from Teresa to her son. His face was turning red with the exertion required to get the suitcase up the stairs.
Jake was torn between two instincts: to take his own suitcase up the stairs and to allow the boy a chance to express how grownup he was.
Teresa nudged him with her elbow. He turned a startled expression to her, and she gestured at the boy with her head.
Right. He’d asked a question.
“The Harvest Blessings festival? What’s that?”
The boy reached the top of the stairs and leaned against the suitcase. “Only the best Blessings tradition ever. A Ferris wheel. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies as big as your face. Hayrides. Kettle corn. Cotton candy.”
How did that sound less annoying when it came out of the mouth of a seven-year-old than when it was seen through the eyes of a thirty-something-year-old man? “Sounds fun.”
“You should come with me and Mom tonight.”
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nbsp; Jake hesitated. Was it just him or was this kid as bad as his sister? He took another glance at Teresa. Aside from the fact that they’d gotten off on the wrong foot out in the parking lot, it wasn’t the worst idea for her to be his date to the Harvest Ball.
He shook himself. What was that his sister said? That he imagined danger at every turn?
Teresa had a kid. She probably had a husband locked away somewhere in this large farmhouse. There was no reason for him to set his sights on the first woman he’d seen since his sister’s Harvest Ball addendum.
“Logan, Mr. Littlefield may have other plans for the evening.”
Logan’s shoulders drooped though the boy tried to hide his marked disappointment through a mask of stoicism.
Jake cleared his throat. “Actually, I don’t—I don’t have any plans. I’d love to go.”
Teresa’s eyebrow twitched. “You would?”
For the first time in almost twenty years, he felt like he was a middle-schooler who was bumbling through his first forays into dating and romance. “If—if it’s okay with you, I mean.”
Teresa’s cheeks flushed a deeper red. Was the heat coming off his face indicative of his own embarrassment?
He caught a glimpse of the hopeful look in Logan’s eyes.
Oh, the kid was definitely playing matchmaker.
Teresa looked away as she shrugged her shoulders. A surprisingly coy look for a woman as fierce as the innkeeper who had tried to make him park elsewhere to attend the festival. “I guess we can show you around town.”
Jake cleared his throat as he tried to get a handle on his racing nerves. “I’d appreciate it, but if you need to meet your husband for a family night out, you can give me a map...”
“She doesn’t have a husband.”
Jake glanced from Logan’s bright eyes to Teresa’s. “No husband?”
Her lips tightened as she shook her head. “No husband.”
Something about the way she said that told him not to ask any other questions. Fortunately, that suited his purposes well. After the Harvest Ball, it wouldn’t matter if he interacted with the innkeeper for the rest of his stay. No need to scratch any deeper than the surface.
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