by Meg Easton
“Sweet romance at its best!
I want to visit Nestled Hollow over and over again!”
-Elana Johnson
USA Today bestselling author of the Hawthorn Harbor series and the Getaway Bay series
“Romance done right! I found myself wishing I could pack up, move to the quaint and friendly town of Nestled Hollow, and enjoy the happy gatherings, friendly faces, and tight-knit community. Already looking forward to the next Nestled Hollow love story. This series is going to be a keeper!”
-Kimberly Krey
Best-selling author of the Sweet Montana Brides series
Christmas at the End of Main
A Nestled Hollow Romance, Book 2
Meg Easton
Book Two in the Nestled Hollow Romance series
Copyright © 2018 by Meg Easton
ISBN 13: 9781790276349
ASIN: B07J45VZRM
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction and names, characters, incidents, and places are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, incidents, and places is coincidental.
Cover Illustration by Blue Water Books
Interior Design by Mountain Heights Publishing
Author website: www.megeaston.com
For my daughter, Alecia
Contents
JOIN MEG’S NEWSLETTER
CHRISTMAS AT THE END OF MAIN
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
COMING SOON: NESTLED HOLLOW ROMANCE BOOK 3
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: NESTLED HOLLOW ROMANCE BOOK 1
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CHRISTMAS AT THE END OF MAIN
A Nestled Hollow Romance
By Meg Easton
Chapter One
Macie sat in the middle of her bedroom floor, putting on one of her running shoes, when her black lab pushed his way right into her space. “Reese! I can’t reach my shoelaces!” The dog nuzzled his face into her neck, his feet scrambling to sit on her lap. Sometimes it seemed like he didn’t even realize he wasn’t a puppy. Macie gave up trying to tie her shoes and rubbed her fingers behind his ears and under his collar, just as he liked.
It wasn’t long, though, before his scrambling legs knocked her right over, and Lola, her cream-colored golden doodle, joined Reese in licking her face. “Lola! Reese! I appreciate all the love, I do. But you both want to go for a run, right?” She pushed her way back to sitting, and wove her arms through the jumble of dog legs and managed to get both hands working to tie her shoelaces. Then she led the two big dogs out of the room she rented from her sister and brother-in-law, and into the open kitchen, dining room, and family room that she shared with them.
“Good morning,” Macie said to Joselyn as her sister packed lunches for her family. Then she turned to her littlest niece, Aria, who sat in her high chair, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Lola and Reese played their favorite game with Aria while Macie got their breakfast ready— taking turns hopping up in the air in front of Aria’s high chair while Aria squealed with delight, occasionally throwing some of her food their direction in her excitement.
“So,” Joselyn said, drawing out the word, “how was your date last night?”
Macie’s shoulders slumped at the memory.
“Oh, that good, huh?”
Macie put Reese’s and Lola’s dishes on the floor, and they raced to them, scarfing down their food. “It was fine. He was fine.” She paused a moment, then added, “For someone else.”
Joselyn’s lips lifted into a smile. “I sense a story.”
“He’s just really, really loud. And really strong. Which would’ve been great if I hadn’t found that out because of his exuberance in playing ‘Slug Bug.’” They had driven all the way to Denver to go to a concert, and with more than two hours on the road, there had been a surprising number of Volkswagen Beetles along the way.
Joselyn winced. “Besides the ‘slugging,’ how was the drive? Any good conversation?”
“We didn’t exactly find a conversation topic that interested both of us.” She grabbed an apple out of the basket and washed it in the sink. “I have no idea why in the world Sherry thought we had so much in common when she set us up. Unless she meant that I am twenty-seven and not married and he is twenty-eight and not married. Because that’s the only commonality we discovered.”
Macie stood at the patio doors, looking out as the pre-dawn light just began to show the backyards that she and her siblings shared as she ate her apple. There were seven of them, and their parents had bought an entire square block of property in Nestled Hollow. Until her early teenage years, the property had been a big field they’d played in for hours each day.
Then, one by one as her siblings got married, each couple built a house for their new family on their own lot. Now her parents’ house was at the top center of the square, her two older brothers’ on their left and right on the corners, her twin brothers finishing off the left side, Joselyn and Marcus had the bottom center, her sister Nicole at the bottom right. All their backyards came together into one giant playground with picnic benches and fire pits and barbecues and shade trees, where all of her nieces and nephews played and they got together for family dinners every week.
Joselyn started cleaning off Aria’s face with a wet cloth. “Don’t worry. You’ll find your Mr. Perfectly Right, I know it.”
“Nope. I give up.” She gestured at the one lot that remained empty— the lot that was hers that currently only held weeds and a single scraggly-looking tree that was shorter than her. “I’m just going to build a one bedroom house there, buy a spinning wheel, maybe bring home a few cats from work.”
Joselyn chuckled and was joined by Marcus’s booming laugh as he entered the room. Macie joined in, and Aria bounced in her seat and the dogs ran in circles around them.
“I take it last night’s date didn’t go well?” Marcus asked. “My brother says he’s got a friend who would be perfect—”
“No,” Macie said, cutting him off. “No more blind dates.”
“But—”
“No.” Macie’s voice came out more forceful than she meant, so she searched for the right words to explain. “I’m tired of having hope. Tired of hoping that a blind date will work out. And when it does work out, I’m tired of hoping that it’ll turn into something more.”
“So you’re just going to stop dating?” Joselyn asked.
Macie nodded. “For six months.” She hadn’
t actually made that decision until the words were out of her mouth. “I’m just going to focus on my business, and forget trying to find a future spouse.”
“You know what Dad’s going to say about that,” Joselyn said as she lifted Aria out of her highchair.
Of course she did. She’d heard him say often enough that her future spouse was a needle in a haystack, and that she had to be willing to search through a lot of hay to find him. She was even hearing it right now in her head, with his exact tone of voice and inflection. “But here’s what I figured out last night in between ‘Slug bugs.’ What if my needle isn’t even in the haystack I’m searching in? What if my needle is in Myanmar or Denmark or Zimbabwe or wherever, and I never go there in my lifetime? What if I keep searching through my haystack and get through every single piece of hay, only to find that there was never a needle for me? That my perfect guy just isn’t out there? I think I’ll just tell Dad that for six months, I’m just going to let the wind clear away some of that hay for me.”
“Even if you convince him,” Marcus said, “your mom won’t stop finding people with ‘son-in-law qualities’ to line you up with.”
“People in town won’t stop, either,” Joselyn added, Aria bouncing on her hip.
Macie’s breath came out in a sigh. She knew people lined her up with dates out of care, concern, and love, but they still felt like a force of nature that couldn’t be stopped.
Lola came running up to Macie, her leash in her mouth, and seconds later, Reese joined her, also holding his leash. “Looks like it’s time for me to head to work. Are you still free to chat business this afternoon?” She stretched out her calves, then bent down to attach their leashes.
Joselyn handed Aria off to Marcus. “Yep! Can you come to With a Cherry on Top at 4:30? We’re usually pretty slow about that time.”
“That’ll work.”
“Have you gotten any closer to deciding whether or not to buy your building?” Marcus asked.
The question itself made her chest tighten and her stomach churn. It was a weight on her shoulders all the time, even when she wasn’t actively thinking about it. But she needed to be actively thinking about it more often. She’d been working toward opening Paws and Relax ever since she’d planned the business in her high school entrepreneur class. She knew she wanted to rescue animals from the county shelter that were desperate to be loved, and have them available for people who were desperate to love an animal but couldn’t have a pet in their home.
Even after thinking about it and planning it for years, it still took a huge leap of faith to sign the lease on the building, and it renewed every six months. But the owner wanted to put the building up for sale on January first, unless she let him know first that she wanted to buy it.
And buying it was so much more than a six month commitment. If leasing the building was taking a leap of faith over a ditch, buying it was taking a leap of faith over a chasm so wide that she couldn’t see the other side.
Macie put on her coat, gloves, scarf, and hat as she spoke. “Not yet. I’ve got four weeks from today to decide, so I’m going to try some new directions with my business, and see if I can make enough per month for it to work.” It was going to be tough, and she wasn’t sure she could do it. She picked up the leashes, and as the dogs pulled her to the door, she called out, “Looks like we’re going then. See you all at four-thirty!”
Once outside, she said to Lola and Reese, “What do you think? Mountain trail or lake trail today?” Like usual, Lola was the first to choose the direction. Always Lola. “Mountains, then.”
She started off with a slow jog, trying to get her muscles warmed up in such cold temperatures. At least it hadn’t started snowing yet— snow made their morning run so much more difficult to pull off. Lola and Reese ran right alongside her as she jogged through the last few streets of homes. When she reached the area where the gradual slope of the valley turned into the steep climb of the mountainside, they turned right onto the dirt pathway.
The leaves had long since fallen and given way to the calm, crisp, clear winter air. The scene from here was different now, but every bit as beautiful. Without leaf-covered trees blocking her view, she could see the whole town from this vantage point, the sun that was just peeking over the mountain making the lake sparkle like spilled glitter.
Her home was the perfect distance from work— just over two miles. Long enough to get good exercise for her and the dogs, but short enough that she didn’t show up to Paws and Relax sweaty. Even in these temperatures, there were still quite a few people using the mountain trail. Every time she would pass by someone, Lola would run forward until the leash stopped her. “What’s up today, girl? You’re extra excited, aren’t you?” Macie hoped she’d have a busy day at the shop to help give Lola the attention she needed.
Just ahead, a man on a bike was coming from town up to the trail. As he turned from the road onto the path, heading her direction, Lola raced forward like she was shot out of a cannon, yanking the leash right out of Macie’s hand. “Lola!” she yelled as the dog sprinted forward. “Come back here!”
But it was too late. Lola had run straight for the biker, causing him to swerve. As he swerved and she pivoted, her leash got caught up in his tire, and the man and his bike jerked to the side and crashed to the ground in a tangled mess of bike and man. Macie raced to his side and bent down to see if he was okay, but he was already struggling to get his leg out from under the bike. He limped to a standing position.
“Are you okay? I am so sorry!”
“I’m fine.”
Except he was still not putting pressure down on his left leg. He shook it a few times, like he was trying to shake off the pain or injury. Lola just stood by both of them, looking up and panting, like she was going to get scratched behind her ears for doing a good job. The man— a good-looking, lean man who probably around Macie’s age— started brushing the dirt off his clothes. Macie reached out and brushed some of the dirt off his shoulders and back, apologizing for Lola and for not holding the leash tightly enough.
“It’s okay, really.” He bent down and grabbed his bike handles, pulling it upright. “I’ll be just fine. If I don’t hurry, though, I’ll be late for work and it’ll be a zoo, and then you never know what’s going to turn up on your white board.” He got back on his bike, and as he pedaled, his right leg clearly doing the bulk of the work, he called over his shoulder, “Nice meeting you!”
Macie watched as the man cycled away, and felt badly that she hadn’t done a single thing to help. This crash was a perfect metaphor for her relationships lately. They always crashed and burned. She turned her back on the man— and turned her metaphorical back on relationships— and faced the golden doodle in front of her. “Lola! We don’t run ahead and cause bikers to crash!”
Lola at least had the decency to drop her head the tiniest fraction in remorse, before she stood on all fours right next to Reese, mirroring his perfect angel pose. Macie was still upset at Lola for her behavior, but then Lola looked back at her with those big brown eyes, her fur framing them in a look of innocent anticipation, and she couldn’t stay mad. “Okay, we’ll keep going, but you stay right here next to me. No running off.”
The rest of the run went as expected. When they reached Main Street, Macie slowed to a walk to get her heart rate down, and they made their way down to the end of the street where her business, Paws and Relax, was just a small fenced-in yard away from her sister’s and brother-in-law’s ice cream shop.
She unlocked the door to Paws and Relax, let Lola and Reese off their leashes to play, and filled up the smaller dogs’ dishes before going into the dog room. “Good morning, Piper, Cookie, and Zeus!” She let the little dogs out of their kennels and through the side door to the small yard to relieve themselves. It was one of the reasons why this building had been the perfect choice—it was the only one on all of Main Street that seemed to be made for dogs.
When they’d all done their business and came bounding back insi
de, she sat on the floor and let them climb all over her as she laughed and tried to pet them equally. “One day,” she told them, “I’ll have my own house and I will take you all home with me every single day. Hopefully I’ll have a husband and kids for you to climb all over, too.” Then they all raced into the main room to get their breakfast and to play with Lola and Reese, while she went into the back room to get food for the cats.
She carefully carried their dishes and opened the door to the cat paradise room. Shadow was lounging under a platform, Sam was clawing at a post, and Jinx was sitting at the highest spot on the climbing toy. They all raced to her as she sat down the food. “Come on out whenever you want,” she told them as she left, leaving their door open.
After feeding the fish, the hamsters, and the geckos, she flipped the sign on the front door to Open, and then turned to look at her big family of animals. Just being around them was already making her less stressed. Seeing customers who couldn’t have their own pets for a variety of reasons come in and hang out with these guys was the icing on top of a pretty fantastic cake. It felt good to turn her back on dating completely and to focus on her business. She didn’t need to go looking for love. She had all the love she needed right here.