It Started with Christmas: A heartwarming feel-good Christmas romance

by Jenny Hale

  Everyone had stopped what they were doing, conversations ceased. Tammy’s eyes were glued on the two of them as were many others’. They were probably all wondering if it would be a replay of last year too. Slowly, she climbed the few steps to join him. Otis had installed more lighting just for occasions like these and beams of white light blinded her. She squinted at Rhett, his face obscured by the glowing dots that had formed in her vision.

  He finished the song.

  “Delivery for you,” Rhett said, his voice booming through the microphone in the silence that followed once she got up there with him. From a stool behind him, he took a box that looked like it had a pie inside. “Open it,” he insisted with a crooked grin.

  Hesitantly, Holly lifted the lid to find a sweet potato pie, and, in icing, it said, “I think I could fall in love with you.” Fear flooded her as she looked at Rhett for answers. Hadn’t they settled this? Now all these people were looking on. This was awful.

  “What does it say?” someone called from the crowd.

  Holly’s heart thumping like a snare drum, she searched Rhett’s face for understanding, but he kept that maddening smile. She felt sick, woozy.

  Then, Rhett’s face softened as if to tell her that she was okay. “When you went out on your own, I told you that I just wanted you to be happy. Remember?”

  “Yes.”

  But Rhett had to know that he wasn’t the one who could make her happy. How many times did she have to tell him that? Papa, she said to herself, send some Christmas magic my way. Make this be something wonderful and not something terrifying.

  “As your best friend, I wanted to be here to give you my blessing,” Rhett told her, and he nodded to the floor at the front of the stage. The spotlight disappeared leaving larger spots in Holly’s eyes as she tried to focus on the person standing in front of them below. At first it was just a shadow, but when her vision cleared, she made out those square shoulders, that perfect hairline, that navy blue trench coat, and then, suddenly, the whole picture became sharp, and there he was.

  Joe.

  She scanned all the faces in front of her to be sure that she wasn’t dreaming, Tammy swooning in the center of the crowd, Nana grinning as big as day. She looked for Katharine, frantically searching for her, but she came up empty. What was going on?

  Joe walked up the steps to join her on the stage, their gaze now locked, and Holly felt like she hadn’t missed a single day with him. She was just as happy to see him now as she had been when they were together last.

  “You got married…” she said, her words barely audible through her surprise.

  He shook his head. “Katharine and I called it off together.” He took a step toward her, everyone looking on. “You didn’t stick around to see.”

  She let out a quiet gasp, putting her nervous hand to her mouth. “But the wedding?” she said through her fingers.

  He allowed a smile. “We’d had an argument before the rehearsal. When you first met me, I was at the cabin alone because we’d been arguing a lot over seemingly nothing, and I didn’t know if I should be getting married, so I’d wanted some time to think. I realized that I felt a duty to do right by her because of how my father had treated my mother.” The lights were on him, the entire stage theirs, Rhett off to the side, but Joe didn’t seem to care. “I’d made a promise to Katharine and I was ready to carry it out, but as we stood facing each other at the altar, it was as if both of us came to our senses. She and I decided together that we didn’t love one another anymore. And we both knew that marrying each other wasn’t the right thing to do.”

  Joe put his hands on Holly’s waist and looked into her eyes. “I hadn’t loved Katharine in a long time, and Katharine felt the same way about me. She told me that she felt pressured too.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “She’s great. I think she’s dating an intellectual property lawyer now.” He grinned down at her.

  Holly was glad to hear that Katharine had moved on. But that thought brought her back to Joe and what he clearly still had to tell her. “And you? How are you doing?”

  “I’m really good.” His eyes said more than just that, his hands tenderly resting on her hips. “Holly, I didn’t know what true love was until I met you,” he said. “What made me realize it was that I couldn’t get over my feelings for you, watching you leave the wedding that day. But I wanted to be sure that when I came to tell you how I feel about you that both of us were in the right place for that sort of admission.” He pulled her close. “I completely fell for you last Christmas. It blindsided me. And I spent the last year trying to get over it. But I couldn’t.”

  “He called me nearly every day to see how you were, Holly,” Nana said from her seat. “I knew he felt the same when he was at the cabin—I could tell! But I kept quiet.”

  It was absolutely silent in Otis’s barn as everyone looked on.

  Holly blinked away her tears.

  By the look on Joe’s face, he challenged her to tell him what she was thinking, but the lump in her throat was so big that she couldn’t talk.

  “I just noticed that I’m the second person to profess his feelings for you on this stage.” He and Rhett shared a sort of comradery just then, making Holly smile through her tears. He held up a finger. “And I can’t sing. But I am the first to do it with pie.” He shrugged off his coat and draped it on a stool. Then he took her into his arms.

  Holly sniffled and laughed at the same time. When she’d finally managed to form words, she said, “I thought about you all the time. I couldn’t get you off my mind.”

  Joe brushed away a tear on her cheek. “Think you could fall in love with me too?”

  “I already have.”

  That curiosity consuming his eyes disappeared from view as he cupped her face in his hands, and pressed his lips to hers. Her blood pulsed through her body like fireworks, the rhythms of their lips moving against one another, the most perfect thing she’d ever felt. Everyone in the barn went wild, cheering, but all Holly noticed was the absolute perfection of him. That movie reel came back in full force—the feel of his arms around her, the way they’d felt tangled up together on the sofa that morning… But this time, she didn’t have to push it out of her mind. This time, his arms were around her now and she knew that it was only the beginning…

  When they both finally realized where they were and slowed to a more respectable pace, Joe pulled back and grinned at her.

  “Aw, Joey and Holly!” Tammy said from the crowd, her hand on her heart. “Y’all are so cute together.”

  They both laughed.

  “I’m definitely more Joey than Joseph,” he said. “And this is the closest to home that I’ve ever known.”

  Holly got up on her tiptoes and kissed him again.

  “Guess what,” Joe said, a sparkle in his eye. “I’m here all Christmas. And look who’s with me.”

  Joe pointed to the table with Holly’s family, and she had to force her vision past the light to see, but sitting between her mother and Nana was Harvey. He waved happily. Holly sucked in a breath of surprise, delighted for the both of them. She couldn’t wait to catch up on everything Joe and Harvey had talked about. Holly let her mind wander to the big Christmas they’d have this year with everyone there—her family and his.

  “Merry Christmas,” Joe said into her ear.

  “Merry Christmas.” Then Holly stopped. “Oh! You don’t have any gifts under the tree again.”

  Joe laughed. “Well, there’s always Puckett’s.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, dangling them in front of her, the “Joey” keychain on the end.

  “Y’all ready to dance?” Rhett said, cutting in. “Holly, you and Joe start us off.” With his guitar in his hands, Rhett began Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run.”

  Joe’s eyes grew round. “This is fast. Does that mean I have to line dance?”

  “Sure does!” she said, pulling him down the steps to the dance floor.

  Harvey ran over to
them and handed Joe the camouflage hat Holly bought him last year, and went back over to the table. Joe put it on his head, making Holly double over laughing. She grabbed him by the arm and took him across the dance floor where he stopped still.

  Holly looked into his eyes to find the reason for the abrupt halt and his gaze swallowed her. “I have to confess something,” he said.

  She waited.

  “I think I finally believe in magic.”

  Holly tipped her head back and laughed before Joe took her into his arms and pressed his lips to hers. In that moment he made her feel it too. She thought about how just the mention of his name made her heart flutter, the explosion of nervous energy that came from an unintentional touch, the way every hair stood up on her arms in response to the way he said, “Holly.” That was nothing short of magic. Christmas magic was all around her tonight.

  Suddenly, the music screeched to a halt, causing Holly to pull away from Joe and look over at Rhett.

  “You have to stop kissing to dance!” Rhett teased them from the stage, making the whole barn burst into laughter. “Will y’all please help them?” he called to the crowd. Little by little, they all started to filter onto the dance floor and Rhett resumed his song, the thumping rhythm of it swirling around them.

  “Here, you two,” Otis said, tapping his feet with Nana holding his hands. “We’ll show you how it’s done.”

  With a big smile, Holly leaned in toward Joe and stole one more kiss before dancing into the night.

  If you adored It Started With Christmas, then you’ll love Coming Home for Christmas—the perfect festive read to fall in love with.

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  Out now!

  Coming Home for Christmas

  Coming Home for Christmas is a beautifully observed story about the importance of family, the magic of Christmas, and falling in love one snowflake at a time.

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  Available now!

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  Fans of Trisha Ashley, Susan Wiggs, Carole Matthews and Susan Mallery—and anyone who loves the sound of carols and the twinkling of lights on the Christmas tree—will adore Jenny Hale’s feel-good debut.

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  Christmas is a time for family… isn’t it?

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  Allie Richfield loves Christmas, so when she lands a job as House Manager for the amazing Ashford Estate—which includes organizing the Marley family festivities—she is in her element. With a budget bigger than her life savings and a team of staff, how hard can it be?

  As one-by-one she meets the Marleys, she’s about to find out…

  Allie’s new boss, Robert, might be gorgeous, but he’s also colder than the snow outside and refuses to come home for Christmas. Robert’s playboy brother, Kip, flirts with her relentlessly; and his sister, Sloane, arrives home with baggage—both the divorce-kind and the Louis Vuitton kind. Their ninety-two year old grandmother, Pippa, spends her day grumbling at them all from her mobility scooter.

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  With Robert intending to sell Ashford, it’s the Marley’s last chance to create some happy memories in their family home—and Allie is determined to make it happen… even if it takes a little Christmas magic! With the festive spirit in full swing, she might even discover a little happiness of her own…

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  Get it here!

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  If you can’t wait to read more from Jenny Hale, you can sign up here to be the first to know about her new releases. We promise not to share your email with anyone else, and we’ll only contact you when there’s a new book out.

  Also by Jenny Hale

  The Summer Hideaway

  The Summer House

  Summer at Oyster Bay

  Summer by the Sea

  A Barefoot Summer

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  We’ll Always Have Christmas

  All I Want for Christmas

  Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses

  A Christmas to Remember

  Coming Home for Christmas

  A Letter from Jenny

  Thank you so much for reading It Started With Christmas! I hope you enjoyed Holly’s story and found it to be a heart-warming Christmas escape.

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  While you’re making a warm cup of hot cocoa, if you’d like me to drop you a line when my next book is out, you can sign up here:

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  Sign up here!

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  I won’t share your email with anyone else, and I’ll only email you when a new book is released.

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  If you did enjoy It Started With Christmas, I’d love it if you’d write a review. As an author, hearing feedback from readers is as exciting as unwrapping a giant Christmas gift, and it also helps other readers to pick up one of my books for the first time.

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  Still craving a little more holiday cheer? Check out my other Christmas novels: Coming Home for Christmas, A Christmas to Remember, Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses, All I Want for Christmas, and We’ll Always Have Christmas.

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  Until next time!

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  Jenny x

  Find me on:

  Goodreads | www.itsjennyhale.com

  A Christmas to Remember

  Out now!

  A beautiful story about the magic of childhood Christmas memories, the strength of family and falling in love when you least expect it.

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  Everyone loves Christmas—don’t they?

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  Carrie Blake loves her job as a nanny but, while her friends are settling down, all of Carrie’s spare time is spent with other people’s families. Though it breaks her heart, her New Year’s resolution is to embark on a new career and fix her love life.

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  As Carrie starts her last job, she’s sure she’ll be going out on a high—the house is amazing, the kids are adorable, and she’s in charge of decorating the tree!

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  The only problem could be her boss… single-dad, Adam Fletcher might be both handsome and successful, but he’s always working. Doesn’t he realise he’s missing out on precious moments with his son and daughter?

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  As Adam’s family arrive for Christmas including his sensitive sister, Sharon, and his fun-loving, elderly Grandpa, Walter, Carrie realises that she might just have found the perfect allies in her quest to persuade Adam to loosen up. There’s still time for Carrie to make this the best Christmas ever… after all, Christmas is the time for miracles, isn’t it? Let the festivities begin!

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  Fans of Carole Matthews, Susan Wiggs and Scarlett Bailey—and anyone who loves the sound of Christmas songs and the sparkle of decorations on the tree—will adore this festive holiday treat!

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  Buy it here!

  We’ll Always Have Christmas

  An enchanting story about the magic of Christmas, the importance of family, and the joy of falling in love during the most romantic season of the year…

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  Christmas has always been a special time for Noelle Parker. Winter evenings spent with family and friends, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies at her family’s cozy bakery have shaped her love for all things festive. But this year everything is changing…

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  The beloved bakery is facing closure and Noelle needs a miracle to save Christmas.

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  Determined to raise funds for the family business, Noelle sets about revamping the bakery while juggling a surprise new job, caring for the elderly and cantankerous William Harrington in his luxurious, sprawling mansion.

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  As Noelle melts the frostiness of the house with cake baking, snowball fights and glittering decorations, she helps William to reconnect with a romance that has spanned decades and unexpectedly finds herself falling for his grandson—the gorgeous but mysterious Alexander Harrington…

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>   In the countdown to Christmas, can Noelle save the bakery, reunite a family and create some magical memories of her own along the way?

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  Unwrap the feeling of Christmas in this beautiful novel celebrating friendship, family and love that lasts a lifetime. We’ll Always Have Christmas is the perfect treat for fans of Karen Swan, Susan Mallery and Sue Moorcroft.

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  Buy it here.