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Chapter 40
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Christmas Cove Chapter 41
"Caden, no," Jocelyn whispered. "Let's go.""Yeah, do as your woman says and get out of here, why don't you?" Henry catcalled as Mona cringed."Jocelyn, take the popcorn and wait for me in the lobby," Caden instructed.Just then, a skinny, teenage usher with bad skin walked up the aisle and then looked back and forth between the four of them."It all started when I threw a piece of popcorn at my- friend," Jocelyn tried to explain, "and then he threw one back at me without looking. But he missed, and accidentally hit that obnoxious jerk." Suddenly, the obnoxious jerk was standing on the other side of her."Hey! Wait a minute!" Henry roared, disturbing everyone in the theater."Yes, he's drunk, and he verbally attacked my friend," Jocelyn explained."If I wanted to attack him--" Henry began, but Mona cut him off."Henry, stop!""Mona, I've got this!" He turned around and accidentally knocked her back into the seats. "Okay, mister," the skinny usher with bad acne said, his voic
Christmas Cove Chapter 42
Jocelyn stood to the side of the window, watching Caden, fighting the urge to go to him. But she couldn't do that to Mallory. She shook her head, knowing that she had just betrayed her sister.Her bedroom door flew open, slamming hard against the wall. "How could you?" Mallory demanded as she marched into her room. "How could you do this to me?""Mallory, drop the martyr act." Jocelyn took a step closer. "You never cared about him.""He was in love with me!""But you never loved him!" Jocelyn yelled, clenching her fists at her sides. "You never cared about anyone but yourself!""I did to!""Mallory, you broke up with Caden because he wouldn't take you with him! You wouldn't even wait for him!" Jocelyn couldn't stop herself as the years of enduring her sister's unwitting torture came flooding out. "And look at you! For the past eight years, you've talked of nothing else but leaving- but you're still here! Why?""I'm trying!" Mallory yelled back. "I'm trying to go to California to
Christmas Cove Chapter 43
He grabbed his coat and headed out the door. On the way over to her house, he thought of Jocelyn and how he would rather be spending the day with her. But this was his own fault. He should have talked to Mallory before now. Even if he weren't having feelings for Jocelyn, he would have broken it off with Mallory anyway. Jocelyn really had nothing to do with it.When he arrived, he pulled the car to a stop in front of the house and turned off the engine. When he looked over at the driveway, Jocelyn's car was gone. He sighed, wishing she was here. But what he needed to say to Mallory, he needed to say alone. Squaring his shoulders, he slid out of the car, but looked up at Jocelyn's bedroom window, where she had stood crying in the window the night before."What are you waiting for?" Mallory asked, standing on the porch, wrapping her cardigan sweater around herself. "Come on in. It's cold out here.""Mallory, we have to talk." He looked her square in the eye, but didn't move."Then com
Christmas Cove Chapter 44
"I was hoping that you could bring them down from the attic for me," she said in a flirtatious voice. "You mean, we can bring them down. I'll hand them down to you." He let out a deep breath. "Mallory, just be yourself and stop flirting."She sighed. "I don't know how.""Well- try. Or there will never be any hope for us even being friends.""Fine." She had obviously been hoping that she could just bat her eyes and get him to do all the work for her, as he did years ago. But he was a man now and was no longer a foolish boy who would fall for her flirtations."Where's the attic?" he asked, headed up the stairs."It's right this way." She stepped in front of him and stood in the center of the second floor. He had always liked their house. The upstairs must have been an apartment at one time and had a sitting room in the center, with bedrooms jetting off from it. Then toward the right had been a kitchenette and to the left, a bathroom."Where's the attic?" Caden asked, looking arou
Christmas Cove Chapter 45
On the way home from work that afternoon, Jocelyn wondered if Mallory was going to be waiting for her when she got home. If so, Mallory was sure to start in on her again. But Jocelyn didn't want another confrontation. She just wanted to go home, relax, and destress. Roxanne had been on a roll again, complaining that the store was a mess and that if Jocelyn wanted to keep her job as manager, then she had better start taking her job more seriously.Of course, Jocelyn had reminded her that she had told her to take the day off when Caden carried her out the door. She also reminded her that she was off the next day. Roxanne just waved her hand dismissively and went back to complaining.Jocelyn had been glad when her work day finally came to an end.As she drove along, she tried to push the thought of Caden from her mind. How was she going to survive him? She had given her heart to him long ago, but his visit this time had sealed the deal. He had texted her throughout the course of the da
Christmas Cove Chapter 46
Mallory sighed. "Could we just decorate the tree, please?"Jocelyn sat quietly after that, waiting for Mallory to finish stringing the lights. After all, they couldn't start decorating the tree until the lights were on. As she waited, her thoughts went to Caden. If he had something else to do, then why was he texting her off and on all day? She quickly pushed the thought aside."Done!" Mallory replied, standing by the tree. "Why don't you start decorating and I'll get some more hot cocoa. Would you like some?"Jocelyn shook her head, surprised that Mallory was actually trying to get along. "No, thank you. But you go ahead."Jocelyn started decorating the tree and Mallory walked back in, holding her hot chocolate."If you don't mind, I'm going to sit down for a bit. Then I'll help you decorate."Mallory blew across her hot chocolate. It was the first time in a long time that she remembered Mallory actually being nice to her. Usually, she spent her time running to this audition or
Christmas Cove Chapter 47
When she pulled into the town square, the streets were desolated--probably due to the snow falling heavily now--but the shops were all open. Although she told herself not to, she looked over at the Christmas tree lot. A man was stacking trees, but Jocelyn was relieved to see that Caden's parents weren't there. They would freeze to death out in this weather. No one should be out on a day like this. Thank goodness there was a little one-room white shed with a front porch where the man could to warm up. Secretly, she wondered if he lived there and watched over the tree lot. After all, it was large enough for one person to live in, but not big enough for more than that.The bell rang loudly as she walked into work. Kiki looked up from arranging jewelry inside one of the front cases and smiled."It's about time you got here," Kiki teased. "What took you so long?"Jocelyn looked at the clock, and it wasn't even eight o'clock yet. "Why are you here so early?" She walked around he counter a
Christmas Cove Chapter 48
Since Jocelyn didn't take his calls all day, Caden wondered if he had misread her signals, or maybe the romance had been all in his head. He had texted and called Jocelyn alternately all day, but her phone kept going straight to voice mail. Then his phone rang. For a moment, he hoped it was Jocelyn, but frowned when he saw that it was Mallory.He sighed as he clicked on the phone. "Hello, Mallory. What do you want?""Well, that's a fine way to greet an old friend," she replied on the other end. "Friendship has to be earned." Caden shook his head, not in the mood for more of Mallory's shenanigans. "As I asked, what do you want?"There was a pause and, for a moment, Caden almost regretted being so abrupt with her- almost. "Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go out to dinner with me." When he didn't answer right away, she added, "You know, for old time's sake."Convinced that everything with Jocelyn was all in his head, he relented. "Sure. Why not? What time shall I pick you up?
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