A Mistletoe Vow: A Cold Creek Christmas Story / Falling for Mr December / A Husband for the Holidays

“Who would have thought I could find such a good pizza in the wilds of eastern Idaho?”

She smiled, proud of her little community. While it might be primarily a ranching town, Pine Gulch was gaining a reputation as a foodie destination and a magnet for artists.

“I understand they get customers from as far away as Jackson Hole who read about the pizza online and want to try a slice.”

She was finishing her second slice when she spotted her friend Caidy Caldwell coming in with her husband, the local veterinarian, and their children. Caidy had grown up in Cold Creek Canyon and had been a friend for a long time. Celeste loved seeing her so happy with Ben.

When she spotted Celeste, she waved, said something to Ben and the kids, then headed in her direction.

“Hi, Celeste! I’m so glad I bumped into you. Great story time last week. The kids really enjoyed it.”

“Thanks. It was great to see you there.”

“I don’t know how you always manage to find such absolutely charming stories—old favorites and then so many that no one has ever heard before.”

“That’s my job,” she said with a smile. That was one of her favorite parts about it, seeking out the new and unusual along with the classics everybody expected and loved.

“You do it well,” Caidy said. “Almost too well. We might have to quit coming to the library. Every time you read a new book the kids have to buy it.”

“Because they’re all so good.” Her stepdaughter, Ava, had joined her.

“Right. But now the shelves of our home library are bulging.”

“You can never have too many books,” Celeste answered.

“That’s what I always say,” Ava exclaimed. She turned to Olivia. “Hi. I’m Ava Caldwell.”

“Sorry. This is Flynn Delaney and his daughter, Olivia. Flynn, this is my friend Caidy Caldwell and her daughter, Ava. Ava also has a brother about your age named Jack and a new baby brother who is the cutest thing around, Liam.”

As her friend smiled at the two of them, Celeste didn’t miss the flash of recognition or sympathy in her gaze before she smoothly masked her reaction. Caidy obviously had followed the news stories and knew what had happened to the girl.

“I’m happy to meet you both,” her friend said with a smile. “Welcome to Pine Gulch. I hope you’re staying around for a while.”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Only until after the holidays.”

“Well, you picked one of the best times of the whole year to be here. You won’t find many prettier winter wonderlands than this part of Idaho.”

“It’s lovely,” he agreed.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner. I just needed to ask you again what time practice is tomorrow. I know you’ve told me a half dozen times but I swear Christmas makes my brain leak out of my ears.”

“Four thirty sharp at the St. Nicholas Lodge at the ranch. We should be done by six thirty.”

“Perfect. My kids are so excited about it.”

Celeste had no idea how Hope had persuaded her to take on one more thing, in this case organizing a small program to be performed at an inaugural Senior Citizens Christmas dinner a few days before the holiday.

Hope’s particular skill was getting Celeste to do things she ordinarily never would attempt—like publish her books and then agree to allow one of those books to be made into a movie.

“Olivia, if you’re going to be here through Christmas, you should think about being in the play,” Ava suggested.

Flynn tensed up at the idea, his jaw taut. To Celeste’s surprise, Olivia only looked intrigued.

“I was in a play in school once. It was fun.”

“This isn’t a huge production,” Celeste assured Flynn. “We’re just doing a simple Christmas program. Everybody who wants to participate gets a part. We’re mostly singing songs everybody already knows.”

“Can I do it, Dad?”

He frowned. “We’ll have to talk about that. We’re pretty busy cleaning out the house. I don’t know if we’ll have time to go to practices and things.”

“There are only three practices,” Celeste said. “Tomorrow, Thursday night and Saturday morning, and then the show is Tuesday, the day before Christmas Eve. She would be more than welcome to come. The rehearsals and the show are all at the St. Nicholas Lodge at The Christmas Ranch, just five minutes from your place.”

* * *

A Christmas program. With an audience, applause. The whole bit. He wanted to tell them all absolutely not, to grab his daughter and drag her out of here.

He’d had enough of performers to last him a lifetime. His entire life, he had been forced to wait on the sidelines while the important females in his life sought fame and recognition. His mother had made it clear from the time he was old enough to understand that he could never be the most important thing in her life—not when her adoring public already held that honor.

Elise had pretended otherwise, but when it came down to it, he had been even less important to her, only a stepping-stone on her journey to success.

He didn’t want Olivia anywhere near a stage or a movie set. So far she hadn’t shown any inclination in that direction, much to his relief. He wanted to keep it that way.

He told himself he was being ridiculous. It was only a Christmas program, not a Broadway production. Still, he didn’t want to offer her any opportunity to catch the performing bug.

She was still so fragile. While her physical wounds had mostly healed, emotionally and mentally she was still had a long journey.

Was he being too protective? Probably. Her therapist in California told him he needed to relax and let go a little. He didn’t need to watch over her every single moment. Right now he had a tendency to want to keep her close, to tuck her up against him and make sure nothing terrifying or tragic ever touched her again.

That wasn’t a healthy approach, either. He couldn’t protect her from everything, even though he wanted to.

“Can I do it, Dad?” she asked again.

This was the same girl who freaked out in large crowds, who didn’t like loud noises and who tended to panic if strangers tried to talk to her.

Did she seriously think she could handle being onstage in front of a bunch of strangers?

“We can talk about it later,” he said.

“Absolutely,” Caidy said with a cheerful smile, though he thought he saw soft compassion in her gaze.

Did she know about what had happened to Olivia? Probably. Most of the damn world knew. It had led media reports around the world for a week, had been on the cover of all the tabloids and celebrity rags.

When an Oscar-nominated actress is gunned down by her equally famous if mentally ill boyfriend—who then shoots her young child before killing himself—people tended to pay attention.

If he thought he could come to this remote corner of Idaho and escape notice, he was delusional. He doubted he could find anywhere on the planet where the news hadn’t reached.

Maybe he could have taken Olivia on an African safari or something, but even then he wouldn’t have been surprised if people in the veld knew of Elise Chandler.