She’s the city girl from Boston. He’s the pottery guy from the bay.
Their lives were never meant to collide.
Dylan Fraser is an artist, a dreamer, and a failed actor.
He runs a gift store on the edges of Starling Bay, a small coastal town where nothing much happens.
Merry Nicholls hates Christmas. The festive season is full of bad memories, especially this year which marks the five-year passing of her husband’s death.
Having fallen ill due to stress, and at her mother’s insistence, Merry reluctantly agrees to visit Starling Bay. She’s supposed to recuperate, but with her surly daughter and her Great Dane in tow, not to mention the town’s busy body on her back, recuperation might not be possible.
And when her dog crashes into a gift shop, breaking a collection of handmade Christmas coffee mugs, all chances of an easy life go out of the window.
Neither Dylan nor Merry are looking for love, but maybe it’s time for them to let go and give in.
Because when the timing is right, and the feeling is ripe, taking a risk with their hearts could lead to lasting love and happiness.
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Excerpt:
“I hate Christmas,” cried Merry, “and Starling Bay—why would I want to go there?”
Her mother liked to interfere, but this was taking things too far. Merry felt better now. She was better. Of course, she worked a little too hard, but she had it all under control.
“To spend some quality time with your daughter, for one thing. And to get some rest. You’ve never stopped, Meredith,” her mother pointed out. “Not even after Brian—”
“Don’t, Mom.” She didn’t want the constant reminders.
“The doctor signed you off. There’s no point in you moping around at home. You need to get away.”
“But to Starling Bay? If I wanted a real vacation I’d go overseas.”
“Would you?” Her mother gave her that look.
Okay. Maybe not. She hadn’t gotten on a plane ever since Brian’s accident. What should have been an exhilarating experience, a trip in a light Cessna aircraft, had turned into her worst nightmare when the engine caught fire. The plane burst into flames as it hit the ground ten minutes after take-off, killing both Brian and the pilot. She’d bought him the flying experience as a joint birthday and Christmas gift. Ever since then, she hadn’t stepped foot inside a plane.
“You don’t need to fly. You can drive.”
“With Spartacus?” Their beloved Great Dane wasn’t going to like the long road trip.
“You loved it when we used to go.”
“That was years ago, Mom. I was a teenager then.”
“And Chloe’s a teenager now.”
“The place is dead!”
Her mother returned a smug smile. “Apparently, no. It’s booming. It was always a pretty little coastal town, but it’s growing. I don’t think I would like it so much now. Hyacinth tells me that it has undergone a lot of changes, but she still lives there, so it can’t be all that bad.”
Hyacinth Fitzsimmons was her mother’s friend. Rather, her mother had made friends with the matronly woman the first time they had visited Starling Bay.
“Besides, they’ll be getting ready for Christmas,” her mother continued, “and I know how pretty it looks around this time of year.”
“God, no,” Merry groaned. I hate Christmas. She hadn’t always hated it, only since Brian had passed away. He had loved it, and she had too, but spending it without him, especially that first time, just weeks after his passing, had been the hardest. From that moment on, she no longer looked forward to it. Christmas was about family, and being together, and being thankful, it was about feeling joyous and happy, and without her husband, she felt none of those things. The following year she couldn’t bring herself to put up the tree, or buy gifts, or decorate the house. Luckily, for Chloe’s sake, her parents had taken care of things.
“Meredith, it’s about time you started to think more about Chloe.” She lifted her face at her mother’s stern tone.
“I do think about my daughter,” she retorted. “It’s not easy being a single parent.”
“You want for nothing, I get that. You work hard, we see that. But your father and I also see that your daughter needs you. She doesn’t need her grandparents as much as she needs you. Use this time wisely and spend it with her. Her school will be winding down in a few weeks’ time. Why not take this opportunity and go away for a few months?”
“A few months?” She was thinking about the disruption to her daughter’s schooling.
“Isn’t that what your boss suggested? Thanksgiving’s over and if you’re that worried about school, you can always homeschool Chloe for a while. Spend quality time with your daughter for a change as well as taking a well-earned break for yourself.”
Merry shook her head. Homeschooling sounded like hard work. She loved Chloe, but she had a feeling that her surly tween daughter would have to be dragged kicking and screaming all the way to a place where she knew no one. A place she had never been to. A place Merry herself hadn’t been to for over a decade.
The idea was ludicrous.
Merry folded her arms. She had thrown herself into work after Brian’s accident, and after the promotion, she continued to work crazy hours. Being the marketing manager for Boyd & Meyer, one of Boston’s upscale department stores, came with a lot of pressure and responsibility. She had worked hard to get where she was, and the pressure was always on her to prove that she was worthy of that position, especially when resumes were always coming in from people who were so much better qualified than her on paper. She might not have had the degrees to prove it, but she could get the results that mattered.
The department store’s sales had been increasing in recent years, and she liked to think that she had something to do with this. Dan Shepworth, her boss and CEO, seemed to agree. He had been good to her.
The run-up to Christmas was one of the busiest times of the year, but something had happened to her in recent months. At first she’d thought it was nothing, her bouts of dizziness, and feelings of anxiety, but when these things became physical, when her hands became so clammy that she’d messed up her presentation to the management team, and when her blood pressure spiked, and she’d suffered a nosebleed, her parents had forced her to go to the doctor.
The doctor had prescribed rest and taking things easy. He advised her to take time off because she seemed to be on the brink of a breakdown if she continued her long hours.
It wasn’t the work, or the pressure. She knew what it was. The five-year anniversary of Brian’s death might have had something to do with it, and her cute, sweet daughter turning twelve might have pushed things over the edge for her.
“I can’t afford to lose you, Meredith,” Dan had told her a few weeks ago. “Take a couple of months off. You haven’t had a good long break. Take time off, and come back when you’re fit and ready.”
He hadn’t given her a choice. He had signed her off the week before Thanksgiving. But her first week at home hadn’t been easy, either.
“Hyacinth could do with your expertise,” her mother continued. “She’s offered you one of the houses by the bay, you know, one of those pretty little places overlooking the oceanfront.”
“She offered? When did she offer it?” Merry smelled interference.
“Oh, sometime last week.”
She let out an irritated breath. She loved her parents, but her mother could be an interfering little soul. Merry knew her recent health problems had scared her parents. It made them keep an even closer eye on her. They had moved all the way from California to Boston after Brian’s death to be here for Merry and her daughter, and she was thankful for all they had done for her.
She also knew that her mother wasn’t going to back down until she did what they suggested. “What am I going to do in one of those houses overlooking the ocean?” She would be bored out of her mind. Spartacus would be the only one who’d find any adventure in the move. She stared at the Great Dane who lay on his side, tongue lolling out, while she paced around the living room.
Her mother stepped in front of her, and gently took her by the shoulders. “This isn’t just a difficult Christmas for you, it’s hard on Chloe, too, seeing you looking down and not being well. She’s so sensitive, given that she’s on the brink of being a teenager.”
“Don’t I know it?” she muttered. Lately, her daughter had become more distant, preferring to stay in her room on her devices, or talking to friends on the phone. Merry knew it was her fault, that she had turned her back on her daughter in an attempt to come to terms with her grief. Brian’s sudden passing had hit them like a train.
“I know it hasn’t been easy for you, but don’t think that it’s been any easier for that girl. She was seven when Brian died.”
“Don’t, Mom.” Merry looked away. Some Thanksgiving dinner this had turned out to be. Her father and Chloe were in the other room, her father asleep on the couch, and Chloe watching Home Alone for probably the tenth time.
It was time to take stock. Could she spend a few weeks, maybe even a month at Starling Bay? At least she’d get to spend Christmas away from Boston. That was an advantage worth considering. The malls and streets were already looking festive, and had been for the past month. She felt as if she’d stepped into Christmas the moment Halloween had ended.
“We want you back, Meredith,” Dan Shepworth had told her. “I’m keeping this position open for you. Just get well, and come back.” He reassured her that they would get by. She had a good team in place, and she would be in regular contact in case they needed her. Maybe a couple of months away would be good for her.
“Your boss might start thinking of replacing you, if you‘re not as sharp as you used to be.” Her mother was oh-so-very clever. She had hit her right where it hurt.
Merry swallowed. Being considered not good enough by Mr. Shepworth, being replaced, would kill her.
“What do I have to do?” she asked, knowing full well that this casual conversation about Starling Bay was anything but casual. Her mother had a plan.
“Live in a beautiful home, enjoy Starling Bay, have quality time to yourself, get to know your daughter all over again. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”
“What did you sign me up for, Mom? You said Hyacinth’s letting me stay there for free. What’s she expecting in return?”
“Nothing much.”
“That doesn’t sound like Hyacinth.” She remembered her mother’s friend as being a formidable woman who wore too much powder on her face.
“She could do with some of your marketing expertise, Meredith.”
“Marketing expertise? I thought you wanted me to rest and take a break from the world of work.”
“Oh, Meredith,” her mother crooned. “Hyacinth is on the town committee, and she’s leading the Christmas festivities. She only wants a few of your ideas and help.”
“Ideas and help?” That job description was so vague as to be useless. But, compared to what her current workload would have been like at the department store, giving Hyacinth a few tips would be simple. She could do it with her eyes shut. “Okay. I’ll go.” At the very least it would get her mother off her back.
“Wonderful!” Her mother clapped her hands together and picked up the phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Hyacinth to tell her that you’re coming.”
“When exactly does she expect me to come?” She hadn’t thought about it, hadn’t had time to get used to the idea.
“Next week, I expect. It’s not long to go before Christmas.”
Merry sucked in a breath, already regretting her hasty decision.
She hated Christmas.