CHRISTMAS IN SILVER SPRINGS
Author: Brenda Novak
ISBN: 9780778308256
Publication Date: October 29, 2019
Publisher: MIRA BOOKS
BOOK
SUMMARY:
Come
home to Silver Springs for the holidays, where broken hearts learn to love
again...together.
So
much for forever. When Elle Devlin's rockstar husband ditches her on his way to
the top, she takes her two daughters to her sister's place in Silver Springs
for the holidays, hoping family can heal her broken heart. But comfort comes in
unexpected packages when she crosses paths with Tobias Richardson.
The
moment Tobias spots Elle, he recognizes a sadness he knows all too well. After
spending thirteen years in prison paying for his regretful past, Tobias is
ready to make amends, and maybe helping Elle is the way to do it. But offering
her a shoulder to cry on ignites a powerful attraction, and a desire neither
saw coming.
Fearing
her reaction, Tobias doesn't divulge his ex-con status, let alone the shameful
details. So when Elle's ex shows up in Silver Springs and reveals the truth in
a bid to win her back, Tobias is sure he's lost her for good. But, just maybe,
this Christmas he'll receive the forgiveness—and the love—he deserves.
BUY
LINKS:
EXCERPT:
CHAPTER ONE
Friday, December 6
Tobias
Richardson couldn’t help noticing the petite blonde sitting at the
old-fashioned counter of the diner—and not just because she was pretty. He was
sure he’d never seen her before. With a population of seven thousand, Silver
Springs wasn’t small enough that he’d recognize everybody, especially
because he’d only been living here for five months. The town seemed to have
gotten a lot smaller since the weather turned, though. It didn’t snow in this
part of California, but it was the rainy season and the region was experiencing
colder than normal temperatures. Tourists weren’t interested in visiting when
it was chill and damp, and the same went for the many residents of LA, ninety
minutes to the southeast, who had vacation homes here. This month, and probably
for the next two or three, he guessed Silver Springs would be limited to the
locals.
He blew on his hands, trying to
warm them while waiting for the coffee he’d ordered when he first sat down.
He’d managed to squeeze in a hike after work. He didn’t care that it was dark
and wet by the time he was on his way back. He had a
headlight to guide him to the trailhead and was willing to put
up with the rain. But he was chilled to the bone. After such an arduous hike,
he was starving, too, and craving a hot shower.
Again, he glanced toward the counter. He didn’t want the woman
to catch him staring, but something about her—besides her looks—drew his
attention.
She didn’t seem happy…
“Here you go.” Willow Sanhurst, the barely eighteen-year-old
girl who worked evenings at the Eatery, stepped between him and the woman who
intrigued him, smiled broadly and put his cup on the table with a flourish.
“Warming up yet?”
“Starting to.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been out hiking. It’s December!”
“Little bit of rain never hurt anybody.”
He’d traded out his muddy hiking books for a pair of clean shoes
before coming into the restaurant. Other than that, he was only a little damp,
so he wasn’t sure why she was making such a big deal of it.
“You must really
like the outdoors.”
“I do,” he said.
“So do I.”
He got the impression he was
supposed to follow that up with an invitation to go hiking with him sometime,
but he didn’t.
Even though they’d already
discussed his hike when he’d sat down and she’d brought him water, and the
diner was full of people waiting for a chance to order, she didn’t move away as
most waitresses would.
Before bringing the coffee to his
lips, he looked up to see if there was something she needed.
As soon as their eyes met, she
blushed a deep red, wiped her hands on her ruffled white apron and mumbled some
remark about being careful not to burn himself—that the coffee was hot—before
hurrying away.
Damn it. She had a crush on
him. She’d clearly wanted to say something but hadn’t been able
to gather the nerve, and that made him distinctly uncomfortable. After being
released from prison in July he was committed to making better choices, to
building a productive life. He couldn’t have some high school girl staring at
him with the longing he saw shining in her eyes. If she started seriously
pursuing him, he was afraid he’d end up in a bad situation just because he was
so damn lonely.
With a sigh, he took a tentative sip of his coffee. This was his
favorite place to eat—the comfort food and Norman Rockwell vibe reminded him of
the wholesome existence he’d always secretly admired. But he’d have to quit
coming here. He wouldn’t allow himself to be tempted. His brother, Maddox, said
over and over that his first year out of prison would be the hardest, and
although Tobias acted as though he was doing fine, that he had his life under
control, his journey was not as sure-footed as he let on. Sometimes, especially
late at night, he felt as though he’d been cast adrift on a vast ocean and
might never find safe harbor. And that sense of being so small and
insignificant made him crave the substances that had gotten him into trouble in
the first place.
Willow kept looking over at him, obviously hoping to catch his
eye. While he poured a dash of cream into his coffee, he considered canceling
his meal. He could eat somewhere else—grab something to go and head home to
shower. But just as he was about to slide out of the booth, his phone dinged
with a text from Maddox, asking if he’d like to come over for dinner.
Already ate. Enjoy your
night. See you at work tomorrow,
he wrote back.
He knew his brother worried
about him, was trying to help him adjust to life outside prison and didn’t want
him to backslide and become like their mother. But Maddox had recently married
the girl he’d loved since high school. He deserved to be alone with Jada, his
new wife, who was now pregnant, and Maya, their daughter. The last thing Tobias
wanted to do was get in the way of their relationship—again. It was because of him they hadn’t gotten together the first
time around, and that had cost Maddox the first twelve years of Maya’s life.
As he slid his phone in his
coat pocket, he saw that it was too late to cancel his food. Willow was once
again coming toward him, this time carrying a plate.
“You texting your girlfriend?”
she asked, flirting with him as she put down his meat loaf and mashed potatoes.
He allowed himself another
glance at the blonde sitting at the counter. Her meal had come, too, and yet
she held her fork, turning it over and over in one hand, staring at her food
without taking a bite.
“Did you hear me?” Willow
asked.
Putting his napkin in his lap,
he picked up his fork. “I’m sorry. What’d you say?”
She looked over her shoulder in
the direction he’d been looking and lowered her voice. “I see you’ve
noticed Harper.”
“Harper?” he repeated.
“Yeah, Harper Devlin—Axel
Devlin’s wife. She’s been in here before.”
“Who’s Axel Devlin?”
“Are you kidding me? He’s the
lead singer of Pulse. They’re, like…the biggest band on the planet!”
He’d heard of Pulse, was familiar with their music and liked it.
He’d also heard the name of the band’s lead singer many times. He’d just never
dreamed Willow could be referring to that Axel Devlin—although there was
no good reason why she couldn’t be. A lot of celebrities came to artsy,
spiritually focused Silver Springs. Quite a few, especially movie people,
retired here. And he often interacted with Hudson King, a professional football
player, at New Horizons Boys Ranch, where he worked doing grounds and building
maintenance. Hudson did a lot to help the troubled teens who attended the
boarding school—both the boys’ side and the recently built girls’ school on the
same property. He’d donated the money to buy an ice-skating rink both
sides could use. “Do they live in the area?”
“No. She and her two kids are staying with her sister for the
holidays. I overheard her talking to the owner.”
“She looks a little…” When he let his words trail off, Willow
jumped in to finish the sentence.
“Depressed?”
“I was going to say ‘lost.’”
“Probably is. I watched an interview with Axel a few months ago.
He said they were splitting up. Maybe that’s why.”
It was none of his business, but Tobias couldn’t help asking,
“Did he give a reason?”
She seemed to like that they’d found something to talk about
that wasn’t so strained and awkward for her. “Blamed it on the travel. He has
to be gone too much. Yada, yada. What else is he going to say? That he’s
cheating with a different girl every night?” she added with a laugh.
Tobias felt bad for Harper. It couldn’t be easy to be married to
a rock star. She wasn’t that old, likely hadn’t been prepared for that kind of
life. If Tobias remembered correctly, Axel was from a small town in Idaho, and
he and his band had become famous almost overnight. Now he was sitting on top
of the world.
But where did that leave her?
“You said they have kids?” he asked.
“Yeah. Two little girls. I don’t remember their ages—maybe eight
and six? Something like that.”
So Harper had married Axel before he’d become a big success, and they’d started a family. That
indicated she’d married for love. “Where are the kids?”
“With her sister, I guess.”
Willow lowered her voice. “It would suck to be her, right? I mean, she has to
see his name and his face everywhere, can’t escape the constant
reminder.”
Now that he wasn’t paying as
much attention to Willow’s hopeful smiles and nervousness when she was around
him, Tobias could see others in the restaurant nudging their companions
and pointing to Harper. Apparently a lot of people knew who she was—or word was
spreading fast.
Poor thing. He understood what it was like to be the talk of the
town. He’d been only seventeen when he’d been prosecuted as an adult and
jailed for thirteen years. Returning to Silver Springs after his release this
past summer had been like being put under a microscope. Suffering privately was
one thing. Suffering publicly was something else entirely. That took what she
was going through to a whole new level.
“Shouldn’t be too hard for her to find someone else.” He said it
as though he wasn’t particularly invested, but Harper had caught his eye, hadn’t she?
“Are you kidding me?” Willow
responded again. “How will anyone else ever compare?”
She had a point. It would be
tough for a regular guy to match Axel, financially and otherwise. “True.”
“You’re not interested
in her, are you?” Willow looked slightly crestfallen.
Apparently he hadn’t been as
careful to hide his feelings as he’d thought. But he was an ex-con, making a
modest wage working for a correctional school. He’d never known his father, and
his mother was a meth addict, constantly in and out of rehab. He knew when he
was out of his league. “No.”
“Good.” A relieved smile curved
her lips. “Because I’ve been watching you for a while and…well… I hope there’s
someone else in this restaurant you might be interested in.” She
finished in a rush, couldn’t quite look at him and then hurried away—only to
return with a slip of paper that had her number on it when she brought the
check.
Harper
shoved her garlic mashed potatoes from one side of her plate to the other as
she listened to the hum of voices in the diner. Although surrounded by people,
she’d never felt so alone.
“I’ve got a number five,” the cook barked out for the waitresses.
Harper checked the menu, which she’d left open at her elbow so
she’d have something to look at. It was difficult to go out in public right
now. After the documentary she did with Axel last year, trying to remove the
stigma of depression and using a therapist when necessary, people often
recognized her, so she had little privacy.
A number five was a chicken breast with lemon-dill sauce,
steamed vegetables and a gluten-free corn muffin. She’d ordered a number
seven—peppercorn steak, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans, which had
sounded good at first, but the only thing she’d been able to make herself eat
was part of the dinner roll. She doubted it was gluten-free. Axel had made a
big deal about staying away from gluten, but he was allergic to it, not her. And although she thought it was
probably wise to avoid it, she didn’t care about her diet right now. She didn’t
care about much of anything since her marriage had unraveled. It’d been all she
could do just to hold herself together for the sake of her kids, and now
Christmas would be here in only three weeks. It would be her and the girls’
first Christmas without Axel. He was touring Europe and wouldn’t be back until
after the first of the year, since his last big concert was scheduled for New
Year’s Eve.
Now that everything had changed
between them, they wouldn’t have spent the holidays as they had in the past,
anyway.
He might’ve asked to take the
girls, however.
She could only imagine how
lonely she would have felt with them gone, and yet…she sort of wished he had
taken them. She didn’t feel capable of holding up her end, of putting on a
brave face and telling their children that everything was going to be okay when
it felt as though the ground had given way beneath her feet. She had no
interest in decorating, putting up a tree or buying presents, which was why her
sister had insisted she come
for an extended visit, even if it meant having the girls transfer
schools for a couple of months. Piper and Everly were at a church Christmas
party tonight with their cousins—twin girls who were older than Everly by four
years. But Harper needed to be ready to face them with a smile when they came
home.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket, but she didn’t bother to get
it out. No doubt it was her sister. They’d had an argument before Harper
stormed out of the house. Karoline had grown angry when Harper told her how
little she was getting for child support. According to her sister, she was
letting Axel off far too easy.
He was
making a fortune, but Harper
didn’t want to fight. She was still in love with him. As soon as he’d made it
clear that he didn’t want to be married to her anymore, that he was no longer
willing to try to work through their differences, she’d settled for the first
figure his lawyer had thrown out. Otherwise, she was afraid the media would
start to claim they were going through a “bitter” divorce. As she’d told
Karoline, she’d make it on her own somehow, even though she hadn’t
worked in an official capacity since the first three years of her marriage,
when Axel was trying so hard to get a start in show business and he’d needed
her to cover their basic living expenses.
Maybe she was a fool to
be so accommodating. But she couldn’t imagine Axel would consider keeping the
family together if she turned into a bitch. Besides, she didn’t even know who
he was anymore, he’d changed so much. She couldn’t decide what she had a right
to demand. Had she let Axel down? Or had he let her down? He’d always
suffered from anxiety and depression. Maybe she hadn’t done enough to help him—
“Is everything okay?”
She forced herself to look up.
The waitress working the counter had paused in front of her, obviously
wondering if there was something wrong with the food.
“Fine,” Harper mumbled. She
hadn’t really come to eat. She just needed some time alone, couldn’t face going
back to her
sister’s quite yet. As nice as it was of Karoline to provide a
refuge during this difficult month, being with her only sibling wasn’t much
easier than being alone, because now she had to constantly explain and justify
her actions. And with her emotions zinging all over the place, she wasn’t
being consistent, couldn’t
be consistent. Most of the
time, she wasn’t even making a whole lot of sense.
Elvis’s “Blue Christmas” came
on the sound system as the waitress moved on to her other customers.
Harper took a sip of her coffee
and braved a quick glance around. Although she liked this restaurant, she
didn’t feel she belonged in Silver Springs. Why wasn’t she in Denver, where she
and Axel had lived after their college days at Boise State?
Because as much as she and Axel
had once believed that they’d be the exception to the rule, that nothing could
come between them, they’d been wrong. Slowly but surely, Axel had lost all
perspective and started caring more about his work than he did his family. Fame
had destroyed their relationship like so many celebrities before them.
With a sigh, she took the bill
the waitress had put near her plate and paid at the register. She owed her
sister more respect than to make her worry. She had to go back and face
Karoline whether she wanted to or not.
Harper hadn’t put on makeup for
weeks, hadn’t done anything with her hair, either, other than to pile it in a
messy bun on her head, so it didn’t bother her that it was raining. She was
cold, though; couldn’t seem to get warm. Tightening her oversize coat—a
castoff of Axel’s from the good old days when they were first married—she
pushed out of the warm café into the bad weather.
Putting her head down, she
stared at her feet, bracing against the gusts of wind that whipped at her hair
and clothes while stepping over two or three puddles to reach the Range Rover
Axel had let her keep when they split. If she got desperate, she
supposed she could sell it. It had cost a pretty penny.
She was opening the driver’s door when she noticed a tall, lanky
man with longish dark hair crossing the lot toward her.
“Don’t be frightened,” he said, lifting one hand in a gesture
intended to show he wasn’t being aggressive. “I just… I saw you inside and…”
Prepared to rebuff him, she set her jaw. She was not in the mood to be hit on. But when she met his eyes, something
about his expression told her that wasn’t what this was about. Taking a
long-stemmed white rose from inside his coat, he stepped forward to give it to
her.
“Hang in there. It’ll get
easier,” he said. Then he walked off before she could even ask for his name.
BIO:
Brenda Novak, a New York Times
and USA TODAY bestselling author, has
penned over sixty novels. She is a six-time nominee for the RITA Award and has
won the National Reader's Choice, the Bookseller's Best, the Bookbuyer's Best,
and many other awards. She also runs Brenda Novak for the Cure, a charity to
raise money for diabetes research (her youngest son has this disease). To date,
she's raised $2.5 million. For more about Brenda, please visit
www.brendanovak.com.
SOCIAL:
TWITTER:
@Brenda_Novak
Insta:
@authorbrendanovak
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