'Tis the Season for Love: A Charity Box Set Read online

  Copyright © 2020 Maggie Dallen, Jordan Ford, Michelle MacQueen & Ann Maree Craven, Victoria Anders, Lacy Andersen, Gina Azzi, Christina Benjamin, Michelle Courtney, Cindy Ray Hale, Lucy McConnell, Britney M. Mills, Stephanie Scott, Emma St. Clair, and Ria Zen

  All rights reserved.

  Cover by Megan Keith at Designed with Grace

  © Depositphotos - Aila Images

  ISBN: 978-0-9951440-0-2

  Forever Love Publishing Ltd www.foreverlovepublishing.com

  These are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, deities, creeds, cultures, time periods, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, governments, religions, events, or locales is coincidental.

  The scanning, uploading, or distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors’ rights is appreciated.

  Contents

  About Love 146

  The (Not So) Perfect Second Chance

  Maggie Dallen

  I Dare You

  Jordan Ford

  A Wyld Christmas in July

  Michelle MacQueen and Ann Maree Craven

  Saving The Garland Inn

  Victoria Anders

  Her Christmas Crush

  Lacy Andersen

  My Christmas Wish

  Gina Azzi

  Christmas Letters

  Christina Benjamin

  The Christmas Present Project

  Michelle Courtney

  Kiss Me Under the Christmas Lights

  Cindy Ray Hale

  Christmas Magic

  Lucy McConnell

  The Perfect Kiss

  Britney M Mills

  O-M-G CHRISTMAS TREE

  Stephanie Scott

  Four Days of Christmas

  Emma St. Clair

  The Jolly Jester

  Ria Zen

  The authors of Tis the Season for Love are proud to support Love146 and their mission to end child trafficking.

  From their website:

  Love146 is an international human rights organization working to end child trafficking and exploitation through survivor care and prevention. The trafficking and exploitation of children is one of the darkest stories and most severe human rights abuses imaginable. But for us, the hope of ending it is a reality. Love146 is helping grow the movement to end child trafficking while providing effective, thoughtful solutions. We believe in the power of love and its ability to effect sustainable change. Love is the foundation of our motivation.

  Find out more ways you can help here.

  For the kids who have lost all hope. You are seen. You are loved. There are people in this world working to end your injustices.

  For those good people working tirelessly, the advocates working for Love146 and beyond. Thank you.

  The (Not So) Perfect Second Chance is the fourth installment in Maggie Dallen’s sweet contemporary series Falling in Friar Hollow. Each story can be read as a standalone, and the entire series can be found here.

  Regina might be the town’s resident ice queen, but this Christmas her heart’s in serious danger of thawing when she gets a second chance with her first love.

  Tyler Arnold is back from Hollywood to visit family and friends in the small town of Friar Hollow, a hamlet that’s synonymous with elaborate holiday celebrations and relentless matchmaking. It’s also the home of his childhood crush, his first love, and the woman he proposed to…before running away.

  But now he’s back—in his ex’s town, at her friends’ parties, and sleeping on her couch.

  It’s not like he meant to crash his high school sweetheart’s holidays, and he certainly didn’t arrange to be caught beneath the mistletoe with her…three times. But fate keeps throwing them together—and forcing them to kiss—so maybe the time has finally come. Maybe after a decade apart, she’ll finally forgive him for leaving her.

  Or maybe not.

  But with mistletoe kisses, meddling family, and well-intentioned friends cropping up at every turn, Regina and Tyler are about to find out if this holiday season, their Christmas miracle is a second chance at a happily ever after.

  Chapter 1

  The problem with being a workaholic, Tyler now realized, was that he had no idea what to do with himself when he wasn’t working.

  It would be one thing if he was back at his home in Los Angeles. He had some friends there he could call to help keep him distracted over the holidays until filming picked up once more for the reality show he produced.

  That show kept him on the road most of the time, or busy with pre and post-production work the rest of the time.

  But now…

  Well, now it was the holidays, and his crew had left for home while in the middle of shooting an episode. He wasn’t such a Scrooge that he’d make them work straight through Christmas Eve and Christmas Day just because he had nowhere to go.

  He looked out the floor-to-ceiling window of his hotel room, overlooking a bustling Times Square. No doubt this room was a prized commodity, this view would be in demand on New Year’s Eve and he…

  Well, he hoped like heck he wouldn’t still be here by then.

  He was used to staying in hotel rooms alone...but for more than a week?

  And over Christmas, no less?

  He leaned his forehead against the glass and watched the people hustling below, looking like ants from this distance.

  Maybe it wasn’t too late to catch a flight back to California. He could see his mother and catch up with some friends. Sure, it was a long way to go just to have to fly back next week, but he wouldn’t mind a reprieve from the cold.

  He snatched his phone from his pocket and found his mother’s number.

  She answered on the first ring. “Ty, darling! To what do I owe the honor?”

  He rolled his eyes at her teasing. They had a scheduled call every Sunday and his planned calls never failed to amuse her. She lived in a world where people just picked up the phone and called one another whenever they happened to be thinking of the person.

  Tyler’s life was way too busy to rely on impulsive catch-up calls. With the rate he traveled, he lived by his phone’s calendar alerts and the only calls he ever made were the ones it told him to make.

  “I wanted to follow up with you on your Christmas plans,” he said. “I know I said I couldn’t make it back—”

  “I know, sweetheart, and like I said before. You have no reason to feel guilty.”

  He looked up at the ceiling. She had told him that. And yet, he did still feel guilty. After his dad passed, it had become just the two of them, although his mother had a close-knit circle of friends. She always assured him that she was fine with him visiting her in Northern California when work allowed and he believed her.

  He knew she’d love to see more of him, though.

  The problem was, he’d had reasons to avoid going back to his hometown. Reasons that had nothing to do with his mother or his father...and everything to do with his first girlfriend.

  The love of his life.

  The one who got away.

  “Look, I’ve been
thinking,” he said. “Maybe I should make a quick trip home for the holidays, after all.”

  Her laughter started before he’d finished speaking. “Don’t do that, son. You won’t find anyone there!”

  He frowned down at the scene below. Well, there went that plan. “You’re not home?”

  “I made the last minute decision to join Deborah on her trip to Friar Hollow for the holidays.”

  He stilled at the mention of his mother’s oldest and dearest friend. In addition to being his mother’s best friend, she was also the mother of his ex-girlfriend. It was impossible to hear her name and not picture her daughter, the beautiful brunette who’d been haunting his dreams ever since he’d walked out of her life all those years ago.

  He shut his eyes as if that would block out the memories.

  “You’re in Friar Hollow? Right now?”

  “I am. And, Tyler, you did not exaggerate. This town is adorable!” Her voice was filled with glee and his lips curved up in response. He’d known his mother would love the small town in Upstate New York.

  He’d known his ex-girlfriend would love it too, which was why he’d dropped a hint to his mother when he’d heard that her marriage to Dean had fallen apart. His mother mentioned that she was looking to make a fresh start—somewhere far from California, preferably.

  He’d just finished filming an episode in Friar Hollow and hadn’t been able to get Regina off his mind the entire time he was there. It was exactly the sort of small town she’d dreamt of living when they had dated years before and so he’d passed the name along.

  He had to assume that by the time Regina got wind of Friar Hollow—via his mother and then her mother—she hadn’t learned that the guy who’d broken her heart was the one who’d suggested it.

  She never would have moved there if she had.

  “So, you like it there, huh?” What he meant was Is Regina happy there? Is she well? Did she ask about me?

  He knew better than to ask. First of all, she probably hadn’t asked. And while Tyler wanted her to be happy, he had no interest in hearing about her love life, which was a topic his mother adored.

  A perpetual matchmaker, his mother couldn’t resist gossip about anyone’s love lives, but especially Regina’s. His mother and Deborah were not so subtle about their hopes that their kids might one day get back together.

  They’d been quiet on the topic for a while there after Regina had married. But the moment the divorce papers were signed, they’d been back to openly rooting for them.

  “This town is so perfect,” his mother was saying. “Regina seems happy here.”

  The ache in his chest was bittersweet. He was glad to hear she was doing well…

  He just hated that she was doing so well without him.

  It was his own fault. Years ago he’d chosen his career over her, and it was a mistake he had to live with. “Good,” he managed to say as casually as possible. “Glad to hear she likes it there.”

  Is she dating anyone? Has she recovered from the divorce?

  He swallowed down the questions he had no right to ask. “How long do you plan to stay?”

  “Through New Year’s, at least,” she said. “After that, Deb and I may take a road trip to Florida.”

  He laughed under his breath at her enthusiasm. His mother had grieved for his father for years, but this past year—thanks in no small part to her close circle of friends—she’d finally started to live life again. And these days it seemed she meant to live it to the fullest. Impulsive road trips and all.

  “That sounds great, Mom. Maybe I’ll see you when you’re heading this way.”

  “If you have some time off work, why don’t you come on up and spend the holidays in Friar Hollow?”

  He was grateful this wasn’t a videocall so she couldn’t see his wince. He’d gotten at least three messages from his friends Cole and Callie asking him to come visit them in Friar Hollow for the holidays and he’d had to decline those invites as well. “I wish I could, Mom, but—”

  “Why can’t you?” she demanded with her typical forthright manner. “You just said you’re not working. And you said you’re staying in a hotel by yourself.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. He’d thought his mother was the one person he wouldn’t have to spell it out for. “I don’t think I’d be...welcome.”

  Her silence echoed back to him. He supposed a little part of him had been hoping she’d say ‘no, no, Regina would love to see you!’

  But they would both know that to be a lie, and his mother wasn’t a good liar. It just wasn’t in her nature.

  “If that’s what you’re worried about, you shouldn’t,” she said.

  His brows hitched up. Hope gave a little wave hello in his gut.

  “She won’t be here.”

  Hope retreated back to its corner to hide. He knew better than to get his hopes up when it came to Regina. After he’d walked out on her all those years ago, he’d tried to win her back.

  Not well, necessarily.

  Showing up on her doorstep the night before her wedding, drunk and angry because she’d moved on…

  That had not been his finest hour.

  After that he’d promised himself he’d let her go—for her sake and for his own pride.

  There was only so much rejection one man could take, even if he had been the one to walk away first.

  He rubbed the back of his neck as he considered his mother’s words. “What do you mean she won’t be there?”

  “She flies out to Europe tonight,” his mother said. “She got great airfare, it seems, and is taking a well-deserved vacation since that veterinary clinic she works at will be closed until after the New Year.”

  “Oh, that’s...nice.” The lame comment was all he could manage when his brain was on fire with questions. Who was she going with? Was it a guy? Was it serious?

  He let his head fall forward against the glass with a thud. He had to get a grip. It had been nearly ten years since they broke up.

  Time to move on.

  She had. So why couldn’t he?

  “Well?” his mother prompted.

  He heaved a sigh as he lifted his head and stared at the sea of strangers below. The thought of staying here over the holidays was too depressing.

  “Are you sure Regina wouldn’t mind?”

  His mother gave a snort of amusement. “She already left for the airport but my guess is no. If it makes you feel better, I’ll tell Deb to ask her.”

  He sighed again.

  “You have friends here, don’t you? I’m sure they’d love to see you, too.”

  He couldn’t help but smile at that. Cole was the star of the show he produced and every second he wasn’t working on the show, he was in Friar Hollow playing house with Callie. Tyler loved them both and enjoyed spending time at their house—or he had until Regina moved to town and his visits turned into stealthy skulking to ensure he didn’t run into her even as a big part of him prayed that he’d run into her.

  Regina living there had made visiting Friar Hollow...complicated.

  And yet, Callie and Cole knew nothing of all that. They just knew he was busy and couldn’t visit as often as he’d like. If he said yes to one of Callie’s many invites to join them for their Christmas party...well, she’d be over the moon.

  “Okay,” he said finally, shoving all fears about what Regina might think out of his mind. “If it’s alright with Reggie then I’ll rent a car and head up there today.”

  “Wonderful!” His mother practically shouted it and he held the phone away from his ear. “We can’t wait to see you.”

  He assumed she meant her and Deb.

  Regina?

  There was no way she’d want to see him.

  Chapter 2

  The woman behind the airline counter was kind but firm. “Like I said, there’s been a mistake.”

  Mistake.

  Regina narrowed her eyes.

  That word again.

  “But I bought the tickets
and I have them right here,” she said...not for the first time.

  Not for the fifth time.

  Regina was caught in a time warp, stuck on repeat in a cycle that wouldn’t end.

  The woman’s smile slipped slightly, her eyes bored behind the polite facade as the line behind Regina kept growing. “If you see here, the dates are wrong.”

  Regina looked at them and blinked. “Today is the twenty-fourth of December. It’s Christmas Eve.”

  That was why the flights were so cheap. She didn’t love flying on a holiday but she and her mother and Mrs. Arnold had celebrated last night by the tree in her little home in Friar Hollow. And she and her mother had agreed they would exchange gifts when she returned with goodies from her travels abroad.

  She tilted her head to the side this time as she lifted her gaze to meet the airport employee’s. Maybe shifting her perspective would help her see the problem. “Today is Christmas Eve.”

  She sounded like a simpleton and the other woman’s answering smile said she thought so too. “Yes, ma’am. But you bought the tickets for Christmas Eve...next year.”

  “What?” Regina’s voice rose to a pitch that made her own skin crawl. She snatched the ticket off the counter where she’d set it and read the date for the tenth time.

  Oh.

  Oh dear.

  Oh no no no. There was no way this could be happening.

  Tears threatened, sudden and insistent, but she would not cry in front of this woman. She cleared her throat and tried for reasonable.

  What followed was a depressing and humiliating conversation in which Regina and the kind, definitely pitying employee both realized just how broke she was.