Page 13 of Meet Me at the Christmas Cottage
All Jonah had wanted was to come home and surprise his family, say what he needed to say—with no hearts being broken—and then…something. He didn’t have a plan after that. Joke was on him, apparently. Although, why hadn’t the family told him they were planning on a cruise or resort or wherever sunny place they were? He would have loved time with his family on the beach. At least the beach would have definitely made the news he needed to tell go down a little easier. Probably.
Or maybe he should take this as a sign. A sign that he had made the wrong decision.
But his house guest—no, not his, she was Holland’spayinghouse guest—had gathered her stuff and stomped upstairs before they could formulate any kind of plan. Which room was she staying in? Knowing Holland, she’d probably given Brontehisold room. A few minutes later, he heard a shower turn on, the location of the sound confirming that was exactly what his sister had done.
This was a mess. Jonah ran a hand over his face and back through his hair. For once in his life, he’d like something to just work out the way it was supposed to.
His phone chimed multiple times with incoming texts. The first came from his childhood friend Oliver, who was the co-owner of a small publishing house. He wondered if Oliver would be home for Christmas. It would be great to catch up with him at some point.
Oliver
Heard you made it home for Christmas. While you’re there, can you vet Dani’s fiancé? Let me know if he’s as great as my sister says he is. Did you hear Mr. Johnson’s bookstore is up for sale? Remember all the times we hid out reading comics in the summers?
So, not coming home for Christmas then. Not able to think about vetting anyone at the moment, Jonah switched to the second text.
Cody
So, Mia probably told me at some point, but apparently, I wasn’t listening. I’m pretty sure your family is out of town, and someone is renting your sister’s house.
Jonah snorted. “Yep. Would have been nice for you to remember that half an hour ago, Cody.” He sent back a thumbs-up emoji.
Laying his phone on the counter, Jonah opened the fridge. He should be exhausted after twenty-six hours of travel, but of course his body still thought he was in Germany. Not like he would be able to sleep with a stranger in the house anyway.
His phone chirped again. Why was he so popular tonight?
Letting the fridge door close, he set down the carton of eggs and grabbed his phone, seeing an incoming text from Reeves, one of the guys back on base who was holding down the fort while Jonah was on leave. Instead of answering it, Jonah hit the Call button. It was mid-morning halfway around the world at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
“You get in okay?” Reeves said in lieu of a greeting. “How’s the family?”
“The family is MIA. Apparently, they decided now would be a good time to go on a family cruise in the Bahamas.” Or something like that.
“I mean, can you really blame them? What’s the weather like there right now?”
Jonah looked over to the picture windows that led into the backyard. For the most part, he could only see his reflection, but he knew the snow had probably started coming down. “Cold and snowy.”
“Right. See? Sounds awful. I’d be stealing away to the beach as well.” There was a beat, and Jonah could practically see Reeves take a gulp from what he knew was piping hot coffee. He was fairly certain that his friend’s esophagus had been replaced with a metal pipe. “So, what’s the plan now? Are you going to spend your leave chilling at home until they return? How long are they gone for?”
“I haven’t gotten that far yet. Not only are they gone, but Holland rented the house out. There’s a woman here who I’m not sure is happy I showed up.”
Reeves cleared his throat. “Oooh, a gorgeous woman, I hope.”
Jonah thought back to the cute button nose, rosebud lips, and that hair. The curls rivaled his niece Ruby’s favorite Disney princess, Merida. If only they were red instead of dark ashy-brown. Her wide eyes had quickly turned stormy gray when she’d found out she and Jonah were stuck there together for the night. “She’s all right.”
“There are worse ways to spend a leave.” Reeves’s chuckle let Jonah know he could hear through his lie.
“I am not sharing a house with a stranger for two weeks,” Jonah deadpanned as he grabbed a skillet from the cabinet and put it on the stove. “I need to see if I can reach my family.”
“Well, if you can’t, it’s a big house from what I hear. Maybe you can just avoid the hot renter until it’s time to return to base.”
“For two weeks? Hardly.” Jonah cracked three eggs that sizzled when he dropped them onto the hot skillet. This had to be a sign. Amy was right, and he shouldn’t have come. “I don’t really know what I’m going to do if I can’t get ahold of them.”
“Surely someone has their travel plans. What about that island busybody you told me about? The one that knows everything about everyone.”
“Martha?”
“That’s the one. Get with her tomorrow, see if you can get your family’s itinerary and fly out to each of their ports.”
Jonah’s mood started to lift. Maybe Reeves was onto something. Why hadn’t he thought of that when Martha was here earlier?
