Mistletoe Bay Read Free Page A

go?”
    â€œYes.”
    He picked up the first two boxes. “What are you going to do about the post?” He didn’t want her to forget about it and have it come crashing down on top of someone’s head.
    â€œPut it on my list.”
    She tossed out the answer a little too nonchalantly. “How long is your list?” Considering the shape the house was in, he could picture an entire notebook filled with her to-do list.
    â€œLonger than your arm.”
    He carried the boxes to the truck and came back for the rest. It really wasn’t his business, and he had a route to finish. Maybe he could get her a list of handymen who were looking to make some extra cash. Shouldn’t take more than twenty men and a year’s worth of labor to spruce the place up. “Can I ask what Mistletoe Bay Company makes?” He usually picked up more boxes than he delivered. Whatever it was, he hoped it was profitable. His gut and trained eye were telling him the foundation beneath the house might be crumbling.
    Jenni smiled. “Bath and body products, including the cranberry oatmeal soap I threatened Tucker with. If you would like, I can do up a sampler and you can give it to your wife or girlfriend. Call it free promotion and a thank-you for not running over my sons.”
    â€œNo wife, no girlfriend, and believe me, it was my pleasure not running over your sons.” Considering what his ex-girlfriend, Candace, used to spend on lotions and potions, there obviously was a market for such things. “Thanks for the offer, though. See you tomorrow.”
    â€œBye, and thanks again.”
    Coop got into his truck and slowly drove down the gravel driveway while glancing into the rearview mirror. Jenni was struggling to hold on to Bojangles. The dog obviously wanted to do his daily routine of chasing him down the driveway until Coop threw a treat to him. Coop wasn’t interested in the dog.
    It was the enticing woman wearing a baggy sweatshirt, jeans, and Ked sneakers whom he watched. He doubted Jenni was even thirty years old—so young to be a widow, and to be left raising three small boys. To top that, she was living with her mother-in-law. Yet when she smiled, it lit up the day and warmed the wind.
    Amazing.
    He shook his head as the woman, dog, and dilapidated porch disappeared from view. Wasn’t his problem. So why did he keep picturing that dry-rotted post in his mind?
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    Jennifer Wright would have given her right arm for an hour in a hot bathtub filled with bubbles and a solid eight hours of sleep. It was a good thing no one offered the exchange. She was barely managing the business and the kids with both hands; she couldn’t imagine what it would be like trying it with only one arm.
    She shifted Corey in her arms and tried not to grimace when three of his caterpillar legs dug into her ribs. “That’s it, boys. This is the last house.”
    â€œBut Mom,” moaned Tucker, “I still have room in my bag.”
    â€œYour bag is big enough to hold your bicycle.” The boys had started off this evening wanting to hit every house in the town of Misty Harbor. Corey had conked out two streets ago, and she had to carry him from house to house. Chase, the wizard from the Harry Potter movies, had lost interest in accumulating piles of candy after the first street. He was more interested in looking at all the other kids’ costumes and finding his schoolmates in the parade of kids going door-to-door.
    Tucker, on the other hand, would keep ringing doorbells all night long if she let him. “You have enough candy in that bag to have you bouncing off the walls till Christmas.”
    She nodded to the house directly in front of them as she put Corey back on his own two feet. “This looks like a good one. Check out all the decorations. I bet they will give out the big candy bars.” The house had orange twinkling lights strung from every eave and window. The