Mountain Charm Read Free

Maple Ridge might be nosy, but we protect our own.”
    She thanked him and grabbed an umbrella. After walking David to his car, Angelina headed back inside and locked the door. When she turned around, she was met with the steely glare of her best friend.
    “Why are you looking at me like that?”
    Maddie’s hands were on her hips. “It’s closing time!”
    “And I couldn’t be happier. You’ve been so preoccupied with the spell you haven’t even wished me a happy birthday.”
    She narrowed her hazel eyes.
    “Happy birthday, you skeptic.”
    Angelina laughed and began to empty the register. With the day’s slow sales, doing the evening bookkeeping would be a breeze.
    “You have to believe in true love,” Maddie said as she followed her partner back to the office, “otherwise, he’ll never show up.”
    Angelina sighed and sat down behind the desk. “First of all, the spell doesn’t stipulate he’ll arrive today .”
    “I know, but your parents met on Celia’s twenty-first birthday.”
    “Yes, but my grandmother met my grandfather almost a year after she turned twenty-one. It’s not time-specific, Maddie.”
    “You mean I might have to wait a whole year ?”
    Angelina smirked. “My deepest apologizes. And for your information, I do believe in true love. My parents were proof that it exists. I just don’t believe blowing out a candle and singing some silly song on my thirteenth birthday is going to make the man of my dreams appear out of thin air to sweep me off my feet.”
    “He’s out there somewhere,” Maddie said, sighing dejectedly, as if it were her heart on the line. “What are you doing tonight?”
    “Mom wanted to bake me a cake, so I’m headed home.”
    She frowned. “You’ll never meet him at home , Angelina.”
    “Who knows, Maddie. Maybe he’s waiting for me on my front porch.”
    “Do you promise to call me if he is?”
    Her eyes were wide, and she sounded desperately hopeful, so Angelina resisted the urge to laugh at the silliness of it all. Instead, she made a vow to her best friend.
    “Absolutely, Maddie. If there’s a man waiting for me on my front porch, you’ll be the first person I’ll call.”

    It was dusk by the time Angelina drove out of town and up the winding mountain road that would lead her home. The sky was a pinkish-orange as the sunset lingered just above the trees. Rain was still falling, but it was nothing more than a light shower as it gently tapped against the windshield.
    Angelina couldn’t wait to get home. She wanted to curl up on the couch, eat a slice of birthday cake, and forget all about the curse.
    By the time she reached the house, the rain had all but diminished. The fog was still dense, but it wasn’t so thick that she couldn’t see the black SUV parked in her mother’s driveway.
    Or the man sitting on her front porch.
     

 
    There are moments in a person’s life that absolutely shake them to their core. Moments that make them re-evaluate their every thought, their every decision.
    This was Angelina’s moment.
    And she couldn’t muster the courage to step out of the car.
    Instead, she flexed her trembling fingers around the steering wheel and tried to comprehend the scene right before her disbelieving eyes.
    There was a man on her porch.
    Even through the fog, she could tell he was a handsome man.
    And she couldn’t be sure, but he appeared to be around her age.
    A man born in her decade.
    A dazed Angelina glanced ahead, and through the mist, she took a long look at the black vehicle parked in her spot.
    With Davidson County plates.
    Nashville.
    In an instant, the moment was shattered. Her short-lived astonishment gave way to something far more familiar—something bitter and suspicious and just downright pissed .
    Feeling ridiculous, Angelina furiously slammed her car door and stalked toward the porch. This wasn’t her true love. Not at all. This was that snooping reporter from Nashville, and he was at her house, on her porch.
    And