Snowfall on Cedar Trail Read online

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Annie Rains

  Excerpt from Christmas on Mistletoe Lane copyright © 2018 by Annie Rains

  Triple-Chip Chocolate Cookies recipe copyright © 2019 by Maria Lichty

  Cover design and illustration by Elizabeth Turner Stokes

  Cover copyright © 2019 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  Bonus novel Then There Was You copyright © 2018 by Miranda Liasson

  Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Forever

  Hachette Book Group

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  First Edition: September 2019

  Forever is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing. The Forever name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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  ISBN: 978-1-5387-1402-7 (mass market), 978-1-5387-1400-3 (ebook)

  E3-20190820-DA-NF-ORI

  E3-20190801-DA-NF-ORI

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Epilogue

  Triple-Chip Chocolate Cookies

  An excerpt from CHRISTMAS ON MISTLETOE LANE

  About the Author

  PRAISE FOR ANNIE RAINS AND HER SWEETWATER SPRINGS SERIES

  Also by Annie Rains

  Bonus Story: THEN THERE WAS YOU

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Discover More

  For my readers. May the season of hope surround you and stay with you throughout the year.

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  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to my family for supporting me in every way. I love you and I couldn’t do any of this without you. Thank you especially to my husband, Sonny, for being the man behind every hero I write. I couldn’t live out this dream without you by my side, offering limitless advice and support.

  I would also like to thank my amazing and talented editor, Alex Logan, at Grand Central / Forever for making my work shine. Thank you to Estelle Hallick for your PR expertise, Monisha Lakhotia for your social media genius, Elizabeth Turner Stokes for your beautiful work on this cover, and everyone else on the Grand Central / Forever team for all your hard work!

  Thank you to my tireless literary agent, Sarah Younger. I’m so fortunate to have you in my corner! I’m so thankful to have my critique partner and friend, Rachel Lacey, by my side on this writing journey as well!

  Thank you so much to the wonderful Maria Lichty for allowing me to reference the Two Peas & Their Pod blog and cookbook. It’s a huge honor to have your Triple-Chip Chocolate Cookie recipe included in this book for my readers to make and enjoy for themselves!

  Last but not least, thank you to my readers, who are the reason I get to tell my stories and put them out in the world. Your support is the best gift you could give me, and it means more to me than you know.

  Chapter One

  Something crashed in the kitchen.

  Halona Locklear cracked open an eye as she listened and debated whether the sound warranted getting out of bed. Before she could decide, her alarm clock started to shriek from across the room. She’d put it there so that she couldn’t press Snooze and make herself late for the morning drop-off at her son’s school.

  She groaned and burrowed deeper into her covers. She’d gotten up with Theo and his nightmares four times in the night, and she was exhausted. Just one more hour. Another crash in the kitchen launched her out of bed. She slid her feet into a pair of slippers and hurried down the hall.

  “Theo?” she called. “What are you doing?”

  She squinted in the harsh overhead lights, seeing her son sitting on the kitchen counter. There was a carton of milk at his side and a box of Cheerios. Without a word, he grabbed a bowl and hopped down. There was another dish on the floor, the culprit of the crash she’d heard in her bedroom. Thankfully, it was plastic.

  “To the table,” she ordered, grabbing the milk and cereal and following behind him. She couldn’t be mad. At seven, he was finally at the age where he was doing more stuff for himself, even if it meant chipped plates and a few spills here and there.

  Halona poured them both a glass of orange juice and then sat down alongside her son and drank as she talked to Theo. He smiled up at her intermittently while he ate. He didn’t speak. The only time she heard his voice anymore was during his nightmares, which were the source of his dark eyes underscored with blue half-moons. She imagined hers looked the same right now.

  “Hurry up,” she prodded after a few minutes, standing up from the table. “I’ve got to get you to school.”

  Theo lifted his gaze and started shoveling the cereal into his mouth faster than he could chew and swallow. Milk dribbled down his chin, and he quickly wiped it away with the sleeve of his pajama shirt.

  Halona laughed despite her bone-deep fatigue. Then she retreated to her bedroom and dressed herself before helping Theo pick out something to wear.

  On the way out the front door, she grabbed the lunch she’d packed for him last night, his backpack, and her purse. Then they loaded in her car and headed down the road.

  “Have a good day,” she said cheerfully as she pulled up at Sweetwater Elementary ten minu
tes later.

  She saw the corners of his mouth lift just a touch in the rearview mirror.

  “I love you,” she added as her breath suspended in her chest, waiting and hoping this time that he’d return the words.

  Instead, a teacher working with the car pool line opened the passenger-side door for him to exit.

  “Good morning, Theo,” the teacher said, helping him step down onto the school’s curb.

  Theo’s greeting came in the way of another smile as he pulled the straps of his backpack over his shoulders. Then he glanced back at Halona and waved before heading off.

  “Bye, sweetie!” She watched him until the car behind her beeped its horn. Halona cast an irritated glance at the driver behind her and then drove to the Little Shop of Flowers on Main Street. There was usually an uptick in business in the winter months heading into the holidays. People were more generous this time of year. They looked for ways to say I love you, and what said it better than flowers?

  She unlocked her door and stepped inside.

  She knew better. Nothing replaced those three little words, not even roses. What she wouldn’t give to hear Theo whisper them again. His doctor had diagnosed him with selective mutism last year, and she’d been working with every professional in the area who might be able to help. So far, nothing had made a huge difference, but she wasn’t one to give up easily, especially where her son was concerned.

  Her nerves calmed a touch as she inhaled the sweet floral aroma of her shop. Then she walked to the back room. The smell of roasted beans would also perk her up. She poured water and grounds into her coffee maker and flipped it on. After a moment, the machine started funneling its dark brew into the pot.

  The coffee next door at the Sweetwater Café was far better, but that would require running into half the people in town, including Chief of Police Alex Baker, who appeared to have a small addiction to Emma St. James’s brew. Or maybe for the café owner herself. Not that Halona was jealous. The last thing she needed was romance intertwining with her heavy load of responsibilities.

  When the coffee was done, she poured a cup. No sooner had she taken her first sip than the bell above the door rang with an incoming customer. Halona put her mug down and dutifully put on a smile as she approached the front counter from the back room. Her breath stumbled along with her feet when she locked eyes with the man who’d just walked in. So much for avoiding Chief Baker by settling for mediocre coffee.

  “Hey,” he said, his deep voice a product of his six-foot-plus body and broad quarterback-size shoulders.

  “Hey,” she echoed back, feeling a bit foolish because a thousand butterflies, usually dormant, suddenly fluttered around inside her chest. She’d always had a thing for her brother’s best friend but he’d only ever looked at her as a little kid when they were growing up. And just like her brother, Alex was overprotective. Perhaps to a fault.

  Resentment over what happened two years ago festered up, which she suppressed along with those annoying butterflies. “To what do I owe your visit? Business or personal?” she asked.

  “A little of both, I guess. I need an arrangement for a fellow officer’s wife. Mary Beth Edwards.”

  “Oh. She just had surgery, right? That’s nice of you to think of her,” Halona said.

  “It’ll be from the whole department.”

  “Well, I’m sure she’ll appreciate the sentiment. I’ll get that arrangement for you right away.” Halona stepped toward her cooler of fresh flowers to get started, feeling the coolness of the air contrasting with the burning of her skin.

  “I thought I’d grab a coffee from next door while I wait,” he said behind her. “Would you like some?”

  She turned to face him. “No, thanks. I’ve got a machine in the back.”

  “Not the same,” he coaxed. “Let me grab you a coffee. How do you take it?”

  He stared at her from the other side of the counter, his blue eyes shining brightly beneath his rust-colored hair.

  Overprotective and hard to resist. “Medium-dark roast with three raw sugars and a splash of cream,” she finally conceded.

  “You got it. I’ll be right back.”

  She watched him walk out of her store and exhaled softly. She wanted to be mad at him but she knew he was only doing his job when he’d arrested her late ex-husband. Overprotective, hard to resist, and unbending when it came to the law—that was Chief Alex Baker.

  * * *

  Alex’s blood felt electric, and it had nothing to do with the smell of fresh coffee and the promise of its jolt of caffeine. When was he ever going to stop reacting to Halona this way? He’d known her when she’d been a tomboy irritating him, her brother Tuck, and the last of the three musketeers, Mitch Hargrove.

  She wasn’t boyish in any way these days though—that was for sure.

  “Hey, Chief Baker,” Emma St. James said as he reached her counter. She always smiled a little wider when he was around. Why couldn’t he have a thing for someone uncomplicated like Emma? The only thing the beautiful café owner stirred for him, however, was his coffee. Halona, on the other hand, whipped up a variety of unsettling emotions: attraction, need…confusion. He didn’t understand her choices. All he knew was that he’d made the right one. He would never regret arresting Ted for hurting her.

  “Your usual?” Emma asked.

  He gave a nod. “And a medium-dark roast with a splash of cream and three raw sugars.”

  Emma lifted a thin brow. “That’s the way Halona takes her coffee.”

  He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “Do you know how everyone in town takes their drinks?”

  She turned to start pouring. “It’s my job to know, Chief Baker,” she called over her shoulder. A moment later, she exchanged two coffees for his debit card. She swiped it and handed it back. “Tell Hal I said hello.”

  Alex didn’t respond. Instead, he said a polite goodbye and started toward the door just as Mayor Brian Everson was pushing through in his wheelchair. Alex held the door as a courtesy, not that Brian needed help. Brian had more strength and endurance than most men with two able legs.

  “Thanks, Chief,” Brian said as he looked up. “You’ve been dodging my calls. I figured I’d run into you sooner or later.”

  “I’m actually in a hurry this morning,” Alex lied. He liked Brian but he knew what the Sweetwater Springs mayor wanted to discuss. Apparently, Alex had gotten the reputation of being hard-nosed with some town members. He didn’t bend the law for anyone, including eighty-year-olds who spiked the punch at public gatherings. Janice Murphy hadn’t learned her lesson with all of Alex’s many warnings over the years so he’d taken her to jail a couple of months back. It was just a scare tactic, of course. He hadn’t actually charged Janice with anything, and afterward, he’d taken her to Dawanda’s Fudge Shop. Was that the behavior of a hardened cop?

  Brian angled his wheelchair to pin Alex with an assessing stare. “Call me. Better yet, stop by my office. This is your friend talking, not the mayor. You’re good for this town, and we need to make sure everyone knows it.”

  Alex shifted the carrying tray of coffee in his hands. “I’ll be in touch.” Right after he figured out who was vandalizing the town and solved the cold case that had been in his desk drawer haunting him since he was nineteen years old. Every December, as the anniversary of his father’s death loomed, he reassessed the facts and interviewed old witnesses. Yet the case wasn’t any closer to being solved.

  One day.

  Alex stepped out of the coffee shop and walked back into the Little Shop of Flowers. Halona looked up with those honey-colored eyes of hers that seemed unnaturally bright against her inky black hair and tanned skin. She had high, defined cheekbones characteristic of her Cherokee heritage and petal-pink lips that none of the flowers in her shop could ever match.

  His lungs constricted, making it hard to breathe for a second. She had this effect on him. Every. Single. Time. And he reckoned she always would.

  Never going to happen.


  “Here you go,” he said, clearing his throat as he approached the counter and setting the cup of coffee in front of her.

  “Thank you.” Her gaze flitted up to meet his. Then she pointed to a small table set up next to the flower cooler. “Your arrangement is over there. No charge. Please send Mary Beth my best wishes.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” he said.

  “I want to. For her.” There was a sharp note in her tone that he didn’t miss. She reached for the coffee that he’d placed before her. “Thank you for this. Emma’s brew is so much better than the stuff I have.”

  “I like to tell people I go so often because I’m secretly investigating her. Her coffee is too addictive to be legal.”

  Halona’s face contorted with a small laugh that punched him as forcefully as a gunshot into his bulletproof vest.

  “Well, I better get back to work. There’s a graffiti incident to investigate.”

  Halona’s brows lifted. “Sounds urgent.”

  Alex smiled at her teasing tone. “To Mrs. Roberts it is.”

  Halona’s lips parted. “At the seamstress shop? That’s right next door to A Taste of Heaven Catering.”

  “Don’t worry. Brenna’s business survived the incident unscathed. Hopefully, I’ll catch the perp before their can of spray paint strikes again.” He turned and headed toward the arrangement that she’d prepared. If he didn’t leave now, he was at risk of doing something foolish like asking her out. Her answer would be no, of course. While she seemed to have forgiven him for arresting Ted, that didn’t mean she wanted to date him. In fact, Halona didn’t seem to want to date anyone.

  “Good luck!” she called after him, her words muted by the sound of a cell phone ringing. “Hello,” he heard her say at his back. Her sharp intake of breath made him turn to face her. “Yes. Is he okay?…I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “Everything all right?” Alex asked once she’d disconnected the call.

  “No. Theo threw up at school. I need to close up shop and go get him.” She hesitated. “I have a customer coming in anytime to pick up an arrangement I promised her.” She nibbled her lower lip and then pulled her phone back out of her pocket. “Maybe Mom can come watch the store,” she said to herself.