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    Home in Time (Book III in the Christmas Village Trilogy)
    Home in Time (Book III in the Christmas Village Trilogy)
    Home in Time (Book III in the Christmas Village Trilogy)
    Ebook116 pages1 hour

    Home in Time (Book III in the Christmas Village Trilogy)

    By Lisa Pendergrass

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Florrie Gentry became an orphan before her eleventh birthday, and even the best family in the world couldn’t replace what she’d lost.
    Ten years later she’s still struggling to fit into the Callahan’s life, and finds it’s even harder at Christmas. So she foregoes her usual trip to Snowy Pines and starts out instead for Boston with her boyfriend, but along the way she changes her mind and ends up hitchhiking along an unfamiliar road. She’s picked-up by her childhood nurse Lola McCauley and quickly learns that Lola is headed for Snowy Pines.
    Once she’s there Florrie is eager to connect with her adopted family and make peace, but she soon discovers that in Snowy Pines things aren’t ever the way you expected. Now she’s in a town she’s been to dozens of times with family and friends who’ve never seen or heard of her. Only a childhood playmate and Lola McCauley know her true story.
    Kellany always says you come to Snowy Pines to learn things, but Florrie knows immediately that she’s been ungrateful and unfair to her family so what else is there to learn? And how can she learn it and get Home in Time to spend Christmas in Snowy Pines for real?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLisa Pendergrass
    Release dateDec 5, 2017
    ISBN9781370658152
    Home in Time (Book III in the Christmas Village Trilogy)
    Author

    Lisa Pendergrass

    An insomniac since birth, my earliest memories are of lying in bed at night and making up stories to keep myself entertained. Anytime life got dull, I'd create my own adventure in my mind and suddenly I could be anyone, anywhere. It seemed only natural that those characters who've been bouncing around my own personal make believe world, would eventually find their way to the pages of a book. Each of my characters has a beloved life of their own, and the stories I'm telling about them are just the windows into their adventures.

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      Book preview

      Home in Time (Book III in the Christmas Village Trilogy) - Lisa Pendergrass

      A Christmas Village to Call Home

      Smashword

      Copyright 2016 by Lisa Pendergrass

      Home in Time

      Chapter 1

      "Oh, Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind..." … Kris Kringle

      Don’t you remember? You love Lexington, Florrie! Do you remember the last time we were here, and we went to that amazing restaurant?

      No. Florrie bit, staring disinterestedly out the window. Her mother was trying to cheer her up. It wasn’t working. She refused to be cheered up.

      They’re expecting record breaking crowds at this festival. Her dad said. We should clear a lot of money, and be able to take some time and just have fun.

      Sure. Florrie responded doubtfully. At ten years old she, along with her parents, had spent more time on the road than off. They made things… her mother was a master crafter of hand-pressed jewelry and her father was a wood worker. They both were talented and successful; successful enough to own a home in Inner Harbor and two thriving internet businesses based out of Baltimore. But this was their passion; loading up their truck and setting off for fairs, festivals and flea markets to mingle with consumers and other artists.

      That would have been all well and good if they hadn’t had a ten-year-old daughter who was lucky she was gifted because otherwise she’d never have finished kindergarten. As it was, the posh private school she attended continued to pass her because she was smart, but if they graded on attendance and class participation, she’d still be in preschool.

      If we have some free time before we meet the organizers, how about a quick stop at Kentucky Horse Park? Mom asked hopefully.

      I don’t care. I’ve seen it. Florrie pouted.

      Honey, we know you had to miss a sleepover…

      I never get invited anywhere because no one from school even knows me well enough to invite me, but Janie did, and I can’t even go! It’s not fair! She cried, and then…

      Squealing brakes, a scream she later realized was her own voice and crunching metal… for the rest of her life those would be the three things she remembered; the last three things she remembered about her mother. Squealing brakes, a scream she later realized was her own voice and crunching metal… she’d never forget it. She’d never forget that or the fact that the last thing she said to her mother was spoken in anger.

      A kid in an SUV scrolling through his favorite tunes on Bluetooth and doing 85 on I68 hit the guard rail, over-corrected and spun into mom’s door, driving dad’s side into the concrete partition. Mom died on impact. Dad died nine months later after multiple operations to correct a major spinal injury; but in Florrie’s mind, he died that day with mom. He was never the same afterwards anyway. He couldn’t work. He couldn’t travel. He couldn’t even make breakfast before school.

      That first Christmas was the worst. The Callahan’s were nice, but they were strangers. And this place… Snowy Pines… it felt like another planet and not in a good way. All she remembered from that first year was arriving at this ridiculously quaint village where everyone smiled and said Merry Christmas. And all she wanted to do was cry… until the night they took her to carnival.

      She was afraid it would make her sad because her parents loved carnivals, but this wasn’t like the traveling shows where they’d set up and sell their merchandise. This was something else. For lack of a better word… it was magical. And the magic all began when she followed seven-year-old Lola to the lemonade stand. Lola was talking excitedly to people who knew her, and Florrie was looking on with dark, wary, eyes when a flash of Raven’s purple and gold disappeared around the stand and caught her attention.

      She walked away from Lola, promising she’d be right back, and went in search of the jacket that was just like her dad’s. Instead she found a boy; a boy who looked a little older than she, with shaggy blonde hair and sullen green eyes… the greenest green eyes she’d ever seen.

      I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. She said, backing away.

      It doesn’t matter. He barked.

      Oh… okay. She said nervously, and then blurted out, I’m Florrie. I like your jacket.

      Thanks. It was a Christmas gift from my mom. She gave it to me right before she dumped me here with my grandparents, so she could flake out with some guy in the Bahamas. He sneered.

      Oh. She said, wondering if she should tell him that her mother was dead, and her father was listed as stable, but still wasn’t even able to speak to her when last she’d visited him. But she didn’t want to tell him that. She didn’t want to be that girl.

      So instead she said, I’ve never been to the Bahamas.

      Me either. He said with a shrug. I’ve never been anywhere but Baltimore and here. My grand-poppa and grand-mama own the tree farm.

      That sounds…

      Lame. He filled in the blank for her. I hate this place with its stupid decorations and stupid carnival. It’s like… not even close to a real place.

      Seriously. Florrie said, relieved at last to find a normal person.

      I’m Gabriel by the way… Gabe. Do you want to ride the swings?

      Seven Years Later

      The Callahans arrived in Snowy Pines on December 22nd just like most every year. As soon as the car was unpacked at the cabin Florrie started for the door. Can I go to Gabe’s?

      Kellany wrinkled her brow and said, I’m going back into town to pick up groceries in a few minutes. Don’t you want to wait and ride with me?

      Florrie fidgeted. She was anxious to see Gabe for the first time since summer. It seemed the older they got the more she wanted to see him and the longer she had to wait between visits. They texted a lot and talked on the phone occasionally, but it wasn’t the same. Of course, it didn’t help that last time she’d seen him things had been strained. She was determined to get back on track this time.

      It’s just down the road. I can walk it in a few minutes. She insisted.

      Can I go too? Fourteen-year-old Lola asked.

      Florrie could tell that Kellany was just about to refuse when she jumped in. She can come too. Please.

      Okay, but don’t you want to go buy groceries with me? Kellany asked.

      Lola had inherited her mother’s love of cooking, if not her gift for it. Florrie was a natural, but she often resisted it out of some sense of denial.

      Lola was clearly torn so Florrie suggested that Kellany come in a few minutes and pick Lola up. That would make Lola happy because she’d get to tag along with Florrie; and it would make Kellany happy because it meant Florrie and Lola were bonding, she’d get to see with her own eyes that Florrie was safely at the Patrick’s farm, and she’d have Lola to accompany her to the store; and it would make Florrie happy because she’d get to spend uninterrupted time with Gabe.

      Kellany pondered it for just a moment before finally agreeing.

      Florrie? Kellany said, reaching for her hand as they started out the door. I’m glad you’re with us this year. It’s just not Christmas without you.

      Florrie offered a mumbled thank you before racing off down the road with Lola talking happily beside her. She loved Lola and was thankful to have a little sister… after a fashion. She loved all the Callahans and couldn’t imagine better foster parents than Josh and Kellany. But it didn’t change the fact that they weren’t her real family.

      She and Lola reached the Tree Farm in just a few minutes and Lola took

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