Christmas in Good Hope (A Good Hope Novel Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

“You gave me a tax bill while I gave you chocolate mints. I ask you, who’s the scrooge?”

    Ami gazed through the frosted front window of her shop and watched her father’s car drive away in the falling snow. She could have told him to drop her off at Beck’s home, but the request would have provoked questions she had no desire to answer. As she was the only one of his four daughters still living in Door County, his overprotectiveness sometimes bordered on stifling.
    Some women might have chafed under his constant questions and concerns, but Ami understood. Her dad worried about her. Worried she’d never find a husband and have children like her sister Primrose. Worried about her decision to remain in Good Hope rather than moving to Chicago like her sister Marigold. Even though he wanted her here, he knew she’d stand a better chance of finding a husband in the big city.
    Steve Bloom was a traditional man. He’d been happy in his marriage and wanted the same happiness for his daughters. As much as she understood, Ami was grateful there was Delphinium to take some of the pressure off.
    Her father worried almost as much about Fin as he did about her, but for different reasons. The young woman who’d been their father’s fishing buddy and was the next stair step down from Ami hadn’t been back to Good Hope in several years.
    Ami jerked the hood of her parka up, zipping it until only her eyes peered out. The gloves on her hands were rated for subzero temps, so when she opened the door and stepped into the night air, she was warmer than she’d been in the bakery.
    She didn’t mind the walk. As Ami didn’t drive, she normally got to where she was going on foot or by riding her trusty Schwinn.
    Snow crunched under the heels of Ami’s boots, and flakes of white clung to her coat and gloves. Street lamps bathed the sidewalks in a golden glow. Distant music from the Flying Crane wafted on the night air.
    Ami hummed along to the popular tune and felt the weight of the day lift as she found comfort in the familiar. Many of the shops had been in existence since she was a child.
    There was the Good Hope Market. Next to it was Hill’s General Store, a business that had been in Eliza’s family for six generations. The Muddy Boots café, the business Beck had bought last summer, was dark now, the sign on the door flipped to Closed.
    Ami had been as surprised as anyone when she’d learned someone from out of state had purchased the café. What had shocked her more was learning that same person had bought the Spencer-Shaw house.
    Her secret wish had been to one day buy the house and turn it into a B and B. She’d done cleaning for Katherine Spencer when she’d been in high school and had fallen in love with the home. Kate, as she’d instructed Ami to address her, had no husband or children and wasn’t particularly close to any of her family.
    Ami had hoped by the time Katherine decided to sell the home, she’d have the income that would allow her to buy it.
    Obviously not meant to be , she thought with a sigh.
    When she reached the intersection, Ami crossed Highway 42, the roadway that ran the length of the peninsula. The Spencer-Shaw place, er, Beck’s home , sat at the corner of the highway and Market Street, directly across the street from Hill House.
    The house was impressive: a two-story white clapboard with green shutters and stained glass topping each window. A black iron fence enclosed a yard that spanned two lots. In the spring and summer, leafy trees shaded a spread of sprawling green accented with clusters of colorful flowers.
    Those in the community who cared about such things had worried the new owner might not keep up the property. That hadn’t been the case. Though Katherine had used a lawn service, Beck tended the grounds himself.
    Ami recalled the time she’d been biking to the library and seen him mowing. His white T-shirt was stretched tight across broad shoulders, and worn jeans hugged long,