Let It Snow (The Hope Falls Series) Read Online Free Page B

scheduled to wake him up. He had spent the entire night tossing and turning. Restless didn’t even begin to describe it. Half of his sheets now lay on the floor beside his bed. He had to face the fact that sleep was not going to be happening tonight.
    His sleepless night sucked for two reasons. One, Jake loved to sleep. He had never been one of those kids who complained about bedtimes. He’d always played hard during the day, and the second his head had hit the pillow, he’d been out. Now, as an adult, the ‘playing’ was a little different but not any less exhausting, and the second his head hit the pillow, Jake was usually out for the count.
    Two, he had a pile of paperwork waiting for him in his office that needed not only his attention but also his focus. Technically, this was one of his days off. The department had moved to a modified Kelly schedule last year, which meant two days on, four days off. He was off for the next three days, but since taking on his new position as Fire Chief, the paperwork had seriously piled up.
    Part of the problem was that his predecessor had left everything in such a mess that it had taken Jake over a month to sort everything out. But also the weather this year had been particularly brutal. It had been an extremely dry summer, which had led to an exorbitant amount of wildfires. The winter had been uncharacteristically harsh, causing the department to be busier than Jake had ever experienced in his six years there. So after getting promoted, there had not been a lot of time for paperwork.
    Jake knew that he needed to get up and go get started on his day. But instead he lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling with only one thought in his head. Tessa.
    Since seeing her last night, he hadn’t been able to think of anything else. Their brief interaction just kept playing over and over in his head. Every word, every look, every movement was on repeat.
    The bed jerked like an earthquake was hitting it and Jake lifted his head to see Lucky bounding towards him. Normally, his yellow lab didn’t wake up until Jake’s alarm went off, but he must have heard him turn it off.
    “Morning, Luck.” Lucky happily barked his greeting, and Jake smiled as he sat up and rubbed his dog behind the ears. Lucky rolled onto his back and flopped onto the bed. Jake gave him his morning belly rub then patted Lucky’s chest, “Time to go out.”
    As he and Lucky made their way down the stairs of his condo, Jake couldn’t stop thinking of all the different things he should have said last night. For starters, he would have found out what the hell Tessa was doing back in Hope Falls. That way he could avoid her, which was the last thing he wanted to do but the only thing he could do.
    Also he should have asked more about Adeline. Tessa’s grandma had always been good to Jake, even before the year Tessa had come to live with her. Adeline had been on his paper route and lived next door to his dream home on Shady Creek Lane.
    When he was in middle school and would come to collect the money for the paper, Adeline would always have cookies and milk waiting for him. Sometimes the two of them would sit out on her porch and Jake would tell her about school and sports. He’d even told her about his desire to live in the house next door to her someday.
    He hadn’t seen her since he’d left for college the fall after senior year. In fact, the last conversation he’d had with her had not been a pleasant one. During his four years at UCLA, he hadn’t come back to Hope Falls. He’d worked the entire time he had been in school, first as a waiter, then as a bartender. So when other kids had had breaks and had gone home to see their families, Jake had picked up more shifts to make extra money.
    When he’d moved back after college, his mom had told him that Adeline had recently moved. She’d had to go somewhere with a better climate for her asthma and arthritis. He’d always wanted to apologize for his behavior