The Trouble with Christmas Read Online Free

and the hair on his right arm had been singed off as well as his eyebrows in a freak flash over fire two days ago. If Sally Ann hadn’t been there with a fire extinguisher, the entire restaurant would have been consumed in flames.
    He ran along the flat, firm sand at the edge of the ocean, enjoying the views over to Hilton Head, and along the south to the tip of the island, a development called Bloody Point after the notorious battles that had taken place centuries before. In the far distance, he could see Tybee Island, another Sea Island that, like Hilton Head, was connected to the mainland by a bridge ages ago.
    What a difference a bridge would make for the restaurant. He stopped at a tangled pile of driftwood that blocked the rest of the beach. A bridge would bring in more diners, which the restaurant desperately needed, but it would also ruin the seclusion and peace of the island, a place his grandmother introduced him to when he was a child. He needed to find an answer to the dwindling profits. As he jogged back home, his mood dark, not improved by the quick five-mile run. For the first time in his life, Cole had failed. His embarrassment still rankled. As the new owner of Marshside Mama’s restaurant, he’d overpromised and under delivered on his first major holiday, Thanksgiving. What had he been thinking? He didn’t know the restaurant industry, nor did he know the island that well, but he had jumped in anyway, investing in Sally Ann’s Marshside Mama’s with a lot of ideas fueled by arrogance and enthusiasm and not a lot of knowledge or foresight.
    What the hell had happened to his brain? He’d been determined to improve people’s lives, not destroy them. His jaw hurt because he’s been clenching it so often, but as he ran past the Putnam Plantation, he had a whole different hurt. Christmas had arrived. The porch glowed with white lights, wrapped in garland and cheery red ribbon bows. Christmas. The trouble with Christmas? It was a family holiday, but his family was far away. His parents had begged him to come home to New England for the holidays but he couldn’t leave Sally Ann with the mess he had created. So he’d promised his mom he’d make it next year. She hadn’t been happy, and he felt even worse.
    Cole imagined his family’s home in Lincoln, elaborately decorated for Christmas with colorful lights, a tree filled with the handmade ornaments Cole and his brother had made through elementary school. His mom’s spiced apple cider always simmered on the stove, filling the house with the scents of family and the holidays. He imagined the snow was already blanketing the ground, and his mom would have a roaring fire in the fireplace. And he was here. Alone.
    *
    He shook his head and pushed the sadness away. He’d chosen to change, to move far away and start over. He decided that after the lunch rush, he’d head to the General Store to find a few Christmas decorations. That would get him in the spirit.
    *
    LILY
    After lunch, and decorating the library tree together—with Avery explaining the meaning and significance of almost every ornament they unwrapped—Lily suggested they bake Christmas cookies. It was the least she could do to thank the Putnams for their hospitality.
    A quick survey of the kitchen pantry revealed all of the ingredients she needed, except sprinkles.
    “We can’t have Christmas cookies without sprinkles,” Avery announced.
    “Sure we can,” Lily said. “We can make gingerbread boys and girls, even a gingerbread house. That would be fun.”
    “I need sprinkles, and gumdrops, and those shiny round metal thingamabobs, otherwise, it’s just not the same,” Avery said. “They’ll have some at the General Store. If not, we’ll go beg for some from the inn. James and dad own it now somehow, did I tell you that?”
    “Something about a sex scandal with the general manager.”
    “I don’t think it was that lurid,” Avery laughed. “But two employees there, a couple, are