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  Josie: A Christmas Romance

  Beth Gildersleeve

  Josie: A Christmas Romance

  Betting on Paris Series

  Copyright © 2019 by Beth Gildersleeve

  All rights reserved.

  Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. www.bethgildersleeve.com

  Published in the United States of America

  Edited by Ink Deep Editing

  Cover Design by A. Wilder

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  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

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Afterword

  Donna Lovitz

  Ryley

  Chapter 1

  Introduction

  Spend the holidays with Alana, Josie, Ryley, Emma, and Annika. Get ready for five weeks of romance with a new Christmas series brought to you by five exciting contemporary authors…

  Betting on Paris!

  Five exciting stories linked by a unifying theme. You’ll want to read each one!

  BETTING ON PARIS SERIES

  Sometimes the best bet is the one you lose…

  Five best friends. Five promises.

  Each year in mid-August, the former college roommates meet up on a girls-only trip somewhere in the world. This year, it’s Paris, the city of museums, art, and romance. One night during their vacation, the girls engage in a serious talk about the sorry state of their love lives and collectively decide they are swearing off men. Instead, each woman is intent on pursuing her life’s goal. Falling in love is the last thing on their minds!

  This is Josie’s story…

  Swear off men? Piece of cake for Josie Wright, coffee roaster extraordinaire and owner of eleven much-loved coffee houses. She’d already sworn off men before the Paris bet. Her heart had lousy taste in men, choosing liars and thieves in the past. No, Josie was much better off focusing her energies on her thriving, if somewhat monotonous, business. Being blackmailed into marriage by Gabe Kane, her younger brother’s employer, wasn’t in her plan. But then again, neither was falling in love with him, even though he might steal her business right out from under her nose.

  1

  Josie glanced at the clock above the front door and rolled her shoulders. Jamie should have been here by now. He was always here by this time on Friday afternoons. But today he’d had his six-month performance review at Haven Woodworks. What if it hadn’t gone well? What if Jamie had gone directly to his old haunts and was now perched on a barstool? Should she call his sponsor? Stop it! She ordered herself. He’s just running late. Josie grabbed the spray sanitizer and a rag to scrub the coffee shop’s tables. Cleaning up other people’s messes should settle her mind.

  It didn’t. Josie took her role as a bossy older sister to heart, and it was hard not to worry about Jamie. She and her twin, Josh, were ten years older than Jamie. They’d both ruled over Jamie growing up, but their coddling, protecting, and sibling over-lording hadn’t been enough. During his senior year of high school, a new love had replaced Jamie’s old loves of lacrosse and baseball —alcohol. Jamie was smart and clever, though. He’d hidden it from his parents, and he’d always been sober whenever Josie and Josh were home for the weekend.

  It had been a several-year downward spiral for Jamie until the night he’d stumbled into oncoming traffic and had been struck by a car.

  During rehab treatment, he’d tried to explain it to them. He felt like a puzzle piece from a different puzzle, like he just didn’t fit with their family. Jamie’s admission broke their hearts.

  Over the course of a long and dreary winter, the Wright family rebuilt themselves. Jamie now felt like he fit in their family puzzle. He’d been sober for over a year, and he loved his job at Haven Woodworks. Josie would do everything in her power to keep it that way.

  The bells above the front door jingled and Josie dropped her rag. She grinned as the woman, with an infant strapped to her chest and a preschooler in tow, approached and placed her order. “Go sit down and I’ll bring your drinks to you,” Josie said as she handed back the change. The woman smiled and nodded her head in agreement as she dumped her coins into the tip jar.

  Josie kept an eye on the small family as she made their drinks. Maybe someday, she thought wistfully but then shook her head in disgust. Who am I kidding? It’s not going to happen, she admitted. Even if she trusted her heart enough to give love another try, she didn’t have the time or the energy to date. In her experience, men wanted attention. Josie didn’t have any extra of that. Her eleven coffee shops required all of her energy and attention. She stopped her dreaming and carried the peppermint white chocolate mocha and the kiddie cocoa to the corner where they’d settled. The baby sat on her mother’s lap and she smiled and giggled at Josie as she set the drinks on the table.

  Too bad I can’t have a family without a husband, Josie thought. Being a single-parent was an option for a lot of women, but she couldn’t see herself going down that path. Until Mr. Right slipped into her life, Jo’s Joe was her only baby.

  Josie settled in behind the counter. She picked up the rag ready to resume cleaning when her eyes fell on her satchel. Aw, crap! she thought guiltily. She should look at the stack of reports instead of cleaning the already spotless bakery case, but she’d successfully ignored the reports all afternoon. A few more minutes wouldn’t hurt. She knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the endless rows and columns until she saw Jamie.

  The front door opened and Josie looked up excitedly. It wasn’t Jamie, but the high schoolers kept her busy making smoothies and warming up cookies. She’d just finished adding extra whipped cream to the top of the last strawberry smoothie when Jamie burst through the front door. If the sun had been out that day, Jamie’s smile still would have outshone it.

  Finally, Josie breathed a sigh of relief as she finished waiting on the teens. “How’d it go?” she asked him when he stepped up to the counter. She hoped her tone sounded casual. She didn’t want Jamie to think she was being nosy or concerned. That had been one of his complaints during therapy. He’d argued that he had one mother, and he didn’t need Josie mothering him, too. He wanted a sister. A comrade in arms. A partner in crime.

  Jamie put his hands on the counter and leaned toward her. “Hey, how’s your day been?” he asked, avoiding her question.

  “No complaints. Do you want anything to drink?” Josie grabbed a nearby rag and wiped the espresso machine’s gleaming steam wand. Jamie smirked. Josie’s penchant for cleaning when she was worried was an ongoing joke in the family.

  “Hmm. How about a medium, cherry, dark chocolate, mocha with extra whip and chocolate shavings?”

  “Sounds like a celebration drink,” Josie said, fishing for more information.

  “Maybe,” Jamie teased. Josie focused on tapping the espresso into the portafilter. North, south, east, and west, she thought as she pressed the tamper around the bas
ket.

  “Milk preference?” she asked. The only milk he didn’t like was soy.

  “Cow.”

  “Type?”

  “Whole.”

  “Livin’ large there, baby brother.” She pulled the whole milk from the under-counter refrigerator.

  “Seems appropriate for a celebration, though.”

  “Oh? Are we celebrating anything?” Josie played along as she poured the creamy milk into a clean steamer jug.

  “Maybe,” Jamie said. Josie relaxed her jaw and wished, and not for the first time, that Jamie was more communicative like Josh. But then again, she and Josh had that weird twin connection where they knew what the other one was thinking. Josie finished making the latte and turned back to Jamie. He’d pulled out his wallet.

  “Put that back,” she scolded. “You know it’s on the house.”

  “Well, it’s not every day I get a raise, so let me pay today, okay?” Josie heard the eagerness in his voice. This is important to him, she realized.

  “Okay,” Josie agreed and smiled as she rang up his order. As she did, he told her about his review. The only complaint the manager, Gabe Kane, had was that he couldn’t clone Jamie. And if Jamie’s next review went as well, they should talk about additional training, either in management or more skill-based woodworking, whichever Jamie preferred.

  “But I’ll do whatever Gabe wants me to,” he said.

  “Gabe’s a smart man. He knows the best place for an employee is where their heart is. So don’t agree to a management role to make him happy when your heart is in working with your hands. Gabe wouldn’t appreciate it.” Jamie nodded his head in agreement. Jamie worked with Gabe but Jo’s Joe was Gabe’s favorite caffeine fix. Josie saw him several times a week. Gabe was a good customer and friend. She glanced at the clock and her heart skipped a beat as she thought about Jamie’s boss and her friend. Just friend, she reminded herself. He should have been here by now, too, she thought wistfully as she wiped a smudge off the bakery case.

  “I think it’s time I moved out,” Jamie added before taking a sip of his latte. Josie took a deep breath before answering. This would be a big step for him. She knew it and so did he.

  “This seems pretty sudden. Are you sure?”

  “Actually, I’ve spoken to both Barry and Tim about this. Several times. They agree. I’m ready for this, and now, with the raise, I can afford something decent.” Josie knew she should be happier for Jamie, especially since his counselor and AA sponsor were on board and supportive of his plans. But in many ways, she’d considered their cramped living arrangements since he’d left rehab to be her penance. If she’d been a more attentive sister, she could have kept him sober. Intellectually she knew that was crap, but emotionally she was tied to the idea tighter than a double knot.

  “When?”

  “I think Leesa and I will start looking this weekend.”

  “Oh, you’re taking your girlfriend with you?” Jamie and Leesa had dated briefly in high school and had reconnected when Jamie had moved back to Haven after rehab.

  “Unless you want to keep her and I’ll take the TV?”

  “Dream on.” Josie rolled her eyes at him. “Take her. I need my bathroom space back. And a quiet night would be good for a change.” Jamie blushed just as she’d known he would. “Congratulations, Jamie. I’m happy for you and proud of you. You worked hard for this.”

  “Thanks, Sis.” They stared at each other, wearing identical goofy grins. He took another sip of his mocha and sported a slight whipped cream mustache. She didn’t tell him. He’d figure it out soon enough, and it served him right for springing this move on her.

  She wasn’t the easygoing sibling, that was Josh. Josie had planned on Jamie living with her above her flagship store for at least another six months. “I’ll see you later,” he said and saluted her as he turned and walked out.

  She reached for the slip of paper tucked into her apron. Her best friend since childhood, who was now her sister-in-law, had given her a daily calendar with mantras. Since both Elle and Josie were wound pretty tight, Josie hadn’t taken it personally. She unfolded the slip and read today’s reminder: “Let go or get dragged.” Easier said than done, she thought as she stuffed the slip of paper back into her apron.

  Josie looked up and frowned as the instigator of her current woes, Gabe Kane, manager and part-owner of Haven Woodworks, walked toward her. From the grey lacing his dark blond hair and the laugh lines around his light brown eyes, she’d put him in his early forties, but his body was that of a younger man, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. That body had dated just about every single woman in Haven since he’d arrived last January. Except her. Josie didn’t hold it against him. Not too much, at least.

  She’d resigned herself to a life in singledom. There were worse fates, like a loveless marriage. She focused on that instead of the cloud of perpetual bliss that floated over Elle and Josh. Sure she’d love a husband, and children, but Josie had been burned by men: Michael, Silvano, and Jeff. And just like in baseball, three strikes and I’m out, she thought. For now, Josie was done with the game of love. She’d rather be safe and secure than risk it all hoping for a home run.

  “Your usual?” she asked him, ignoring the way her heart sped up as it always did. Gabe Kane was an attractive man. She could look but she wouldn’t touch.

  Gabe nodded his head. “When I walked past the front window you were all smiles with Jamie, but I’m getting a frown. What’s up?”

  “You know how it is when you own a business. There’s always something to worry about,” she said as she started on his usual flat white.

  “Tell me about it,” he said. Josie shrugged her shoulders and returned her focus to the drink. “No, seriously. Tell me.”

  “I signed a contract with Hart Hotels to provide an exclusive signature blend of coffee for them.”

  “Doesn’t sound like a problem to me.”

  “I’m not done yet, Mr. Impatient.” Gabe didn’t seem bothered by the reprimand. He just smiled at her in encouragement. “I need a new coffee roaster to handle the increased production. I’ve found the machine I want, we have the down payment, and Elle’s arranged financing for the rest. We’ve even made plans for expedited shipping. But I haven’t found a place for it. It’s pretty big and I need a clean location that is nearby. There are lots of options twenty minutes away, but I’m not willing to compromise yet.” She handed him his drink as several teens walked in.

  “I’ve got a spot that would work,” Gabe said as she handed him his drink.

  “You do?”

  “Yes. Come join me when you’re done with them,” he said, indicating the teens who had just rushed through the front door. She didn’t appreciate the commanding tone in his voice, but if he had a solution for her, she’d overlook it. Plus, watching him walk away compensated for the tone. He settled into the farthest table. Josie kept an eye on Gabe as she dealt with the teens and their sugar-fueled drinks. He seemed off. Not his usual end-of-the-week vibe.

  Josie poured herself a cup of decaf and plated a piece of pumpkin rum cake with maple cream cheese frosting for him. She was ready for a break and eager to learn more about the potential space. And to find out what was bugging him. She watched him as she approached but he didn’t seem to notice. Josie focused her gaze out the large picture window to where he seemed to stare but all she saw was a gloomy November afternoon. Nothing special and nothing unusual at this time of the year. A few dry leaves chased down the sidewalk. The snow hadn’t yet fallen in Haven, so there was nothing to impede their race. She set her coffee and the cake down on the table. He startled. “Are you sure you want company?” she asked.

  “Only if it’s you.” He motioned toward the seat across from him.

  “You’d think after five years my body would be used to this,” Josie said as she sat down. She sighed happily.

  “You get up too early and you don’t delegate enough.”

  “Takes one to know one,” she retorted.r />
  “Touché.” She saw Gabe eye the cake. “What’s this?”

  “A piece of cake. For you. You look like you could use something sweet.” She pushed it toward him.

  “Better get yourself a fork so you can help me eat this. I had a late lunch and there’s no way I’m finishing this.” Josie pulled a fork out of her apron and grinned. “That’s my girl,” he said and winked at her before his pensive mood settled back around him. Gabe ate from the bottom of the cake and Josie focused on the top. She paced herself. One bite for her for every two bites of his. While he may have had a late lunch, she hadn’t had any. She was hungry and this was a superb cake, if she did say so herself.

  They ate in comfortable silence, the kind you have with a good friend. And Gabe was a good friend, she realized. They’d become close since he’d moved to Haven almost a year ago. He’d spent his time revitalizing Haven Woodworks. The company manufactured kitchen cabinets and interior doors, the types carried at big-box home improvement stores. He’d also started a new line that focused on custom-made cabinets and front doors, and that was the line Jamie worked on. Jamie had mentioned a rumor of adding a line of furniture, too, but Gabe had said nothing to her about it, so she’d discounted the rumor.

  Gabe’s focus on the plant and expanding production had meant an increase in good jobs. He’d made an effort to hire people who were getting back on their feet after drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, like Jamie. Haven Woodworks even sponsored an AA meeting at the plant every day. It was in a back room that had its own entrance from the parking lot. Jamie said she’d be shocked if she knew how many downtown workers attended the meetings, too.