Down To You (The Love On Edge Series)

Down
to You

A
ddison Kline

Down To You
- First Edition, October 2013

Copyright © 2013 A.C. Haury
- All rights reserved.

Down To
You is
a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or places is strictly and entirely coincidental.

Classic Man photograph
© CURAphotography - Fotolia.com, Portrait of a beautiful blonde close-up
© aleshin - Fotolia.com, Damask seamless pattern © Konovalov Pavel - Fotolia.com, Silhouettes of a kissing couple © silberkorn73 - Fotolia.com, Heart coffee photo ©
rhfldntm - Morguefile

This is a self-published work. All rights belong to the author.

Please note that no parts of this book may be copied, used, or redistributed in any manner without written consent from the author.

This book was written by A.C. Haury under the pen name Addison Kline.

Georgia font used for Kindle only.

ISBN:
1492791263

ISBN-13:
978-1492791263

Down To You

A Love On Edge Novel

Addison Kline

Dedication

To my husband,

I love you much. I love you more.

I love you greater than ever before.

Thank you for all your support.

~A

Chapter One

Alone at Christmas?

December 21, 2010

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Christmas used to be Holly’s favorite time of year. It was a time of year that was rich with traditions and parties, merriment and excitement.
There was rarely a day that went by when one of her friends or relatives wasn’t inviting her and her family over for dessert or an impromptu dinner party. Every year Holly, her husband Brant, and eventually their children celebrated many traditions. They enjoyed watching the light show in downtown Philadelphia and going on a horse drawn carriage ride when the weather turned wintry white. But their favorite tradition was when they went to Wallford Forest and cut down their own blue spruce and hoped that it would fit through their front door. One year, Brant had to trim almost six inches off the top of the tree before pushing it through the front door of their tiny row home.

Their oldest children, Tressa and Randy, loved adorning the freshly cut tree with all of their favorite ornaments. A full two hours later and the tree was nearly sagging from the weight of all the tinsel and Christmas balls. The four of them inspected the tree in awe and delight when a sound came from behind them. Little Belle, just 18 months then, reminded them that they had forgotten her favorite tree topper: the angel. Belle toddled over to her mother and handed the golden-haired angel to her mother.

“Oh right, Brant. I almost forgot.”

Brant looked at the angel and instructed Holly to give the angel back to Belle. He then picked Belle up, hands gently grasping her belly as he lifted her up in the air. Belle securely placed the angel in her appropriate place: right atop the tree. As the children applauded, Brant pulled Holly into a tight hug with Belle at their feet. Holly knew then what true happiness was, and it simply didn’t get any better than that.

That
would be the last happy Christmas the family would have together before the divorce. In just a few short months, Holly’s heart would be ripped out by Brant’s careless actions.

*****

December 22, 2013

Pour House Coffee Shop

Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia

Holly despised the thought of celebrating Christmas this year.
Alone.

“Alone?!.... What do you mean alone?! You have me!” replied her exasperated friend Sloane in a thick British accent over her steaming mug of hazelnut macchiato. Holly raised her eyebrow in contempt as she prepared to listen to her oldest friend’s rebuttal.

“Look Holl… I know you hate this time of year now because of ‘What’s-his-name’ but seriously, that was two years ago! Besides, with both of us being single, we can hit some of the big parties this year!”

“Uh, aren’t you forgetting something, Sloane?” asked Holly with a perturbed look on her face. Confusion was painted across Sloane’s face.

“Sloane… The kids. I can’t go out partying with you when I have an eight-year old, a seven-year old and a four-year old running around,” Holly calmly reminded her wild and carefree friend. Suddenly, a smirk spread across Sloane’s face.

“I do believe
you
are the one who is being forgetful, my friend…” said Sloane with a raised eyebrow, intent upon keeping her already flustered friend guessing.

“What are you talking about?” asked Holly, with no idea what her friend was referring to.

“Don’t you remember that you told Brant-“

Holly held up her hand at the sound of his name at which Sloane used one of the agreed upon nicknames for her friend’s ex-husband in conversation.

“Sorry, uh, He-Who’s-Name-Should-Never-Be-Spoken-Aloud…”

“Thank you…”

“Anyway, you promised Mr. Fancy Pants that he could take the kids to see his parents in Colorado for Christmas this year.”

Holly looked dumbfounded. Sloane’s declaration had hit her like an oncoming train. She had completely forgotten about that entire conversation she had with Brant about the upcoming Christmas holiday.

“Shit!”

“No, it’s brilliant!”

“Sloane, I want to spend Christmas with the kids!”

“You never get a break. This is the perfect opportunity.”

“I should never make decisions when I’ve consumed three glasses of carbernet sauvignon…” Holly lamented as she looked down at her now cold stack of pancakes. Sloane smirked at her.

“Girl, that is when I make my best decisions!”

“Be serious!”

“I totally am! Now you are free to party hearty with your’s truly and there are a ton of parties this week… You might even meet someone.” Sloane said as she winked at Holly.

“I am a divorced mother of three children, who can’t get her ex-husband out of her mind. I don’t have time for a boyfriend!”

“Nonsense!”

Sloane eyed the scenery of the café with a mischevious smile. This look always worried Holly because she knew that Sloane had a bag of tricks the size of Montana up her petite sleeves.

“I heard Richie Turello is going to be at Archie’s Friday night. Wanna go?” said Sloane, slyly. Holly nearly choked on her on orange juice.

“Oh, God! Gag me with a spoon! Wait. Let me analyze this train wreck for a second. First off, Richie Turello… Isn’t he the guy that did three years for tax evasion? Is that the best guy you could come up with? Two… I wouldn’t be caught dead in Archie’s Saloon in broad daylight let alone at night!”

Sloane’s amused face had now taken on a more sheepish and surprised look.

“Tough customer… I heard Richie is quite charming and has been totally rehabilitated.”

“Well then… Total catch,” said Holly sarcastically. Sloane chucked to herself.

“Seriously, can we not make this a repeat of last year?” asked Holly earnestly.

“What was wrong with last year?” asked Sloane innocently.

“Uh, well let’s see… Blind date after blind date, and then you created a J Date account for me and I’m not even Jewish… And let’s not even discuss the Chris Beckman incident,” Holly ranted on.

“Hey! J Date never steered me wrong! Besides, it’s not my fault that you got banned from Christian Mingle for life for using the Lord’s name in vein on a date! And believe it or not, Chris Beckman is loads of fun to hang out with. He’s okay once you get to know him.”

“I can’t believe that guy reported me. And, just because someone is fun, doesn’t mean that they are a decent person. That’s like saying ‘Oh, he’s a real asshole, but you’ll eventually get used to it!’ If Chris is
so
wonderful why don’t you go out with him? He was the best man in my wedding to Brant. I couldn’t possibly.”

“Eww, gross. Besides, he has the eyes for some other girl.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yep.”

“Like who?”

With a sneaky move she brought two fingers to her ruby red lips and pretended to lock them tight.

“My lips are sealed.”

“I think I just vomited in my mouth a little.”

Chapter Two

If Only You Knew…

December 23, 2013

Edgemont Residence

The doorbell at 56 Wallace Road buzzed loudly, causing Holly’s nerves to go on edge. Holly hollered down the steps to Sloane who was slouched back on the couch watching a re-run of
The Bachelor
. Holly felt as if her brain was about to explode.