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    A Christmas Village to Call Home (Book I in The Christmas Village Trilogy)
    A Christmas Village to Call Home (Book I in The Christmas Village Trilogy)
    A Christmas Village to Call Home (Book I in The Christmas Village Trilogy)
    Ebook85 pages1 hour

    A Christmas Village to Call Home (Book I in The Christmas Village Trilogy)

    By Lisa Pendergrass

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    About this ebook

    Nine days before Christmas Kellany Crawford finds herself dumped by her boyfriend and a victim to cutbacks at work. With no family and no roots she impulsively sets off to visit the one place from her childhood that holds warm Christmas memories. The year she was six the foster family she was staying with lived next door to Mrs. Paxton who had the most amazing Christmas village - Snowy Pines. From then on whenever Kellany imagine herself in her "happy place" she was always in Snowy Pines. So she sets off to see if Mrs. Paxton and Snowy Pines will still set her heart at ease. But along the road a snow storm hits and Kellany ends up getting lost, wrecking her car and being knocked unconscious. When she comes to, she's stunned to learn that she's in Snowy Pines.

    She soon meets a host of eccentric locals including a vivacious nurse, a group of 60+er's who are overly interested in her love life, a hunky doctor who looks like Kellany's fantasy come to life and a little girl who might need Kellany almost as much as Kellany needs her. How can she actually be happy in a place she knows isn't even real? But how can she walk away from the chance to find more than a life... but a chance to have a future and a family and A Christmas Village to Call Home.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLisa Pendergrass
    Release dateDec 3, 2014
    ISBN9781311665447
    A Christmas Village to Call Home (Book I in The Christmas Village Trilogy)
    Author

    Lisa Pendergrass

    An insomniac since birth, my earliest memories are of lying in bed at night and making up stories to keep myself entertained. Anytime life got dull, I'd create my own adventure in my mind and suddenly I could be anyone, anywhere. It seemed only natural that those characters who've been bouncing around my own personal make believe world, would eventually find their way to the pages of a book. Each of my characters has a beloved life of their own, and the stories I'm telling about them are just the windows into their adventures.

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      Book preview

      A Christmas Village to Call Home (Book I in The Christmas Village Trilogy) - Lisa Pendergrass

      A Christmas Village to Call Home (Book I in the Christmas Village Trilogy)

      Lisa Pendergrass

      Copyright 2014 by Lisa Pendergrass

      Smashword Edition

      A Christmas Village to Call Home

      Chapter 1

      What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You're rich enough.... Fred

      You really shouldn't take this so personally.

      Kellany Crawford swatted her short red hair away from her eyes and gaped at her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend Ty. You're dumping me... nine days before Christmas... in my restaurant. Exactly how am I supposed to take that in a non-personal way?

      Because it's not about you. You're the greatest Kell. He said, framing her face and flashing her one of his boyish smiles complete with perfect dimples. It's just a really bad time for me to be in a relationship.

      "Seriously? ‘It’s not you. It's me.' You're going there?"

      Kell this is for the best.

      Go just... go.

      Kellany watched him walk away and shook her head. People had been walking away from her all her life. She wondered why it never got any easier.

      She muddled through the rest of the day, moving kitchen staff around and greeting customers. She started out waiting tables at an O'Dooley's Bar-n-Grille in college and then moved into management. At 29 it was all she'd ever done and all she knew. She could do it in her sleep.

      It was going on 9:00 when she finally went to her office for her handbag and coat. She'd been there since before 8:00 that morning, but business had been slow lately and a good manager knew, she could cut wait staff, bus boys and kitchen staff all day long, but she better be there to pick up the slack. She'd been picking up the slack a lot lately and she couldn't help thinking that perhaps things would have worked out differently with Ty if she'd been more available lately and less consumed with cost efficiency spread sheets and use/waste analysis data. She sighed. It was a long way from her dream of having her own little sidewalk bistro.

      She opened her office door and started when she was greeted by the site of her regional manager Erica.

      Erica, you should have let me know you were here.

      I just arrived a few minutes ago. Have a seat Kellany.

      Oh God Erica, what's going on? You're scaring me? She said, sinking into the seat across from her.

      Kellany I don't have to tell you that sales are down. We're making some changes in some of our restaurants.

      Am I being... relocated again? Kellany asked, feeling her insides twist. She wasn't sure why the thought of leaving hurt her so much. True, she'd lived in Norfolk longer than she'd ever lived anywhere, but that wasn't saying much. And even though she'd been here since her mid-twenties, she lived in a small nondescript apartment with few friends and fewer connections. But still, with every new town she told herself that this time it was going to stick. This time she was going to put down roots, make ties that would last. And this changed everything. She was going to have to move, start over... again... unless...

      You're not relocating me. You're... you're letting me go?

      Kellany you have to understand what a difficult decision this was. It's not about you. You're...

      The best? She finished feeling a sick wave of déjà vu.

      We're having to close some off our less profitable places. You run a great restaurant, but there are more senior managers who are now going to be out of a job.

      I've been killing myself to try to keep this place afloat. Now you're going to replace me with someone who couldn't keep their own restaurant open just because they've been here longer!

      Kellany I know it seems unfair.

      No... It seems like bad management on your end. My boyfriend dumped me today... probably because we never got to see each other. And now you're firing me... nine days before Christmas.

      I thought of waiting till after the holidays but I know how you work. I'd hate for you to work yourself to death through Christmas only to end up losing your job come January. I thought at least now you could spend Christmas with your family and then start fresh in the New Year.

      Kellany nodded and offered a weak, I suppose your right.

      Here's a breakdown of your severance package. I think you'll see it's quite generous. And I'll give you an excellent reference. I'm so sorry Kellany. It's been a pleasure working with you, but... it's just one of those things.

      She drove home in silence, refusing to turn on her radio for fear of being assaulted by Christmas music. The drive from the restaurant on Lafayette Blvd to her apartment in Fairmount Park took just seconds, but she wasn't ready to go home to an empty house so she drove around instead. One of the few things she had to show for all her hard work and sacrifice was a 2014 Ford Focus sedan in performance blue. She decided that for the next few minutes she'd indulge in the luxury of a new car.

      She supposed she could start job hunting. She did like Norfolk. There was plenty to like about it. The views from the Chesapeake Bay were unparalleled and a trip to nearby Virginia Beach was a short car drive. When she was little she'd always believed that living on the water would make her happy. Norfolk was one of the few places she'd ever chosen to live.

      Of course, if she was being honest she hadn't chosen Norfolk. She'd never chosen anywhere. She bounced all around Baltimore County from one foster home to another from the time she was born until she

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