We Wish You a HappilyEver After (Ever After, #5) - Elena Aitken Page 0,10

paying her dues, performing all night in smoky dive bars, falling into toxic relationships, trading the neon lights of the downtown strip and a muted version of herself for the wild child she’d once been.

But that was the only way to make it.

Bella would have laughed at herself if it hadn’t been so deeply sad—because she hadn’t made it.

As if Papa knew exactly what she was thinking about, he chose that moment to ask the question she’d been avoiding. “When is your album coming out, Bella?”

“You’re changing the subject.” She grinned and shook her head.

“No.” He was firm. “I said I’d move. Just not to the city.”

He raised his eyebrow and Bella had to shake her head with a small sigh. Baby steps.

“Now answer the question. When’s the album coming out?”

Bella forced a smile on her face. “Soon.” It was a lie. The truth was there would be no album, not after discovering Kyle—her sort-of boyfriend, the leader of Velvet Heart, the band she was in, and the man who had creative control over the album in question—in bed with another woman. Kyle hadn’t thought it was a big deal, but Bella had a different opinion. One that she expressed in the form of yelling and throwing all of Kyle’s things—including his guitar—out the window of his studio apartment to the street below.

Her little tantrum, followed by her subsequent quitting of the band and leaving them in the lurch right before a gig had pretty much guaranteed she was out of the record deal. Never mind the fact that she no longer had a band to play with, or well…much of a career left at all.

All details she didn’t think needed to be shared with her grandfather at that moment. After all, it’s not as if it would change anything if he was disappointed in her.

“I’m working on a few things, Papa.” She forced a smile to her face. “But I think the most important thing to work on is getting this house ready for the holidays, don’t you think?”

He watched her carefully, but finally gave her a nod. Papa wasn’t a stupid man. Even if his memory was starting to fail him, he wasn’t going to fall for her lies that easily, and she knew it. With any luck, she could distract him long enough to sort something out.

Papa pushed his chair back from the table and stood. “I agree.” He dusted his hands together. “Jeremy should be here any moment.”

At the mere mention of his name, her heart fluttered and a blush came over her before she could stop it. “Jeremy? What does he have to do with anything?”

Chapter Four

“I noticed a tree lot down by the hardware store when I came through town the other day.”

Jeremy didn’t even try to hide the shock on his face when he turned to Bella, who sat next to him in the cab of his truck. Close, but still too far away for his liking. He silently cursed his oversized truck. He’d prefer to have her closer. Much closer.

“A tree lot?”

Bella blinked hard. “Where else would we get a tree?”

He couldn’t help it; Jeremy burst out laughing. “I’m not sure if you’ve looked around lately, city girl, but we’re surrounded by trees. Almost all of which would make the perfect Christmas tree.”

When Roy had called him at the station to ask him a favor, Jeremy had jumped at the opportunity. If it involved spending the afternoon with Bella, he was in. Hell, if it involved spending any time with Bella, he’d make it a priority. And he was pretty sure Roy knew that. The old man was smarter than most people gave him credit for, but Jeremy saw right through him. He had ulterior motives, for sure. Not that Jeremy was complaining. He took another look at Bella in her red puffy jacket, her dark hair spilling out under a knit cap. She looked so perfectly at home in Glacier Falls.

She belonged there.

Except she didn’t.

He needed to remember that. Glacier Falls wasn’t her home. And she’d be leaving again.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy his time with her while she was there.

And that’s exactly what he planned to do.

“So you mean…”

“We’re going to go into the woods and cut down a tree.” Jeremy grinned. “But not just any tree.” He winked at her and had to resist the urge to put his hand on her leg. It was incredible, and a little scary, how comfortable he felt with her so