Spring Forward (Mystic Creek, Band 4) - Softcover

Anderson, Catherine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0399586342 ISBN 13: 9780399586347

Verlag: Berkley, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

The New York Times bestselling author returns to Mystic Creek, Oregon, with a story about finding an unforgettable love just around the corner. . . .
 
When a favorite customer on his delivery route needs a favor, Tanner Richards agrees to help without a second thought. The last thing he expects is to face off against the man’s spitfire granddaughter.
 
Crystal Malloy is near her breaking point. Her beloved grandfather constantly skirts the rules at the retirement center where he’s recovering from surgery. She’s caring for his escape artist dog, even if it means abandoning her salon customers, and she has no time for a romantic attraction to the handsome new stranger. 
 
After Tanner’s reassigned to Mystic Creek, Crystal can no longer ignore how much she misjudged the man’s good intentions. She has known too much sorrow to easily open her heart, but she can’t deny that Tanner and his children could gift her with a happiness beyond compare—if only she can forgive herself for the past and accept that she’s deserving of such a love.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Catherine Anderson is the author of more than thirty New York Times bestselling and award-winning historical and contemporary romances, including The Christmas Room, Mulberry Moon, New Leaf, Silver Thaw, Walking on Air, and Cheyenne Amber, among others. She lives in the pristine woodlands of Montana.

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Chapter One

Wind whistled into the big black van, whipping Tanner Richards' hair across his forehead as he drove. Squinting at the gravel road through the brown strands drifting over his eyes, he hauled in a deep breath of pine-scented air. Five years ago he'd agonized over his decision to sell his accounting firm and move to Crystal Falls, Oregon. He'd given up a six-figure annual income with no assurance that he could even find a job in this area. Crazy, really. Looking back on it now, though, he was glad that he'd come. Being a deliveryman wasn't as prestigious as working in his former chosen profession, but he made enough money to provide a good life for his kids, and he truly enjoyed the occupation. Having a rural route suited him. He was required to make fewer stops than he would have been in town, which equated to shorter workdays and more time in the evening to be with his children. And he'd made a lot of friends. Folks around here were more congenial than they were in larger towns.

As he rounded a curve in the country road, Tanner saw Tuck Malloy's house. Sadness punched into him. For three years running, he'd often stopped there to visit at the end of his workday, and he'd enjoyed a lot of cold ones on the porch with his elderly friend. Now the windows reflected the darkness of an empty structure. A For Sale sign rode high on the front gate. It had appeared nearly a month ago.

Tanner had considered calling the Realtor to learn what had happened to the property owner after his calls to Tuck went unanswered, but he really didn't want to know. Tuck had been a crusty old codger and eighty years young, as he'd been fond of saying. Unexpected things could happen to people that age. A heart attack, maybe, or a stroke. Tuck liked that piece of ground, and he would never have left voluntarily. He'd said so more than once. Tanner figured the old fellow was dead. Otherwise why would his place be up for sale?

Tanner pulled over and stopped outside the hurricane fence for a moment, a habit he had developed since the home had been vacated. He trailed his gaze over the front porch, now devoid of the comfortable Adirondack chairs where he had once sat with Tuck to chat. Recalling the old man's recalcitrant dog, he smiled. Rip. Tanner hoped the blue heeler had found a good home. He'd been a handful and was probably difficult to place.

Damn, he missed them both. With a sigh Tanner eased the van back onto the road. He had only one more delivery before he could call it a day. Maybe he could mow the lawn and do some weeding before his kids got home. Tori, now eight, had dance class after school today, and Michael, eleven and getting gangly, had baseball practice. Since his wife's death, Tanner had been a single dad, and not a day went by that he wasn't grateful for his mom's help. She got his kids off to the bus stop each morning and chauffeured them to most of their activities, which took a huge load of responsibility off his shoulders.

Tanner delivered the last parcel of the day. After he dropped the van off at Courier Express, he needed to pick up some groceries. Milk, for one thing. Tori wouldn't eat breakfast without it. And if he didn't get bread, he'd have no fixings for his lunch tomorrow.

His cell phone, which rode atop a sticky mat on the dash, chimed with a message notification. Tanner grabbed the device and glanced at the screen to make sure the text wasn't from his mother. She never contacted him during work hours unless it was urgent. When he read the name of the sender, his hand froze on the steering wheel. Tuck Malloy? He almost went off the road into a ditch. How could that be? The old coot was dead. Wasn't he?

Tanner pulled over onto a wide spot, shifted into park, and stared at his phone. The message was definitely from Tuck. They had exchanged cell numbers months ago, and Tuck had occasionally texted to ask Tanner to pick up items he needed from the store. It hadn't been a bother for Tanner. There was a mom-and-pop grocery not that far away, and Tuck's house was on the road he always took back to town.

He swiped the screen. A smile curved his lips as he read the message. "I fell off the damned porch. Busted my arm, some ribs, and had to get a hip replacement. Now I'm doing time in assisted living, and the bitch that runs the place won't let me have my beer or chew. Can you buy me some of both and sneak it in to me? I'll pay you back."

Tanner had been picturing the old fart in heaven, sitting on an Adirondack chair with a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon and a spittoon within easy reach. It was unsettling to think someone was dead and then receive a text from him.

He tapped out a response. "I don't mind bringing you things. My kids have activities this afternoon, so I'm not pressed for time. But I don't want to get in trouble for delivering forbidden substances. My job could be on the line."

Tuck replied, "No trouble. Just put it inside a box and pretend it's something I ordered. If I get caught, I'll never tell who brought me the stuff. Sorry I can't just call, but these nurses have sharp ears and I got no privacy."

Tanner grinned. He trusted the old man not to reveal his name if it came down to that. And he truly did sympathize with Tuck's feelings of deprivation. Just because a man was eighty shouldn't mean he no longer had a right to indulge his habits. Staying at an assisted living facility was costly, and in Tanner's estimation, the residents should be able to do whatever they liked in their apartments as long as their physicians didn't object.

He texted, "Do you have your doctor's permission to drink and chew?"

Tuck replied, "Well, he ain't said I shouldn't. I been drinking and chewing my whole life. I'm eighty. What can he say, that my pleasures might kill me?"

Tanner chuckled. He agreed to deliver the requested items and asked Tuck for the address. He was surprised to learn the facility was in Mystic Creek. Tanner didn't cover that area, and it was a thirty-minute drive to get there. He mulled over the fact that he would be driving for more than an hour round-trip in a Courier Express van to run a personal errand. He'd also be using company fuel, which didn't seem right, but he supposed he could top off the tank to make up for that. He could also adjust his time sheet so he wouldn't be paid for an hour he hadn't actually worked.

Whistling tunelessly, Tanner made the drive to Mystic Creek. He hadn't yet gotten over this way. The curvy two-lane highway offered beautiful scenery, tree-covered mountain peaks, craggy buttes, and silvery flashes of a river beyond the stands of ponderosa pine. To his surprise, he saw a turnoff to Crystal Falls-the actual waterfall, not the town-and he made a mental note to bring the kids up sometime to see it. They'd get a kick out of that. Maybe they could spread a blanket on the riverbank and have a picnic.

Once in Mystic Creek, a quaint and well-kept little town, he found a grocery store on East Main called Flagg's Market, where he purchased two six-packs of beer and a whole roll of Copenhagen for his elderly friend. In the van he always carried extra box flats. He assembled a medium-size one, stuck what he now thought of as the contraband into it, and taped the flaps closed. With a ballpoint pen, he wrote Tuck's full name, the address, and the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Berkley
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0399586342
• ISBN 13: 9780399586347
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 448
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: BERKLEY; https://www.penguin.com/?s=BERKLEY; ; Unit 2 Limavady Business Park; Limavady; County Londonderry; BT49 0HR; Vereinigtes Königreich
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland