'Twas the Night Before Christmas Eve (Nights Before #6)

By Leigh Verrill-Rhys

Christmas Past and Christmas Previous haven’t been all Jocelyn Tavers wished, but Christmas Present and Christmas Future are in capable hands – her own.

But even the best laid plans have a way of meeting disaster head-on. No surprise that her ex has every intention of spoiling Christmas and any hope of a happy future. He doesn’t want her but he doesn’t want anyone else to want her either. A burst of wishful enthusiasm sinks her further into impersonating someone she’s never likely to be, especially if a certain law-abiding citizen isn’t in a generous frame of mind.

Man-trouble doesn’t end with ex-boyfriends or those she’d most like to be new boyfriends. Better than holiday spirit, Santa has a special gift wrapped up, warmed up and ready to fulfill all her cherished desires but first she must come to grips with the foundations of any good relationship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eres Books
• Release date: Dec 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311083197

Leigh Verrill-Rhys

A native of Paris Hill, Maine, Leigh spent most of her childhood and early adult years in San Francisco before emigrating to Wales to marry and raise three sons. She has been a writer, editor and lecturer for most of her life, intermingled with career portfolios in marketing, finance and community arts projects. Leigh's debut novel, WAIT A LONELY LIFETIME, was released in April 2012, published by Avalon Books. She is a member of the Authors Guild, a former member of the Welsh Academy and the Arts Forum and admits to running with scissors and leaping before she looks.Leigh also publishes as an entrepreneurial author with Eres (eresbooks.com). In 2012 and 2013, she released the romantic comedy novel by installment, NIGHTS BEFORE, in six episodes set in Portland Maine, beginning with TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE NEW YEAR, followed by stories set during celebrations and commemorations during the year, ending with TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS EVE. These six stories are available individually as ebooks. A print edition, NIGHTS BEFORE: THE NOVEL, is now available.For Leigh's third novel, SALSA DANCING WITH PTERODACTYLS, released in March 2014, she first had to learn how to spell ‘pterodactyl’! THIS CAN'T BE LOVE, her fourth novel and the second in the ‘Americans in Love’ in foreign places, is set in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival.An award-winning editor, she has published three volumes of women's autobiographical writing about their lives in Wales and during World War II: ON MY LIFE; PARACHUTES & PETTICOATS; and IANCS, CONSHIS a SPAM (all published by Honno Welsh Women's Press). She has released a collection of her mother's adventures on her travels during the Second World War, FOLLOWING THE TROOPS.Leigh’s first American history novel: PAVANE FOR MISS MARCHER, set in post-civil war Maine, inspired by her brother’s, Thomas, passion for American history, many historians, including Shelby Foote, Thomas A. Desjardin, Lochlainn Seabrook, Michael Shaara, her family’s part in the Battle for Little Round Top as well as authors Louisa May Alcott and Elswyth Thane.More about all of Leigh’s independently published novels are available through her website, leighverrillrhys.com and eresbooks.com, Smashwords, as well as KDP: Amazon and most independent online booksellers.

Book preview

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Eve

#6 in the Serial

Nights Before 

A story by

Leigh Verrill-Rhys

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Eve

by

Leigh Verrill-Rhys

#6 in the serial novel

Nights Before

EresAur

EresBooks.com

Published by Eres @ Smashwords

December 2013

1st Reprint December 2015

with minor corrections

Copyright 2013 & 2015© Leigh Verrill-Rhys

All Rights Reserved

Cover Design: © 2013 Gwion Dulais

Cover Photography: © 2013 Leigh Verrill-Rhys

§ § § § §

Eres Books, License Notes

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Downloading this book from a ‘free books’ or pirate site is in breach of copyright law and the moral rights of the author. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Eve and the Nights Before serial are works of fiction. The characters, descriptions, events and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, either living or dead, is coincidental.

§ § § § §

Table of Contents

§ § § § §

Title Page

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

After Words

§ § § § §

One

§ § § § §

In love. The grandest state of idiocy ever inflicted on man, woman or teenager. A new experience for Jocelyn, something wonderful, something scary and something treacherous. At any moment, this fragile structure of love, fear, hope and dread might collapse in a heap around her.

When, not if, she said the wrong thing. When she failed to say the right thing. Was she supposed to be smart or was it better if she was dumb? How many times a day was enough to call him. How many was too many? What did it mean when he didn’t call?

Did he love her? Was he tired of her playing hard to get? Was she too easy? Why wasn’t he interested in getting her into bed? Was she supposed to seduce him? She had no clue how to go on, certain he was like Jason, like her dad, like Rod and Gordon – that he’d stick around for a while until she failed in some way.

For the first time since her mother became ill, she looked forward to Thanksgiving. And Christmas. But mainly Thanksgiving because Brad promised to cook. All she had to do was show up. Madly, wildly, deeply in love for a little over two weeks, she shopped for the most exotic wines she could afford – Kiwi vineyards with French names – to impress Papa Foster, even though the mystery of wines of all kinds was beyond her.

Under her layers of wool plaid, sheepskin and fleece, her green silk dress slithered up no matter how she tugged and straightened, not necessarily a bad thing provided the pencil skirt stayed where it belonged once she peeled down. She carried black suede heels in her tote and her woolly socks kept her gumboots from snagging her stockings.

Spike took no detours into the sides of telephone poles or skids toward sinkholes on the way out to Prides Corner. Brad’s directions were simple. Opposite a big brick house, down the track, what you’d expect a camp off the main road in this neck of the woods. She shook like a wet puppy from the minute she woke up. In truth, she quaked from the moment he said, My dad and I usually have Thanksgiving dinner at two. That suit you?

Not exactly an engraved invitation but the first time he had included his dad in their limited time together. Barely two weeks of weekends, dates on week nights, checking-in phone calls and, now, he invited her to meet his father.

I haven’t had a real Thanksgiving since I was eleven, she’d answered, but two is perfect.

And it was. After the handmade sign for her: This Way, JT, Spike played the part of a perfect gentleman, getting her to the door of the two-story white-clapboard, green-shuttered