Holiday Magic: Magic and Mayhem Universe: Holidays in Assjacket, #1

By Amy Gregory

Sheltered would be an understatement as to how Lessy Jones was raised. Now she is on her way to Assjacket, West Virginia with only her furry best friend and a broken heart. Leaving town was her way to escape her overbearing father, but the dream of opening her store was supposed to be with the love of her life. However, Billy Wilder has vanished without a trace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: REN Publishing
• Release date: Oct 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393137405

Amy Gregory

When asked ‘when do you have time to write’, Amy Gregory simply laughs.  The real answer is, “in bits and pieces”.  She and her husband live in Kansas City with their three fantastic kids that keep them running in three very different directions.  Because she sits so much, she always carries a notebook with her at all times. She has an off the wall, snarky, off the cuff sense of humor that often shocks even those who’ve known her for years.  And she loves that her children have all been blessed that ability to make others laugh as well.  At least she’s grateful most of the time!  Her husband often teases her about how she “makes this stuff up” when he’s reading a piece of her work. … The answer—“it just comes to me when I’m typing”. Scary thought, huh!

Book preview

1

Lessy Jones checked her phone for the third time in ten minutes. Billy hadn’t called or messaged in days. They hadn’t fought. No bad moods had cut their night short. Nothing was different that Lessy could recall. Bill Wilder, or Billy, as she’d called him since they were kids, had been her next-door neighbor since birth. Growing up together, they’d had their moments when she wondered if he only saw her as a sister-type friend. Until one summer night three and a half years ago.

She’d had very little interaction with anyone outside of the house staff and in-home tutors. Billy was the only one allowed in, and his house was the only place she could go. Lessy grew up knowing that she was different, an immortal in a mortal’s world. Her father told her it wasn’t safe—and she’d always taken his warning at face value.

It wasn’t until Billy was getting his business degree online that things changed. Outside by his pool, they’d slipped into a very intense conversation. Billy told her how smothered she was kept, how things were in other parts of the country. He told her about safe towns meant completely for immortals such as themselves.

That night, under the stars, he finally took her hand and spilled his heart, telling her how he wished they were more than friends—asking if they could be.

Since then, they’d had many nights of hand-holding, stolen kisses, and formal dates. He graduated and started talking about their future together. They’d started discussing the towns he had heard about, places they could go together and be safe. The two of them were making some plans for big life changes. Or they had been, until five days prior.

Her face heated, and she swiped at the tears to keep them from falling again. Billy wasn’t only her boyfriend. He was her best friend. More than just moving, Billy had been hinting, feeling her out about taking the next step.

Exchanging rings.

Lessy shut her eyes tight as she held Billy’s favorite sweatshirt to her nose. Smelling his scent helped her get through the long days and even longer nights. His familiar cologne filled her senses. He’d never changed it. A secret story of theirs she’d never tell her parents.

She recalled the day she had embarrassed herself so bad. He’d gone to the mall, bringing back a beautiful, dainty necklace for her and a small bag for himself. He finally admitted he felt he needed cologne, that he was a college student—technically a man. She’d teased him mercilessly but loved the smell of the scent he’d picked out. When she would notice the bottle on his dresser getting low, she’d order a replacement online.

It started their back-and-forth banter of how amazing he was at picking out clothes, shoes, and cologne, all the things needed to dress for success. She would laugh and tell him their dream together didn’t involve big fancy offices or important meetings where those things were necessary.

Their dream… Where was he? Deep in her gut, she felt something was wrong, and Billy had never been the type to take off without a word. A long weekend camping with guy friends here or there, but never without telling her he’d keep in touch.

She cuddled into the masculine scent, breathing it in so deep, she could almost sense his arms around her. That woodsy aroma had pushed him across the imaginary line of adolescence to being a hot-blooded man, one she loved with all her being.

What are you doing, young lady?

Her father’s booming voice startled her, and she dropped Billy’s shirt. She bent to pick it up again. Why are you sneaking up on me? Why are you still home? You haven’t left for work yet? And why are you so mad? Your face is all red, and you have that mean crinkle you get between your brows.

Quit being naïve about Billy and move on, he said.

All the fear Lessy had been harboring about Billy’s whereabouts skyrocketed. The truth of his disappearance lay somewhere between her father’s admonishment and the anger in his eyes. One look, one statement, and Lessy knew.

Move…on? What did you do, Father? she asked.

What any father would in my situation. I took matters into my own hands. You and your foolish dreams… It’s time you start to date within the world in which your name matters.

Lessy glanced at her mother, who stood two feet behind her father, her mouth shut tight, her expression perfectly schooled.

My dreams? How do you even know what I want for my life? And…my name? What does my name have to do with Billy? And what did you do?

Her bedroom walls suddenly felt like they were closing in around her, though her house was technically a mansion, in all its eight-thousand-square-foot glory. Ivy vines crept up old brick walls. The entire five acres were surrounded by an iron gate and beautifully trimmed gardens. Her father saw to it their wealth was not only known but seen to all outsiders.

Something she’d never understood until she and Billy had been on his laptop in his kitchen, looking at places outside Hollytown, Vermont. It was then that she got a glimpse into the reality of her father’s dominance, his need for power.

Her room had been a sanctuary, her only place in the house where she felt all the pretenses fall away once her door was shut. When she was around her parents, she’d inherently known to keep her back straight, head high, manners perfect, and conversation in proper order. It was why she and Billy more often found themselves at his house rather than anywhere on her property.

The calmness she normally felt in her childhood bedroom, despite the changes from pink-and-purple butterfly wallpaper to a room covered in teenage memorabilia to what it was now, was gone. The soothing pale blues and grays it was decorated in did nothing to ease her pounding heart. Her rising blood pressure made her cheeks hot.

You are a Jones! Her father crossed his arms, his light brown eyes, so like her own, stormy. In this world of ours, it means something. Wilder…he’ll never amount to anything. Smith, Jones, Miller, Brown, these are names of stature, he said.

Her view of him changed in a matter of seconds. He was no longer the man who’d raised her. She’d always been intimidated by his height, broad shoulders, and the stern look that kept the crease between his brows at all times. Now, his black suit, black dress shirt, and black satin tie all ran together, revealing his ugly power-hungry self. A week ago, she simply thought he wore black because of the law firm he worked at, that it was what lawyers wore.

Lessy’s anger came hard and fast. Tears would follow. She hated that about her anger. It made her appear weak, when all she really felt was strong enough to blow their entire mansion down with a single breath. What did it matter what Billy’s last name was? So it wasn’t boring like hers. It was more unique and important sounding. Wilder. He was important.

I don’t understand. They’ve lived next door to us since before I was even born. Our house is no bigger than Billy’s, but for some reason, because of his last name, he’s not good enough for me? Is that what you’re saying?

I’m happy you finally understand the seriousness of this situation. It was cute when you were sixteen, he said with air quotes around cute, "but now at twenty-two, it is high time for you to settle down. There are