Merry March: Calendar Girls, #3

By Kirsten Osbourne

Marci Calendar loves the children she teaches at the Calendar Girls' Ranch, and she loves her family whole-heartedly. However, she doesn't believe in love between a man and a woman. She's seen two of her sisters fall in love, but she knows it could never happen to her.
Thomas Latham agrees to be the official electrician for the first year of the Calendar Girls' Ranch's drive-through Christmas display. He knows he'll need to spend a lot of time at the ranch to get it all wired up, and he has a short period of time to do it all. The family decided to add the display at the last minute in order to earn a bit more money for the ranch and the scholarships they give out every year.
When Marci first sees Thomas, she isn't sure what to think. He's working hard for the family—and he's the most handsome man she's ever seen. When he asks her to be his date for the official tree-lighting ceremony, she agrees, but she knows it won't go anywhere.
Will this mismatched couple be able to see past their differences to a future together? Or will Marci realize she's been right all along?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Unlimited Dreams
• Release date: May 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201343880

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Chapter One

MARCH CALENDAR HELD her hand to her ear, looking at her earnest students. Everyone who was there on that windy Monday afternoon in early October was there because they loved science with a passion. Can you hear the difference in the wind? she asked.

This group was a mixture of ages between eight and twelve, and they were part of the afterschool science club she ran at the Calendar Girls’ Ranch, soon to be the Calendar Kids’ Ranch or maybe the Calendar Boys’ and Girls’ Ranch. She knew someone knew, but she had a dreadful memory for details like that, and she didn’t have any clue what the final answer was.

One of the girls raised her hand. It sounds spookier. Like there’s a ghost whispering, and its voice is being carried along by the air.

Marci grinned. You have such a way with words, Ella. Yes, that’s exactly what I was referring to. That spooky sound the wind now has. What do you think it means? She pulled her coat more snuggly around her.

That cold weather is coming? another girl asked.

Exactly. And it’ll be here in an hour or two. Possibly before your parents arrive. Marci’s glance was again drawn from the children by the man walking through the camp with an electrician belt strapped to his waist. Marci knew they’d decided to do something with some of the extra acres that lay dormant to try to raise some money for scholarships, but as usual, she couldn’t remember what. And she couldn’t figure out why Sparky wasn’t in charge of whatever wiring needed to be done.

Sure, she’d seen Sparky working with the man—whoever he was—but he seemed to be taking point on the project. She’d have to ask again what was happening at suppertime.

Marci looked back to her students and realized her mind had once again followed the shoulders of the electrician instead of staying with the children where it belonged.

Today we’re going to make a weather station for the ranch, and each day a different girl will be assigned to mark down what the weather is and predict what it will be the next day. Does that sound like fun?

The girls all nodded. They enjoyed it when she taught biology, but in the fall, with the turning of the leaves, she liked to talk about weather a lot. They’d start their unit on leaves and why they turn the following day. Most of the girls found it fascinating.

And since she tended to get the same girls year after year, she tried to vary her lessons as much as possible.

They all traipsed back to the tent they were using as a classroom and one of the girls raised her hand tentatively. Why do you keep staring at Uncle Tom?

Uncle Tom? Marci asked. She had no idea who Uncle Tom could possibly be.

He’s the one who just walked past wearing his toolbelt. He’s my uncle, and he’s here to do some work.

Do you know what he’s doing, Savannah?

Savannah shook her head. Something to do with electricity, though, because he always works with electricity.

I see. Marci tried to force her mind from Uncle Tom. He was a very sexy man, though, and it was hard not to keep focusing on him. Why she cared, she didn’t know. She was never marrying anyway. She’d seen her oldest sister fall for a man, but she knew it wasn’t in the cards for her. But Uncle Tom was awfully nice looking.

THOMAS LATHAM RARELY wasted time while he worked, but he’d bid this job as a whole, and he wasn’t being paid by the hour. The cute woman over in the camp area of the ranch was really drawing his attention, and he’d walked past her class at least half a dozen times on purpose, hoping she’d notice him.

He’d been asked to turn the unused portion of a kids’ ranch into a winter wonderland—a Christmas Village of sorts. Bob Calendar explained his sister’s April’s vision for the place, but he’d been given a great deal more creative freedom with this assignment than he ever had been before.

Another one of Bob’s sisters—Tom thought she’d been introduced as July, but then everyone had called her Julia, which made no sense to Tom—was helping them with a few parts of it. She was painting some backdrops and some huge wooden ornaments. Someone named October had cut them out.

He’d met Sparky as well, but it seemed like people called her August too, and she was helping some with the wiring, but she seemed a lot busier doing whatever July/Julia wanted her to do. He wished the Calendars would all pick one name, so he could just use that, and it wouldn’t be so gosh darn confusing to him.

He passed Julia/July again, and saw that she was painting Santa on one of the huge ornament thingies. Where’s that going? he asked.

Julia/July showed him on a map where everything was supposed to go. Right here, off in the Santa’s Workshop area of the village. April still has to talk Dad into playing Santa, but if he says no to her, December will ask him. He never says no to Dawn about anything. I think because she’s blind.

Tom stopped where he was and dropped the string of wire he had slung over one shoulder. "All right. The names are starting to hurt my head. You’ve been called both July and Julia. Who are you?"

July/Julia laughed softly. My parents adopted twelve girls and named each of us after another month of the year. January is Jana. February is Val.

Val doesn’t sound anything like February. Jana makes sense, but why Val? He removed his ball cap and scratched his head. You ladies are all just changing your names all the time to confuse me, right?

July/Julia shook her head. Not at all. Val is short for Valentine, which is the big holiday in February. See? Anyway, March is Marci, April, May, and June go by their months. You’ll see a lot of April, because she’s in charge of the Christmas village, because she’s the only one of us who absolutely lives for Christmas. I’m July, but I go by Julia. August goes by Sparky because she’s the one who is a whiz at anything electrical. I swear she can make computers sing. September goes by Berry, and she cooks like a dream. October goes by October just to be snarky, I think. She’s the one who’s been working with Sparky on the cutting out of the ornaments, and I think Sparky will work with you some on the wiring, if you get down to the wire... Not funny?

Tom just stared at her, wondering if he was supposed to be taking notes. I guess?

I’ll work harder. November goes by Novel, because she wants to write books. And December, the youngest sister who is blind, goes by Dawn. And now you know all the nicknames.

He blinked. You expect me to remember all that? You didn’t give me a cheat sheet!

Julia shook her head. You’ll manage.

Which sister is the one over there, talking to the kids? he asked, pointing across the way.

Oh, that’s March, who goes by Marci. She’s our science teacher around here. She loves to work with the kids, and I think she said they were doing a weather lesson today.

Do you think it would help her if I taught a quick class on electricity? he asked. He didn’t know a lot of the science around it, but he liked the idea of helping the pretty sister out. Do you think you could ask? Maybe introduce me?

Julia laughed. Sure. But I draw the line at passing notes asking my sister to check yes or no about whether or not she’ll go out with you.

Tom felt himself blushing and thanked the cold air for his face already being red. It should go unnoticed. Is it that obvious? he asked.

Yup. Don’t worry, though. I won’t tell her. She brushed a little bit of white across Santa’s beard. I will warn you though. Marci is the only one of us who thinks she’ll never marry. She believes in love, because you can’t grow up in a household like ours and not believe in love, but she doesn’t think there’s such a thing as love between a man and a woman. It’s sad really.

Did something happen to make her think that? What am I up against here? he asked.

"No one knows. She’s said there’s no such thing as romantic love since she was old enough to know what the difference was between that and the love our parents had for us. She won’t sit and watch silly Hallmark movies with us. She won’t read