Christmas Car Kerfuffle

By Jessie Gussman

Two days before Christmas, single mom Blythe Mason is stunned when her car is not at the mechanic’s shop where she dropped it off. Her surprise soon gives way to panic when they figure out that an employee gave her car to the wrong person and it is now five hundred miles away. All the Christmas gifts that she’d carefully budgeted out for her children since July were in the trunk.

Zayden Crile can’t believe his employee made such a huge mistake. And of all people it had to be his former sister-in-law. She’s still upset that his brother ran off with the nurse, leaving her with two small children. She has struggled, and to make things a little easier Zayden takes care of her car as a favor. He certainly never intended to make a mistake which could ruin Christmas for his niece and nephew.

Forced to ride together to get her car, Blythe starts to see Zayden in a new light and realizes that maybe she married the wrong brother.

Could one honest mistake patch a new family together?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jessie Gussman
• Release date: Sep 13, 2021

Jessie Gussman

USA Today best-selling author Jessie Gussman writes sweet and inspirational romance from her farm in central Virginia. Having attended, but never graduating from the school of hard knocks, Jessie uses real life on the farm to inspire her cowboy, rural and blue-collar fiction.When she’s not chasing kids, cows and the occasional roll-away haybale, Jessie enjoys wading in Naked Creek and not cleaning her house. Most of the time her main goal is to keep from catching herself on fire...again.If you enjoy fun stories with vivid characters showcasing strong families with a ribbon of faith tying everything together, you might enjoy Jessie’s books.Subscribe to her newsletter and find out why readers say, "I eagerly look forward to Tuesday mornings" and "Jessie's newsletter is the only author newsletter that I read every word."

Book preview

Chapter 1

Her car was gone.

Blythe Mason looked at the dark blue sedan in front of her. Nope. It was similar to her car. Same color. Same general shape. Same make and model. But, she peeked in the back window again, no booster seat. No coloring books on the floor. No backpacks, pencils, children’s meal toys or little trucks or dolls on the floor.

Dread settled in her stomach as she fingered the key fob. It felt the same as hers. Looked the same. But since this vehicle in front of her wasn’t her car, the key fob could hardly be hers.

She eyed the trunk, her heart pounding in her chest. Maybe Zayden, her brother-in-law, ex brother-in-law, and owner of this auto repair shop, had cleaned out the interior of her car when he changed the oil and put the snow tires on. Maybe he’d forgotten to put the booster seat back in. If he had detailed the interior, it would be the first time in four years—since he’d started servicing her car for free.

Swallowing, she double pressed the button to open the trunk. Please let them be in there. She didn’t close her eyes to pray, and the prayer wasn’t even finished in her head, when she knew it hadn’t been answered. At least not with anything other than a no which seemed to be God’s standard answer to her.

Slamming the trunk shut she clicked the lock on the key fob. Spinning on her heel, she marched down the sidewalk and back into the empty shop.

Zayden’s shop was always busy, but he had said he was planning on closing early this afternoon and staying closed through Christmas. He’d graciously agreed to do her car, very last minute, when she’d explained that her front tire kept going flat.

He wouldn’t charge her for the tires, nor for the oil change that he probably did. He would have checked everything else out too. He always did. She didn’t know anything about cars, and Zayden had a vested interested in keeping hers safe, since he loved his niece and nephew and wouldn’t want anything to happen to them. So she trusted him. Of course, she’d also trusted his brother, her ex-husband Ken, and that had been a major mistake.

One that she’d put behind her. She needed the reminder. This time of year being a single mom sucked more than any other.

She wasn’t even going down that rabbit trail. Right now she needed to figure out what happened to her car.

Her low heels clicked in the vast, empty interior as she crossed it, angling for the office door where Zayden’s head was visible, bent over some papers on his desk. Getting things in order before he left the shop for the Christmas break, probably.

She tapped on the glass before opening the door. His eyes, a deeper, darker green than Ken’s, widened when he looked up. He stood immediately.

Is there a problem with your car? he asked, his brows knitted.

Kind of. She tilted her head and tried not to notice the way his t-shirt strained over his chest. It’s not mine.

She almost smiled at the expressions that crossed his face. First confusion. Then it became thoughtful, probably as he tried to figure out what had happened. Dawning shock. Horror.

The last one scared her.

His face scrunched up, as though he knew the next few minutes were going to be painful. You’re sure.

It wasn’t a question, but she answered anyway. Yes.

He blew out a breath and lifted his cap to run his hand through his hair. Ken always kept his neatly trimmed, but Zayden’s had a tendency to grow long, like he couldn’t remember to get it cut more than once every six months.

I’ll call Joe, but I’m pretty sure I know what happened. He picked up his phone, his brows drawn together. We had another car in here, same color and model as yours. It broke down in town, and the owner rented a car to get home to New York. Her sister lives here, though, and offered to drive the car to New York since she was going up anyway for Christmas. His lip twisted in a small apology and he raised a hand, palm up. She wouldn’t have known it was the wrong car. His mouth flattened. Joe should have known better.

Don’t blame Joe, Blythe said quickly. Even though she had no idea what she was going to do about the fact that all the gifts—every single one—that she had bought for her kids were in the back of her car, which was, apparently, in New York, she didn’t want Joe to get fired. I know he’s a good mechanic, and he’s always been so nice to me when I’m here. Joe was the type of man who didn’t seem like he had a lot of book smarts, but he could fix just about anything.

Well, in his defense, the woman who owns the car has a name very similar to yours. He probably didn’t take the time to sound out the name, but just grabbed the key under the name that looked right.

Yes. I totally understand. However, I’m wondering how I’m going to get my car back.

Well, the sister is coming back down here after Christmas...

That’s not going to work, she interrupted him. All of my children’s Christmas gifts are in my car. My mother is actually watching my children, and I was planning on wrapping everything tonight... she trailed off, tears unexpected stinging her eyes. Why did nothing ever go the way she planned? She had intended to finish college but got married instead. She’d intended to be married forever, but Ken cheated. Christmas gifts might seem like a small thing in comparison, but this was her Christmas with her kids. They were with Ken last year, and he’d taken them to some big ski resort in Montana. If that’s what he did for a six- and eight-year-old, who knew what his gifts in future years would be. She couldn’t compete with him and his new wife, and she wasn’t even going to try, but she had wanted to make Christmas magical all the same.

Zayden’s dark eyes studied her across the desk. He was taller than Ken and broader in the shoulders. But the real difference was in their personalities.

Guess I’m driving to New York this evening, then. His lips curved up. "That’s a pretty good hiding spot. I always looked under my

Reviews for Christmas Car Kerfuffle

[Michaela · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A lovely book with great characters. Love the snow and all that came with it. A great author!