An Everlasting Christmas: A Happily Everlasting Series Novella: The Happily Everlasting Series, #7

By Mandy M. Roth

A Cozy Paranormal Romance Mystery

 

Welcome to Everlasting, Maine, where there's no such thing as normal.

 

Wil Messing may own a thriving antique shop in the tiny seaside town of Everlasting, Maine, but the man and the shop are far more than they appear to be. Born into a long line of supernatural hunters, this alpha male has had to make tough decisions all of his life. But the toughest one of all was walking away from the woman who stole his heart long ago. But he had no choice. It was for her own safety.

 

He wants more from her than mere friendship but knows he has no right to ask—not with their past. But when a secret admirer begins leaving Jolene gifts, it doesn't take a great detective to tell Wil it's now or never.

 

Jolene Bails may come off as a tough-as-nails, no-nonsense kind of woman, but underneath it all, she has a softer side. Now that she has a Secret Santa, who seems to know her well, she finds herself opening to the idea of wanting more from life. But first, she has to figure out who is leaving her mysterious gifts and why it is Wil, her old flame, is acting so strange.

 

*Books in the Happily Everlasting series can be read in ANY order!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raven Happy Hour LLC
• Release date: Nov 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781947908109

Mandy M. Roth

Mandy M. Roth grew up fascinated by creatures that go bump in the night. From the very beginning, she showed signs of creativity-writing, painting, telling scary stories that left her little brother afraid to come out from under his bed. Combining her creativity with her passion for the paranormal has left her banging on the keyboard into the wee hours of the night. Her books have won numerous awards, including an RT nomination for Best Paranormal Erotic. Mandy lives on the shores of Lake Erie with her husband, their three boys and a boxer pup named Hercules. When Mandy is not writing, she's doing cover art for various places with a super double secret brush name. She also cohosts a live talk radio show, Raven Radio, which was recently mentioned in RT Book Reviews, and she has given several marketing workshops for authors. She has a bachelor of science degree and is currently working on her master's degree in marketing. To learn more about Mandy send an email to [e-mail].

Book preview

Chapter One

Jolene Bails shut the hood of the ’65 Ford Mustang GT and stepped back, wiping her hand over her brow as she did. The restoration was a labor of love that she’d been working on for years as time allowed. There were no replicated parts on her baby. No sir. It was all original. She just needed to track down a few more parts and the Mustang would be as good as new.

Jolene had hoped to have it all done by now, not that a Mustang was what you wanted on an icy road, a week before Christmas in Maine, but between the hard-to-find original parts and the weather, the odds were not in her favor. Thankfully, her home garage was heated and fairly well insulated, or she wouldn’t have been able to get any more work in until spring at the earliest. Even that would be touch and go in Maine. They could be buried in snow or have flowers blooming. They were at the mercy of Mother Nature, and no two springs were the same.

Right now, it was cold outside and that didn’t do her joints any favors. Everlasting had already been blanketed in several feet of snow a few days prior. Another foot was called for overnight as the nor’easter blew through. The nor’easter would cause the temperature to drop even more.

Wonderful.

Every time the temperature dropped her ankle acted up, reminding her of memories best left in the past. The injury had happened when she was twenty (which seemed like a lifetime ago to her). She’d spent so long telling people that the incident had been an accident, some days she believed as much.

It was far from the truth of the matter.

A slight chill settled over her just thinking about having to walk out in the elements to get back to the main house. The detached garage sat at the back of her property, and that meant she’d have to brave the cold and snow in order to call it a night and head in.

She didn’t exactly relish the winter months. Unlike the wolf-shifters and many of the other shifters in the seaside town of Everlasting, her body didn’t run hotter than the average human’s. She also couldn’t shift forms on land and be any kind of threat, or even protect herself. In the ocean, she was on a different playing field. Others thought that as a were-dolphin, she’d be fodder. That she was good for nothing more than frolicking about in open water. That wasn’t the case. She could more than hold her own when need be.

In fact, she could be downright dangerous when called for.

Jolene shivered, despite the furnace and an additional heater running. She had on a pair of work overalls and beneath them, she wore fleece-lined leggings with a thick sweater. Her socks went to her knees and her boots had a winter lining in them. She was still chilly.

Barry, her plump black cat, was near the wall gas-heat unit, curled up on the floor on one of his many beds, sleeping soundly. He lived like a prince, with a comfy bed in practically every room of the house and one in the garage. He was a good old boy who liked to join her when she worked. As he supplied companionship during the solitary hours, she enjoyed his presence. He was a sounding board who didn’t talk back. Plus, he kept most field mice out of the area.

Once, she’d opened the Mustang’s hood to find a mouse nest on the engine block. The darn little mouse had chewed through a fair number of essential wires while there, as well. Jolene had not been pleased in the least. The mouse had been even less pleased when she’d shoed it away. She and Barry had a long talk that day about him sleeping on the job. She wasn’t sure the message had sunk in, especially with how content he looked on his bed at the moment.

Jolene went to the sink in the garage and started the water, knowing it would take a bit to heat. In the meantime, she pumped some soap into her hands and rubbed the orange-scented pumice around, working the grease and grime loose. Once the water was heated, she got down to the task of trying her best to get the grease off her hands and out from under her nails.

It was easier said than done.

There wasn’t a time in her life that she could remember when she wasn’t fighting to keep her nails free from grease and dirt associated with working on cars. Her father had built the service station she now owned and operated. It was located a few miles from her house.

Her father had made a name for himself in Everlasting by providing quality service for a fair price. He’d then handed the business down to her. When he’d passed away, she could have sold the service station and done something else with her life—even left Everlasting.

She hadn’t.

Though she’d considered it briefly. She’d never really traveled much and had always wanted to see more of the world. But Everlasting and the station were what she knew. Change frightened her, as it did most. And while she and her father had butted heads on certain things, he had been an important part of her life.

When she was very young, she’d thought the man could hang the moon.

Her opinion of him waned somewhat with age, making her realize he had faults like everyone else. The man had always done what he’d thought was best when it came to her. Even when his choices hurt her emotionally. She knew he’d always had her best interest at heart.

As the only child, Jolene knew her father had raised her as best he could, and since her mother had passed when she was young, she never had much in the way of female influences during her upbringing. She used to long to have someone to teach her to style her hair, put on makeup, and select clothing. Her father’s idea of a functional wardrobe consisted of varying pairs of overalls, pants, and oversized sweaters. That sense of fashion had been passed on to her—without her really wanting it—and despite her best efforts, she’d not really found her way from it all. And now she felt too old to bother. She was what she was, proverbial warts and all.

While she tended to wear mostly overalls and clothing that could withstand the work she did, Jolene had a love of pretty things. It was a side of herself few knew about. Most assumed she was what you saw on the surface, a tough-as-nails woman who was middle-aged. She did nothing to dissuade the façade.

The service station and the garage were memorial tributes to her late father, but the main house included her special touches. Things