An Unexpected Christmas

By T. Thomas

A Friends to Lovers, Military Romance

Acer swore he'd never come back to the town he grew up in, but when he received a call from a family attorney to inform him of his mother's passing and a will reading, for some reason, he made the drive up there.

And ran right into Sparrow Clay, the girl he'd always loved but had never made a move on.

But now that he has something to offer besides constant hardships and separation due to the military, maybe he can finally get what he's always wanted in life: her.

He just hopes he isn't too late.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tiff Thomas
• Release date: Mar 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9798223084495

T. Thomas

If you’re looking for happily ever after, you’ll find it here.T. Thomas is a sweet, clean romance author of emotionally gripping books that always end in love and happiness.She has been writing since she was thirteen years old. She enjoys spending all of her spare time writing, but she absolutely detests editing and proofreading.T. Thomas can normally be found in her little room of her own that she calls her "woman cave" writing her next book and putting off editing and proofreading for as long as possible.

Book preview

1

Acer

When I graduated high school and left for basic training, I swore I’d never come back to this town—this state. It held nothing but bad memories. But my mother—my absent mother who never bothered to get better and get me back out of the system—had passed away, and she’d left a will behind that apparently, I needed to be here for.

She’d already been cremated, and I had denied her ashes when they were offered to me. I had no idea where they went, nor did I care to know. I’d long ago become indifferent to anything that pertained to that woman.

Katherine Sterling had loved drugs and the bottom of a bottle more than she had ever loved me. I used to be angry about it, but after a while, I just didn’t care anymore. There was no use wasting energy on someone who wasn’t expending energy on me.

I rolled my head around, trying to ease the tension in my neck from the long drive I’d just made from Georgia to Washington. I could’ve flown, but I hated flying. Not to mention, I only had a few days to tie up loose ends here before I got deployed overseas. I wanted to experience as much of it as I could behind the wheel of my truck before it got parked in a garage for months on end.

Military life. I swore I got deployed more these days than I was ever at home.

But that was what I’d signed up for. Both times I’d signed my contracts, I wanted to be gone more than I was home. I had no attachments, and I figured if I ever decided I was ready to settle down, I’d cross that bridge when I got to it.

No use worrying about something that hadn’t happened yet.

Somehow, I found myself pulling up to the old football field where a game was about to start. My last foster mother—the kindest I’d had—had paid for me to play, giving me an outlet for all the pent-up, negative energy inside of me. I’d always loved the sport, and though I was a bit sad I hadn’t gotten to play more, I was glad I’d gotten to play the little bit that I did.

Once I found a parking spot near the back of the lot on the grass, one of the few spots left open, I slid out of my truck and headed toward the ticket booth. There was a bite in the air, snow getting ready to come down. There hadn’t been any blizzards in the forecast though, so hopefully whatever came down, I’d be able to drive in it.

Acer Sterling, is that you? someone asked from behind me. I spun around, a grin pulling at my lips as soon as I landed my eyes on her.

Sparrow Clay.

If anyone would have ever been able to make me come back to this town, it would have been her. We’d become friends in my last foster home, but we both went separate ways once we graduated. She went on to college on a full-ride academic scholarship, and I started my career with the US military.

Sparrow? I asked incredulously. Her once long, dark hair was now cut, falling just below her shoulders, and just like always, it was pin straight. Her brown eyes were bright against her reddened cheeks. She tugged her hat lower on her head against the chill when the wind blew.

"I thought that was you when