RETURN!! ... Long Way to Christmas by That'sMzPeachesTYVM

Long Way to Christmas

By: That'sMzPeachesTYVM

One chapter of this fic will be posted daily, along with teasers until it is completed. Starting 11/25/17

She is brilliant and beautiful, and well respected at a very young age in her field, but she is all alone. No family. No friends outside of work. He is alone by choice, punishing himself for the sins of his past, but he has family to give him strength. Will a chance encounter, and a daily trip out of her way lead her to the family and place of belonging she so craves?
Long Way to Christmas

Pentwater is a very small tourist town on the Lakeshore of Western Michigan, and only a fifteen-minute drive from her home in Hart. She had lived here for the last three years in her Uncle Charlie's house. She grew up visiting him every summer and knew the area well even before she moved to Michigan, intent on getting away from the constant heat and loneliness in Arizona.

Looking up, she saw the small convenience center that had been put in earlier that year. She had heard great things about the homemade pastries, chocolates, and house roasted coffees that were sold inside, and as she had yet to eat, decided she would take a look-see. After pumping the gas, she went inside to pay and was greeted with the most mouth-watering aromas she had smelled since her childhood—back when her Aunt Sue was still alive and would bake for her.

Thinking of Aunt Sue made her heart sad for a moment, and loneliness wrapped itself around her like a shroud. Aunt Sue and Uncle Charlie were the closest things she knew to stability growing up. She never had grandparents, as they passed on in her infancy, and she never knew who her father was.

She had moved back not only to get away from the heat of Arizona, but to find a sense of home, and Uncle Charlie had always provided that. At least he had been there for her graduation from Medical school and had celebrated with her when she finally reached her goal to become a Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Now she worked at Mercy Medical Center in Muskegon and was gaining respect from her peers and the medical community in general.
It was difficult looking at her life sometimes, realizing she was now thirty-five years old, and all alone. She had no family. She had no boyfriend. She didn't even have a pet because she didn't think it was fair to leave an animal alone for fourteen hours a day, four days a week.
She shook herself free of her lonesome thoughts, and looked around. The small store was homey feeling, and clean. As she approached the glass enclosure to look at the treats on display, her stomach grumbled. She heard a soft, deep chuckle from behind the counter at the coffee machine.

As Bella turned to ascertain to whom the laugh belonged, she was rooted in place by sea-green eyes. Utterly mesmerized, she didn't even hear the words being spoken to her until that same chuckle reverberated through her ears once again.

"Are you okay," said a soft baritone voice "is there something I can get for you?"

Bella blinked, and cleared her throat as she tried to pull herself together, and stop gaping.

Those eyes, Gah!

"Oh, yes. Yes, I'm fine." Bella blushed. "I-I was just looking at your display case, trying to figure out what I want to treat myself to."

"From the sounds of it, you haven't eaten yet," said the man with the gentle timbre and the beautiful green eyes. "How 'bout you let me fix you something substantial, and a cup of coffee before you dive into the sugar?" There was a twinkle in those verdant orbs.

She looked back up to take in the whole of the man behind the counter, reminding herself to show no expression at her perusal. She failed. Her lips parted and a small gasp escaped her as she beheld a wild crop of hair the color of a well-used penny, high cheekbones, sharp-angular jaw, and a beautifully anfractuous smile. He was quite tall—she estimated six foot two or three—with an athletic build. He was very handsome, and had a piercing gaze. She sucked in a deep breath, hoping that an influx of oxygen might help clear her head so that she could speak coherently.

"If I say yes, will I regret it?" Her face morphed into an impish smirk with one eyebrow raised.

"I'd like to think not." That crooked grin just grew as he drank in the view of her. He swept his eyes over her curvaceous figure, and fought to keep his thoughts in line. The last thing he wanted to do was to have to adjust himself in front of this stunningly beautiful stranger who had just breezed her way into his little store. He'd never seen her before, and hoped that she was not just a tourist. It was, after all the end of May, and beginning this weekend—Memorial Day weekend—the tourists would be out in force. He just hoped he would see this vision of loveliness again. In fact, he hoped he could keep her around for a while today.


"Why don't you go move your car from the pumps to a parking spot, then come back and relax at a table while I get you squared away?"


"I didn't place an order yet." Bella reminded him.


"Are you a vegetarian?" He grinned as Bella's face twisted into a grimace.


"What?"


"Are you a vegetarian?" He laughed. "It's a straightforward question."


"Um, no." She began to wonder if staying for breakfast was truly a wise idea.


"Are you lactose intolerant?"


"What is this, twenty questions?" Bella rolled her eyes playfully.


"No, but that's a great game to play over brunch. Are. You. Lactose. Intolerant? I promise this is not a trick question."


"No, I'm not a vegan, or intolerant." She blew out an amused breath. "I'm moving my vehicle now."


"Okay, see you in a second."


Bella looked at her reflection against the paint job of her Durango, and grimaced, wondering why the handsome man inside wanted to cook for her. At five foot three, and one hundred and seventy-five pounds, she was certainly nothing spectacular to look at in her opinion. She supposed that she had nice eyes, and a pretty enough face but she was no great catch. She reminded herself to just accept the friendly gestures. Friendship was all she could expect in her own mind. She never would have pictured a man such as that looking at her with desire in his eyes. She shrugged to herself, just knowing that she had misread his lingering gaze.


After the door closed behind her, Edward watched the beautiful woman walk to her large black SUV. As she approached it, she seemed to slow momentarily, and he saw her shoulders slump slightly. He was determined to brighten her day as she just had his.
There was something about her that was refreshing. She was gorgeous, and had a sense of humor. That was plain, but there was something more that drew him.

https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3266949/That-sMzPeachesTYVM