Second Chance Christmas. Pamela Tracy
A Holiday for Healing
As December dawns in the Superstition Mountains, Cooper Smith is resigned to spending another Christmas alone. With his dad gone, his mom ailing and his younger brother in trouble, Cooper’s only wish for the holidays is to keep his father’s outfitting store going. But when his former high school sweetheart, Elise Hubrecht, unexpectedly returns to her family’s ranch, Cooper puts one more item on his to-do list. If he can get Elise to face the tragedy that made her leave Apache Creek, he may get the chance of a lifetime: a second chance at lasting love.
“Back in town so soon?” Cooper asked.
“I got laid off, so I’m moving back home and taking that job at the high school,” Elise replied.
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Sorry to hear I got laid off or sorry to hear I’m moving back home?”
“Laid off. It’s not easy making a change. Up until a year ago, I worked in Moab, Utah. I was just beginning to make a life for myself.”
“You came because your family needed you,” Elise pointed out.
“Didn’t make it any easier.”
“You’re right. But there is no other work. I spent the last month checking out the job market.”
“So, Apache Creek High School is your only option?”
The wind picked up, blowing her hair across her face. “It’s the option I’m accepting.” Cooper tried not to let it bother him that Apache Creek was a last resort. The Elise he knew had loved it here. It was wrong that Elise didn’t feel excited about moving back home.
Just as much as it had been wrong for her to walk away from him, from the life they’d planned.
PAMELA TRACY is a USA TODAY bestselling author who lives with her husband (the inspiration for most of her heroes) and son (the interference for most of her writing time). Since 1999, she has published more than twenty-five books and sold more than a million copies. She’s a past RITA® Award finalist and past winner of the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year Award.
Second Chance
Christmas
Pamela Tracy
The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.
—Proverbs 16:9
To my niece Shannon Leutkenhaus,
a champion team roper, who is living the dream and has the saddles and buckles to prove it. Shannon, you rock!
Contents
Storm clouds rolled in the Arizona sky, a black-and-gray blanket that sank lower even as Cooper Smith watched. One drop hit his forehead. He whooped, then turned and headed inside his store, AJ’s Outfitters. His cell phone was out and in his hand before he made it to the counter. He had five regulars who went gold-panning with him on the Superstition after every rain. Plus, this trip, he had three other numbers to call: tourists who had come into his store to buy expedition gear and had shown an interest in going panning. That meant paying customers.
Something AJ’s sorely needed.
He’d gotten hold of all but two when an incoming call interrupted him.
It wasn’t someone wanting to go panning tomorrow. Instead a deep voice, one he recognized well, said, “I just saw your brother doing doughnuts in your truck in the parking lot of the Apache Creek fairgrounds.”
Cooper closed his eyes. Lately, it was one thing after another with his little brother and each and every incident landed at Cooper’s feet. “You sure it was him?”
It was a stupid question, and Cooper didn’t even bother to pray that Jacob Hubrecht was wrong. Still, there was nothing quite like having an elder of the church, and your ex-girlfriend’s father, phone you right after you switched the Closed sign to Open.
Cooper’s little brother, just turned eighteen and ten years younger but an inch taller, was skipping school again. Just six months to go and the kid would graduate. Maybe.
“Nothing wrong with my vision,” Jacob answered. “Even in the rain.”
There was nothing wrong with Cooper’s, either. He opened his eyes and looked around the store. Only three customers, one family really, and only the four-year-old appeared to be the potential sale. He held a fool’s gold necklace in hand. Cost: five dollars.
Business was down, and Cooper was still