Free Lakeshore Christmas by Susan Wiggs Page A

I’d see you here. I guess you can’t get enough of me.”
    She pulled the muffler down and offered a tight little smile. “Right. You are so irresistible. What are you doing here, Mr. I-Can’t-Stand-Christmas?” Without waiting for an answer, she turned to the other woman. “This is my friend, Olivia Davis.”
    “Hey, Lolly.” A big guy in a parka showed up, bending to give her a peck on the cheek. “Connor Davis,” he said.“This is my brother, Julian Gastineaux. He’s a Cornell student, just visiting for the weekend.”
    They didn’t look like brothers; Connor resembled a lumberjack while Julian was clearly of mixed race, long-limbed and slender as a marathon runner. He wore a fleece-lined bomber cap but despite the dorky headgear, nearly every teenage girl present seemed to be swooning over him.
    “I’m Eddie Haven.” Eddie turned to the blond woman again. “Lolly. Have we met?”
    “Lolly Bellamy,” she said. “We both went to Camp Kioga, a hundred years ago.”
    “I didn’t know you went to Camp Kioga,” said Maureen.
    “Five summers,” Eddie said. “Best summers of my life.”
    “Olivia and Connor turned it into a year-round resort,” Maureen said.
    “Good to know,” Julian said, aiming a teasing grin at Olivia. “I’m ordering room service breakfast in the morning.”
    “Huh,” she said, “that’s for paying guests only.” She held out an insulated paper cup to Eddie. “Hot chocolate?”
    He thanked her, and she went off with her husband and brother-in-law. Eddie turned to Maureen. “I’m here for the drinks. What about you?”
    “I wanted to help out.”
    “Let’s both be honest and say we didn’t want to be alone tonight, and neither of us had a better offer.”
    She frowned as though unsure whether she believed him or not. “Who says I didn’t have a better offer?”
    “Yeah? What did you turn down in order to build a manger?”
    “That’s none of your business.”
    “You’re trying to psych me out,” he accused.
    “Sure. Of course that’s what I’m doing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go uncrate a sheep.”
    The air came alive with the sound of hammering. Eddie worked on the lighting and sound for the display, because these were things he knew. And in spite of himself, he kept an eye on the Veltry brothers—not because he thought they might steal something, but because they had wandering attention spans. He commandeered Max and Omar to aim the floodlights at the display from all angles, with the most powerful beam installed above, streaming down into the middle of the manger. There were also yards of light strings that would outline the structure and the church, as well.
    Maureen was hovering nearby. “It’s not coming together,” she said, her head tipped back as she critically surveyed the display.
    “People are freezing their asses off,” he pointed out. “Hard to do your best work when you’re freezing your ass off.”
    “That’s because it’s twenty degrees out. Let’s try putting on some Christmas music,” she said.
    “Oh, please.”
    “Not everyone feels the way you do about Christmas,” she said.
    “And not everyone feels the way you do about Christmas,” he replied.
    “Music,” she said.
    “Whatever you say.” He stalked over to his van and fired up the sound system, selecting a mix tape that was sure to annoy her. A moment later, Rick James singing “Superfreak (U Can’t Touch This)” blasted from the speakers.
    It was worth the trouble just to witness outrage on Maureen’s face. She didn’t say anything, though, because everyone else had a different reaction. The suggestive thump of rhythm and ridiculous lyrics immediately took hold, as he’d known it would. One thing he was good at was music selection—matching songs to occasions.
    “Superfreak” was one of those pieces no one could resist. Even the Veltry brothers, whose taste ran to hip-hop, stepped up their pace.
    As she tilted back her head and