Free A Healer's Touch by Ashlynn Monroe

Chapter One
     
    Dropping her toast butter-side down on the aged linoleum floor, Phoebe Penn bit her lip to keep the curse words from tumbling from her lips.  She cast a furtive glance at her three-year-old son Simon.  He was playing contently with his matchbox car running it over the scared surface of the second-hand kitchen table.  Simon’s lips reverberated adorably as he made little engine noises, his focus completely on his little imaginary world.  As usual, her heart melted just looking at him.  He made her life worth living.
    Every time she looked at him, he took her breath away.  She loved her son with every ounce of her heart and soul. She’d gotten pregnant at eighteen, and when things became tough she wondered if keeping him had been best for him.  Selfishly, she couldn’t imagine living without him in her life.
    Christmas was only a month away and money was tight.  She knew they could live off the Thanksgiving leftovers for a few more days but she would have to buy groceries and she also had to pay rent, there was not enough money to do both.  Her heart sank while sh e watched her son.  If only I could give him a storybook Christmas.  He deserves so much more.
    In her mind, she saw a big beautiful tree with lights and sparkling decorations and a mountain of presents spilling out from under the branches.  Taking a deep breath, she could almost smell the evergreen. Longing for a fantasy Christmas made it so real in her imagination.  If love could build a castle and fill it with toys and food, they would be rich.
    Looking up at the clock , Phoebe sighed.  It was time for her shift at Margie’s Diner. She enjoyed waiting tables, it was one of the few places in town where she didn’t get the looks and stares because she was “one of those Penns” and she made more in tips than she would have made  working for minimum wage the same amount of hours anywhere else.  She knew she pretty, her hair was long, shiny, and so blonde it appeared to be silver.  Big blue eyes framed with thick black lashes gave her a striking look.  Phoebe’s angelic petite features made her appear much younger than she really was.  Several regular male customers tipped her far more than they should and she suspected they just wanted to get into her pants, little did they know she’d sworn off men.  The only man she cared about was three feet high and loved pancakes with jam on them. 
    She spoke quietly to her son, “It’s time to go to Ivory’s house, get your boots on, honey.”
    “Will she have pancakes for me?”
    Smiling, she smoothed his wild blonde hair.  “How could she not have pancakes when she knows you’re coming?” 
    He smiled and she watched h im tuck the car into his pocket, then run for his winter gear.  A lump formed in her throat.
    She picked up her purse and was just about to grab her keys off the hook when a loud knock at the door startled her.  Running to the door, Simon opened it before his mother could stop him and he looked up in awe at the tall stranger.  The man was built as if he lived in the gym.  This guy looked far too enormous for her tiny doorway.  His dark hair and bedroom eyes seemed out of place in a little town like Willow Lake. Because Phoebe was a lifer in Willow Lake, she thought she knew everyone in town, but she’d never seen the sexy visitor before.  He was far too hunk-a-luscious for her to have never noticed him.  If he’d come with the purpose of selling God and preaching vacuums, he had knocked on the wrong door, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy looking at him before she asked him to leave.
    “M ay I help you?  I’m just leaving for work so to save you some time, my souls been saved and I’m too broke to buy anything.”
    He flinched as if she’d slapped him.  An offended expression darkened his face.  Honesty didn’t always sit well with everyone.  Phoebe straightened her back ready for his rebuttal.  He opened his mouth to speak and