setting was spectacularly beautiful, with those commanding snow-covered mountains rising almost directly up from the other side of the brilliant blue lake.
With all this splendor to distract the eye, she didn’t know how people kept from driving off the road. Somehow she managed to make it to Haven Point without incident and drove down the appealing main street that curved around the lake.
She felt a pang as she passed the burned-out remains of the inn. How was Megan doing? she wondered. And what was she planning to do with the inn? She made a mental note to check in with her before she left Lake Haven.
She could have made a good life here with Maddie. Maybe they would have attended that charming little church on the lakeshore, with its Gothic stained glass windows and honey-gold brick. Maddie might have gone to the elementary school that rested on a hill overlooking the town and the lake. Eliza might have been on a first-name basis with the old-timers she saw talking to each other with elbows propped on the hood of a pickup truck in front of the feed store.
Maybe here she could have found the sense of belonging she and Maddie both needed.
In a perfect world, she would have been able to find another job here but she had scoured the online classified section of the community’s weekly newspaper and had come up with nothing but a few part-time, minimum wage retail jobs and a live-in companion to an elderly woman that specified Absolutely No Children, with several exclamation points.
She would figure something out. She had a couple of promising leads back in Boise already from some email inquiries she had sent out.
It only took a moment to pick up the two extra bedside lamps she had ordered for one of the guest suites that somehow didn’t have any, then she drove back to the small commercial center of Haven Point.
From what she could tell, McKenzie Shaw’s shop would be her best option for a few last-minute Christmas gifts.
She parked down the street and walked toward Point Made Flowers and Gifts, which was housed in a historic-looking redbrick building.
Chimes rang out like jingle bells as she pushed the door open. She was immediately greeted by a welcoming warmth and the cozy smell of cinnamon and apples, scents that conjured up home and hearth and old-fashioned Christmases.
Oh, this looked like just her kind of place, packed to the brim with clever little hard-to-find items. Oddly, the store appeared to be empty—except for a ginger-colored dog who rose to greet her.
The dog—a standard poodle wearing a bandana printed with gleaming green-and-gold Christmas ornaments—walked gracefully over to her, planted its haunches a few feet away and held up a hand just like a department store greeter.
“Hello. Are you in charge today?” she asked the dog, who seemed to give her an uncanny sort of grin.
Okay, strange. Where was McKenzie?
“Hello?” she called.
A moment later, a door in the back of the store popped open and McKenzie peeked her head around the frame. “Oh. I thought I heard the bell. Hi, Eliza! Great to see you! Welcome to Point Made.”
“Thanks. I’m in love with your shop.”
“Oh, thanks! I’m pretty crazy about it, too.”
“I finally found a minute to get away from Snow Angel Cove for a bit and take care of a little of my Christmas shopping.”
“This is the place for it. No Maddie today?”
Eliza shook her head. “I left her making sugar cookies with Sue.”
“Lucky girl. A sugar cookie would be fabulous right about now.”
“I’ll have her save you a few and we’ll drop them off next time we come to town.”
“That sounds like an excellent plan.” McKenzie gestured to the big poodle. “I see you’ve met Rika. Short for Paprika.”
“Yes. She was very polite and greeted me with a handshake.”
“She runs the place with an iron paw, don’t let all that charm fool you.”
Rika grinned at her owner then plopped down in a multicolored patch of sunlight coming through a display of stained glass sun catchers in the window.
Feminine laughter spilled out from the open doorway and what sounded like a good-natured argument. The mayor glanced back at the room and then at Eliza. “I’m so glad you stopped by today! What luck. You’re just in time for lunch!”
“I am?”
“Yes. Take off your coat and come grab a bowl of soup. Some of us in town get together regularly for a potluck lunch. It’s sort of an informal service club where we work on projects like crocheting afghans for the children’s hospital in Boise or sending care packages to members of the armed forces from the area. We call ourselves the Haven Helping Hands. I know, really lame name. I wanted to call it the Pointer Sisters but I was vetoed. Apparently that’s already taken.”
“I like the Pointer Sisters. The musical group and the name, for what it’s worth.”
The incoming mayor beamed. “Thank you! I knew I liked you for a reason. Come on back. We’ve got tons of soup.”
For just a moment, Eliza was torn. She should probably hurry to finish her shopping and return to Maddie. She also wasn’t sure she wanted to meet more people and find more reasons to love Haven Point when she couldn’t make her home here, after all.
On the other hand, Maddie was in excellent hands with Sue and it had been so very long since Eliza had socialized with other women outside of work. It also seemed rude to refuse after McKenzie and her sister had been nothing but kind to her.
“I can only stay a moment.”
McKenzie beamed and led the way to a workroom that looked at least as large as the display area of Point Made gifts. Boxes were stacked around the edges of the room. At a long table in the middle, about a dozen women of various ages—from barely twentysomethings to a couple of women who looked to be in their sixties or early seventies—were eating and chatting.
Megan Hamilton was one of the first to spot her. “Eliza! Hi! I am so glad to see you. How are feeling after your accident?”
She smiled at the woman she had wanted for an employer. “I’m doing well. Thank you.”
“I’ve been worrying about you and Maddie. I was so glad when Kenz told me you found work and are staying in the area through the holidays—even if the job is with Aidan Caine.”
At the name, the entire room full of chattering women fell as silent as if Megan had just belched the alphabet.
All eyes fell on her and Eliza squirmed, not sure what to say.
“You work for Aidan Caine?” a plump, well-dressed woman with dark hair and warm brown eyes asked.
“Ye-es,” Eliza said warily. Why was everyone staring at her?
“Is he as gorgeous in real life as he is on YouTube?”
