The magic of Christmas—and a second shot at romance—is in the air in Shelter Springs this holiday season…
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from RaeAnne Thayne’s The December Market, which is out October 8th 2024.
Amanda Taylor isn’t a fan of Christmas, but as the owner of a local soap shop, ignoring the holiday season isn’t an option. To forget the pain of Christmases past, Amanda focuses on making the season bright for her customers at the Shelter Springs Holiday Giving Market. But when her beloved grandmother, Birdie, starts dating the dashing new resident of the Shelter Inn retirement community, Amanda smells trouble. Fortunately, Rafe Arredondo, the grandson of Birdie’s charming suitor, is equally dubious of the match. Unfortunately, he’s just as fiery as his grandfather—and Amanda has zero interest in getting burned.
As a single father, paramedic and assistant fire chief, Rafe has more than enough on his plate. Sure, he and Amanda share a common goal in keeping their grandparents apart. Still, that doesn’t mean he should allow himself to feel as drawn to her as he does. Even if she is great with his young son. Even if she does help the burden of his own painful past feel a little lighter… But when their paths keep crossing at the holiday market, it starts to feel like fate, prompting them both to wonder if taking a chance on love might gift them everything they’ve been wishing for.
Amanda quickly rang up the woman and had just finished gift wrapping the basket in cellophane tied with a wide buffalo print ribbon when another customer opened the door to enter the store, letting in the strident sound of sirens.
Amanda wasn’t the only one who turned to look out the wide front windows in time to see a fire truck stop in the middle of the road, right in front of her store.
“What’s going on?” Scarlet asked, looking panicked. “Is there a fire?”
Amanda gave the young woman’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Scarlet still suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after her family’s home in the countryside outside town was consumed by a fast-moving wildfire a few years earlier. She and her parents and siblings had barely escaped alive and were still in the process of rebuilding.
“I’m not sure. Cat, can you take over this cash register? I’ll go check it out.”
She quickly grabbed her coat from the hook inside the supply room and hurried outside. The street was buzzing with people and firefighters, all focused on something happening on the roof of the yarn shop across the street, Cozy Creations.
She watched as a second fire truck approached, this one fitted with a bucket.
“What’s going on?” she asked a bystander.
“Somebody is stuck on the roof, apparently. They went up to hang a few Christmas lights and panicked. That’s what I heard, anyway.”
On the roof? Who on earth was it?
Amanda had a sudden suspicion. The twin sisters who ran the shop, Opal and Pearl Barnes, were both as stubborn as they were frugal. The woman tried to do everything themselves, whether that was shoveling snow, repainting their storefront or building new display cases inside.
They hadn’t put up Christmas lights in years past, as far as she could remember. They usually only decorated their front windows with lights around a huge stuffed knit penguin they had made together.
Why hadn’t they asked Amanda for help or hired one of several professional companies that would hang lights for residences or businesses alike?
How had they even gotten up there? She saw a large extension ladder going up the side of the building, which gave her the answer.
The women were in their early seventies. They had no business up on the roof!
She watched the flurry of action as a firefighter she couldn’t recognize from here climbed into the bucket of the truck and it extended up two stories to reach the roof. Amanda caught her breath as the rescuer climbed out, then sidestepped toward the figure she could now see huddled near the edge of the roof.
The crowd on the ground cheered as the firefighter wrapped a blanket around the figure, helped them to their feet and carefully guided them along the roofline.
The sky began to spit snow as a cold wind blew off the lake. Amanda shivered. Her store was packed and she knew she should return to help her customers but she couldn’t drag herself away from the drama happening out here in downtown Shelter Springs.
She had to make sure Opal or Pearl, whichever twin was up there, made it to safety.
“Paolo tells me this is where you went,” a voice suddenly said beside her. “What’s going on? Is there a fire or is someone hurt?” Birdie asked.
Because of her advanced macular degeneration, her grandmother could only see things that were close to her face. Of course she wouldn’t be able to have any idea what was happening all the way across the street. If not for Paolo, hovering closely at her side, Birdie wouldn’t have been able to find Amanda on the crowded street. He must have pointed her out and led Birdie here.
“I don’t know for sure. There seems to be someone stuck on the roof. I don’t know if it’s Opal or Pearl.”
“Oh no! Those poor dears!”
Her grandmother bought yarn and other knitting supplies from Cozy Creations and was friendly with both women.
“What happened?” Paolo asked. “How did they get up there?”
Amanda watched as the firefighter helped the woman back into the bucket. He seemed to be attaching a safety harness to her.
“I’m not sure. I heard from someone they were trying to hang Christmas lights and panicked. I’m not sure if that’s what happened, though.”
“Neither of those nice ladies should be up on a slippery roof,” Paolo said, frowning with concern.
“Agreed. But they are, apparently.”
She moved slightly to the right, where she had a different perspective. Now she could see a woman in a blue coat, knit scarf and hat, standing in front of the store with both hands pressed to her mouth.
“There’s Opal, across the street.” Though her grandmother certainly couldn’t see that far, Amanda pointed to the woman. “So that means the person on the roof must be Pearl.”
“And her with those bad knees! She has no business climbing onto a roof.” Paolo’s face twisted with concern, and Amanda had to wonder if he knew all the women of a certain age in the entire town.
“The rescuer is trying to help her into the bucket, it looks like,” she explained to her grandmother. “They’re going to lower her down that way.”
The town had only recently purchased the bucket truck, she had read in the weekly community newspaper, after their previous ancient one that had been in service for more than thirty years had broken down beyond repair.
“Hey! That’s my grandson up there!” Paolo said. She looked at the firefighter on the roof.
She should have realized. How could she have missed that powerful frame, those broad shoulders inside the firefighter uniform?
Her heart gave a little kick in her chest that severely annoyed her.
She had no business even noticing the man, let alone finding him attractive. In the slightest.
Amanda was fully aware that Rafe Arredondo was likely the last man in town who would ever be interested in her.
Excerpted from The December Market by RaeAnne Thayne. Copyright © 2024 by RaeAnne Thayne. Published by Canary Street Press, an imprint of HarperCollins.
