The Celebration Township, book 10
by Stacy Eaton
by Stacy Eaton
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Levi Rivers is one of the most protective men in Celebration Township, so when his neighbor passes away, he feels responsible for not having noticed her absence for ten days. His guilt only increases when he finds out that it was possibly suicide, and he had been too wrapped up in his own life to catch any signs of her withdrawal.
Alesandra Findley moved away from Celebration when she was four years old and was told that her mother had died when she was young. She’s shocked to learn from her brother that he knew their mother had been alive the past twenty-five years and neither he nor her father had shared the information with her.
When Alesandra returns to Celebration to learn about the mother she lost years ago, Levi is there to lend his guidance, support, and encouragement. The two of them immediately connect in ways neither of them expected.
Levi will need to learn to live with his guilt while Alesandra learns the truth about her mother. When it’s time for Alesandra to return to her life in New York City, she’s not sure she wants to leave Levi and all she has discovered in the town to return to the cold world of fashion. But can life with Levi working with chrome and wheels instead of glamour and glitz be enough for her?
Chapter 1 – Levi
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and I sat on my front porch finishing up a turkey on rye when the rural mail carrier’s yellow Jeep started and stopped briskly at each of my neighbors’ driveways to deliver their mail. I didn’t have to look down the long neighborhood street to confirm I was right, I could tell by the rev of the engine and the squeal of the brakes a few seconds later.
I winced as the metal-on-metal sound approached. I’d told Jimmy to bring the thing over to the shop a few dozen times so I could work on the brakes, but he always said he was too busy. Maybe I could get him to stop by today after he’d completed his route.
I was supposed to have gone finishing with Scott today, but he’d been called in to cover a shift for another paramedic who had broken his wrist while playing basketball. I could just imagine Greg’s wife saying now how grown men shouldn’t pretend to be boys. Because of his misfortune, my plans for this gorgeous late summer weekend were spoiled.
I glanced around my front porch. I contemplated sweeping it, fixing the loose board near the steps—maybe I could paint the dull and chipping white railing. I’d been talking about doing that all summer. I had even bought the paint to do it, but I’d been putting it off. I hated painting, and I’d already gotten my fill helping Sophia get her house ready to sell in July.
My front garden needed weeding. I didn’t know why I had let Nolan talk me into all the fancy shrubs and flowers, but I had. We’d spent a weekend digging a large garden area and planting a bunch of stuff that I could neither remember nor pronounce. Yeah, it had looked great when it was first done, but now I was stuck pulling weeds, and I was not a fan of that. I should have kept the damned grass, and I could have just mowed over it all in a few passes.
I sighed as I sipped my beer and watched Jimmy pull up to my neighbor’s mailbox. He appeared to be having trouble putting her mail into the box and shook his head as he pulled away. I pushed out of my chair to meet him at the end of my driveway.
“Levi,” he nodded brusquely. Jimmy Cosgrove was an older man who had been delivering mail since before I was born. I’d heard him talking to Dabby many times about how he used to walk our entire township and delivered mail to the front door of each house, instead of the mailboxes on the side of the road. He preferred to walk, but since his knees bothered him now, he stuck to driving.
“Jimmy,” I called out as I approached him. When I got close enough that I didn’t have to raise my voice I spoke again, “Why don’t you bring your Jeep over to the shop after your route. I’ll look at your brakes; they sound like they are practically metal on metal now.”
“I don’t have time for that,” he answered gruffly and shoved my mail toward me.
“You know you’re doing more damage to your vehicle, right? If you don’t fix those brakes, you’re going to need more than just brake pads. By the sound of it, you’re already going to need rotors, and those are expensive.”
“Pfft, they will last another week or so. I’ll get it in to you soon enough.” He glanced back toward my neighbor’s house. “Have you seen crazy Loretta lately?”
I ground my molars. “She’s not crazy, Jimmy. She’s bipolar, there is a difference.”
His eyes bugged in his face, “She came at me with a broom because she said it was my fault that the bills kept showing up. Told me that if I didn’t stop bringing the bills, she was going to stick the broom where the sun don’t shine. Sorry, boy, but that’s crazy talk.”
“And that was over ten years ago, Levi. She’s doing much better with the medications that she is on now.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he muttered. “Anyway, have you seen her? Is she away on vacation?”
“I don’t think so. Her car is over there.” I glanced back at her old burnt-brown Buick sedan parked at the side of the house.
“Yeah, well you might want to check on her. Her mailbox is so crammed full, I won’t be able to fit another piece of mail in it come Monday.”
I frowned as I realized that I hadn’t seen her myself this last week. Usually, I’d see her come and go from her place, or hear her vehicle—which barely passed state inspection—pull onto the main road when I was at my shop, but I hadn’t this week.
I waved goodbye to Jimmy as I tried to remember the last time I’d seen Loretta. I tossed my mail carelessly onto my front porch and went to remove her mail from her mailbox. Maybe she was having a hard time with her leg, and she wasn’t getting around much. I did remember her limping not long ago.
I filled my arms with envelopes, magazines, and other assorted junk mail and, as I began to approach her tiny faded yellow ranch house, my heart began to speed up. Something wasn’t right. Suddenly, I started fearing that maybe something awful had happened to her. I climbed her front porch steps, and the loose boards on the second step creaked. I need to come tighten that for her when I do mine, I thought. Her porch also needed a good cleaning and paint job. Maybe I after I checked on her, I’d grab the paint I’d bought for my porch and paint hers.
I tried the front door, but it was locked, so I went back down the steps and around the house. This side of the house received little sun, and the muted yellow siding was covered in grit and mold. I glanced at her car. There was a sheen of dust covering every inch as if it had not been driven for weeks. That wasn’t like her. Loretta usually went out a few times a week. Granted, she was kind of a hermit, but she did go shopping and to the doctor’s, and, occasionally, I saw her at the diner talking with Dorothy, the owner.
I climbed the steps to her deck and tested the sliding glass door—unlocked. The minute I opened it, I should have stepped back and made a phone call.
Linda Maxim is a woman who learned early on how to work hard and succeed. Her only regret is that the man she loved disappeared just days after she got pregnant at the tender age of sixteen.
Fourteen years later, Ian Dugan needs a break from life and ends up crashing his vehicle and waking up in the hospital to find Linda watching over him.
Can Linda forgive Ian for leaving her alone as a pregnant teen? Will Ian be able to forgive Linda and himself when he learns of the daughter he never knew about? Find out on New Year’s Eve if Ian can erase the tears and find something to cheer about.
Jason Hayes loves working as a nurse and living in Celebration Township—or he did until Riayn Simmers showed up in town, and a secret from his past is threatened to be exposed.
Riayn Simmers is shocked to find her college love-and the man she had called a heathen-residing in the same town as her aunt. Now Riayn needs to decide if she can handle sticking around to run her aunt’s bakery, My Baked Buns.
Somehow Riayn and Jason must find a way to coexist in the small town, but what happens when Jason’s secret is exposed and he’s up to be auctioned off at the Valentine’s Day Party? Will the town believe, as Riayn once did, that Jason truly is a heathen, or will he finally win over her heart for good?
Dabby Finnegan got roped into being auctioned off for the annual Valentine’s Party, and nothing could have prepared him to face the vibrant and determined Paige Brogan. From the moment she jumps into his arms to collect her prize, his life will change.
Paige Brogan has had a crush on Dabby for a long time, and this auction is exactly what she’s been waiting for to finally catch his eye. When Paige wins a date with Dabby, the only thing she wants to do is spend the day with him working at his tavern.
As Paige and Dabby get to know one another, Dabby has a hard time understanding why this incredible woman would be interested in him. It’s when the rainbows are overhead, and green beer is flowing that Dabby finally realizes what he has and vows to never lose it.
Missy Moresco might be Celebration Police Department’s police dispatcher, but she’s also got her thumb on the pulse of the township. When FBI Agent Casper Princeton shows up in town on a case, Missy and Casper go undercover to protect the real reason he’s there by pretending they are a couple.
With Missy’s snarky comments and Casper’s quick comebacks, these two find it hard to keep a professional distance. When Casper needs to rush home to a family emergency, Missy is torn on whether it’s a good thing or a bad one. Just when she decides it doesn’t matter, Casper shows up on her doorstep with his five-year-old daughter.
Can Missy and Casper keep the fake relationship going while they wait for his case to come to a head, or will his daughter and his job come between them before Easter arrives?
Amazon ✯ B&N ✯ iTunes ✯ Kobo ✯ Goodreads
Corrine Wagner is determined to make a good life for herself and her son while hunting for the perfect man to complete her family. Unfortunately, with her crazy schedule of school and work, her patience begins to run thin with her constantly-in-trouble, five-year-old son, Tommy.
Nolan Tigues has lived across the street from Corrine his whole life—and carried a torch for her almost as long. When Nolan tries to help Corrine with Tommy, she takes it all the wrong way. She can’t believe Nolan thinks she’s a bad mom.
Can Nolan find a way to prove to Corrine that he cares about her—and about Tommy—as more than just a friend, or will Corrine push away the man who could give her everything she’s dreamed of her whole life?
Amazon ✯ B&N ✯ iTunes ✯ Kobo ✯ Goodreads
Amazon ✯ B&N ✯ iTunes ✯ Kobo ✯ Goodreads
When Sophia Thayer realized that she’d squandered her savings, she decided to take on a second job. She didn’t particularly want to dust off her four-inch dancing shoes and get back into that line of work, but she knew the money would be good, especially if she got the job at Pleasure Your Fantasies.
Amazon ✯ B&N ✯ iTunes ✯ Kobo ✯ Goodreads
Harper Reed has run her family owned Bed & Breakfast for three years, and recently turned it into a place for couples to spice up their relationships. Harper has a dream for her business and her future, but recent events might upend those romantic dreams.
When Mason Tidewater arrives at her Inn, Harper believes its fate that has brought them together. While Mason doesn’t believe in fate, things start to happen in Celebration Township that could change his mind. Unfortunately, the reason he’s here in the first place, might destroy any chance he has with Harper.
During the Memorial Day celebration Mason must decide if he’s ready for sparklers or spankings, or perhaps if fate is good, he could have both.
Scott Allen has had a thing for Sophia since he’d met her, and it wasn’t until she won him at the Valentine’s Day Bachelor Auction that he realized the feeling might be mutual. Although a relationship didn’t initially work out, Scott didn’t give up on a future with her—not until he saw her dancing on stage at a gentlemen’s club and noticed that the owner was staking a claim on her.
When Sophia realizes she’s pregnant with Scott’s child, can the two of them figure out how to move forward and raise the child together—or will her past and present career choices keep Scott from her side?
Brandy Nottingham has known Casey Lowe since high school and can’t wait to see firsthand how wonderful Casey’s life is with Thad Wagner in Celebration Township. As Brandy is introduced to some of Casey’s friends, she literally collides with a man from her past.
It’s been fourteen years since Chase Stevens held Brandy in his arms, and while the two of them clean the tray of paint they spilled on themselves, Chase is painfully reminded of how he’d been left on the pier all alone all those years ago.
As Chase and Brandy try to find a way to deal with the painful and embarrassing past, Brandy needs to decide what her future is going to be. If she were to stay in Celebration, she could lose everything she’s ever known—including her family and their money.
Could Chase be enough for her, or will he realize that he could never offer her the life to which she is accustomed?
Deklan Kelly comes from a family of well-known attorney’s, and growing up his parents told him that’s what he wanted to be, too. Privately, he wished he could spend his days sketching and painting the beauty of life instead of wheeling and dealing with dregs of humanity.
Sky Clarke hides behind the walls of her families’ home protecting women and children from abusive partners. She is devoted and passionate to her cause, and will do anything for her clients, even break the law to protect them. What she won’t do is put up with annoying attorneys.
When Sky finds Deklan innocently sketching on her property, the two of them get thrown together into a spiral of events that will keep them both on their toes.
Will Deklan finally be able to remove the mask and be the man he truly wants to be for Sky, or will she run from the passion he wants to give her because she’s afraid to remove her own mask?
Stacy Eaton is a USA Today Best Selling author and began her writing career in October of 2010. Stacy took an early retirement from law enforcement after over fifteen years of service in 2016, with her last three years in investigations and crime scene investigation to write full time.
Stacy resides in southeastern Pennsylvania with her husband, who works in law enforcement, and her teen daughter who is working toward her second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and on the choral and cheerleading squads at school. She also has a son who is currently serving in the United States Navy.
Stacy is very involved in Domestic Violence Awareness and served on the Board of Directors for her local Domestic Violence Center for three years.
No comments:
Post a Comment