Restore My Heart: Pittsburgh Connections, #3

By LaVerne St. George

Christmas miracles don't happen.

Sally Myers is no fan of the holidays or of working-class men like her father who abandoned her, leaving her broken-hearted before she knew what whole-hearted felt like. From this rocky start, Sally has built a successful professional life and guards her heart against romance and love.

Now she has to work with appealing newcomer Jeff Campbell, a traveling craftsman who restores vintage carousels, just the wrong type of guy for her. In the hours of striving together to meet holiday deadlines, Jeff reveals himself to be both attentive and trustworthy. Maybe he could be the right man for her after all.

Longing to believe in the miracle of Jeff's love, Sally drops her guard. When he leaves for his next project, her biggest fear is that he'll never come back.

A delightful Christmas romance novella. FINALIST for The National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Book Romances
• Release date: Jul 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9780996977814

LaVerne St. George

First there were crayon drawings in grade school, then books of space travel, mysteries and espionage. I've always carried stories in my head and written them down. In college, my aunt sent me a box of books, including Kathleen Woodiwiss' "The Flame and the Flower". I caught Romance fever and never looked back. Now with several books and awards to my credit, I continue to write and promote books that lift the Spirit. When I'm not writing, I enjoy needlework, bird watching, traveling, and jigsaw puzzles. I'm an avid fan of romance in all its variety, and my favorite diversion is a well-written book with a happy ending.

Book preview

Title Page

RESTORE MY HEART

Pittsburgh Connections

- Book 3 -

A Christmas Connection

by

LAVERNE ST. GEORGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dear Reader

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Author’s Notes

A Love He Can Trust (excerpt)

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Sweet Contemporary Romance by LaVerne St. George

Contemporary Inspirational Romance by LaVerne St. George

About the Author

Dear Reader

If you’ve read Carousel Magic, then welcome back to the town of Westview, New York, whose amusement park has seen hard times but is getting a big lift from a Pittsburgh businessman and a carousel restoration. For those of you jumping in mid-series, never fear, I’ve made sure this story stands quite well on its own.

In creating the fictional town of Westview, I used my memories of growing up in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania and enjoying my hometown park and a vintage carousel that found its new home, strangely enough, in New York.

For some of us, the Christmas season is not greeting card perfect, nor does it hold bright and shiny memories. Sally and Jeff have had their share of holiday heartache, but they’re hoping they can make this year different by spending it together. That and a little mistletoe may make all the difference.

No matter what memories the holidays hold for you, my wish is that you have someone or will discover someone who will celebrate with you, be that a friend, relative, or a new acquaintance. Together, may you look forward to the season with a renewed sense of hope and wonder.

Here’s to chocolate kisses in all our stockings!

LaVerne St. George

CHAPTER ONE

The Wood Man Arrives

Barely aware of her actions, Sally Myers guided her compact car over the snow-sprinkled gravel in the parking lot of the Rocky Rapids Amusement Park. She automatically went through her parking routine — stop the heater, flick off the running lights and wipers, turn the key to Off. The engine fell silent. She sat back in the seat, looked out the car window at the bare trees glistening with frost, and shook her head.

Clueless. The woman was absolutely clueless.

Just before Ginger had driven off this morning to spend some time adoring her new infant nephew in Buffalo, she had thrown Sally a baffled look.

No, really? You think Tom likes me? I don’t know, Sal. All we do is argue over the carousel.

Ginger Fairchild was mayor of their town of Westview, New York, and a great accountant. Bright. Good with people.

Sally sighed and shook her head again. Her best friend was clueless.

Sure, Ginger’s arguments with the new owner of Rocky Rapids had fed the gossip circles for weeks. Keep the vintage merry-go-round, Ginger suggested, and invest in its renovation. Scrap history and stick with a profit-maker, Tom countered, and replace it with a video game arcade.

Firmly on Ginger’s side, the Friends of Rocky Rapids focused on raising money for the historic amusement park tucked among the hills on the east side of town. Fundraising, however, didn’t stop the members from observing and commenting on the budding romance between Mayor Fairchild and Thomas Martin.

And Carole Ferguson, the Friends’ treasurer, waggled her eyebrows and kept repeating that arguing was just another name for ... well, you know.

Sally knew Ginger considered the discussions just part of the routine as she and Tom worked together to bring the old park back to life, but their interactions had affected Tom in a way Ginger had never imagined. Tom was so struck with her and her arguments, he was having the vintage carousel completely restored to the tune of... Sally couldn’t even speculate how much money Tom was laying out for the work on thirty hand-carved horses, eighteen other sundry animals, two chariot seats, one covered pavilion, and one Wurlitzer band organ.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a partridge in a pear tree showed up in the menagerie, Sally thought as her mouth curved up.

If that wasn’t Like with a capital L, she would eat her very long, very warm, knitted scarf. It could even be the other four-letter L-word, but she wasn’t prepared to go there yet. That direction led to fairyland, and Sally had her feet planted firmly in the real world.

She checked her watch. Time was flying. Vincent, the managing pharmacist at Callahan’s, had told her to take a longer lunch break to do this, but she needed to get back and finish her afternoon shift. Better get inside and see if the carousel man was settling in.

Grateful for her sensible work shoes, Sally made her way across the slippery gravel to the path winding through a stand of trees, their bare branches clicking in the wind. She scurried through the chill air past the miniature golf course and headed for the barn-like structure just ahead. At the top of a small rise, Sally slowed then stopped.

Her gaze slid down the hill past broad trees, concession stands, and the entrance to KiddieLand. At the end of the wide paved walk stood the carousel pavilion, its steepled roof sparkling with snow. Underneath the massive roof and shut up behind its twelve wooden sides, the magical merry-go-round created by the Dentzel company in the early 1900s lay unmoving and silent. Tom’s plan was to move the carousel from the pavilion up the hill to the old dance hall... before Ginger returned from Buffalo.

Surprise, Sally whispered. He definitely likes her.

As president of the Friends and knowing this gift would thrill her best friend, Sally had volunteered to coordinate the effort. Which included meeting with the carousel guy who would supervise the actual move.

She focused on the building to her right and stepped onto the sidewalk leading to the double doors. Like everything else in the park, the old dance hall — soon-to-be home of the old carousel and its restoration — could use a coat of paint, but Tom had called in a structural engineer who had approved the building for its new use. As the lopsided, hand-lettered sign outside now proclaimed, the building was Campbell’s Carousel Works.

A brief chuckle escaped her.

A tad presumptuous for a man leaving in just a few weeks.

Even as her internal reality check expressed its opinion, Sally’s heartbeat kicked up a notch. The emails and texts appearing on her screen for the last two weeks reflected a man who knew his business and enjoyed his work immensely. Now she would meet him in person.

She reached the heavy double doors, dragged one side open, and slipped into the warmth. In the cavernous room measuring about three basketball courts, Sally felt a bit overwhelmed. She had read the dimensions and visited twice, but somehow the expanse always intimidated her. She hoped Jefferson Campbell of Campbell Carousel Works had a plan to fill it.

The door slammed behind her. Sally cringed, and the man standing in the middle of the room whirled to face her. And stopped.

She recognized him from his picture on the website. More broad-shouldered than she had imagined from the photo, but there was no mistaking the coppery hair topping a face of strong features and fair skin. Nice body, too, she noted. In faded jeans, a plaid flannel shirt, and down vest, he looked like what he was — a man who made his living working with his hands.

She walked across the empty space toward him then hesitated. He wasn’t moving. He just stood there. Looking at her. Huh.

She hesitated another moment then moved to stand in front of him, pulled off her gloves, and held out her hand. Jeff Campbell, I presume?

He blinked once, coughed, then the stunned look on his face dissolved into a grin.

You presumed right. Good to finally meet you in the flesh, Sally.

His hand engulfed hers in a firm grip. As she felt the rough surface of his palm, an image of stepdad number three flooded in. Harvey, the