#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR SUSAN WIGGS INVITES YOU
TO AN UNFORGETTABLE CHRISTMAS IN THE CATSKILLSA single father who yearns to be a family man, Logan
O’Donnell is determined to create the perfect Christmas for his son, Charlie.
The entire O’Donnell clan arrives to spend the holidays in Avalon, a
postcard-pretty town on the shores of Willow Lake, a place for the family to
reconnect and rediscover the special gifts of the season.One of the guests is a newcomer to Willow Lake— Darcy
Fitzgerald. Sharp-witted, independent and intent on guarding her heart, she’s
the last person Logan can see himself falling for. And Darcy is convinced that
a relationship is the last thing she needs this Christmas.Yet between the snowy silence of the winter woods, and
toasty moments by a crackling fire, their two lonely hearts collide. The magic
of the season brings them each a gift neither ever expected—a love to last a
lifetime.
Excerpt:
Summer’s End
Logan O’Donnell stood on a platform one hundred feet in the air, preparing to
shove his ten-year-old son off the edge. A light breeze shimmered through the
canopy of trees, scattering leaves on the forest floor far below. A zip line
cable, slender as a thread in a spider’s web, hung between the tree platforms,
waiting. Below, Meerskill Falls crashed down a rocky gorge.
“There’s no way I’m going off this.” Logan’s son, Charlie, drew his
shoulders up until they practically touched the edge of his helmet.
“Come on,” Logan said. “You told me you’d do it. The other kids
had a ball. They’re all waiting for you on the other side, and I heard a rumor
about a bag of Cheetos being passed around.”
“I changed my mind.” Charlie set his jaw in a way that was all too
familiar to Logan. “No way. No W-A-Y-F.”
Logan knew the shtick, but he went along with it. “There’s no F in way, dude.”
“That’s right. There’s no effin’ way I’m going off this thing.”
“Aw, Charlie. It’s almost like flying. You like to fly, right?” Of
course he did. Charlie’s stepfather was a pilot, after all. Logan crushed the
thought. There were few things more depressing than thinking about the fact
that your kid had a stepfather, even if the stepfather was an okay guy.
Fortunately for Charlie, he’d ended up with a good one. But it was still
depressing.
Charlie spent every summer with Logan. During the school year, he lived with
his mom and stepfather in Oklahoma, a million miles away from Logan’s home in
upstate New York. It sucked, living that far from his kid. Being without
Charlie was like missing a limb.
When he did have his son with him, Logan tried to make the most of their time
together. He planned the entire season around Charlie, and that included
working as a volunteer counselor at Camp Kioga, helping out with the summer
program for local kids and inner-city kids on scholarship. The zip line over
Meerskill Falls was a new installation, and had already become everyone’s
favorite feature. Nearly everyone.
“Hey, it’s the last day of camp. Your last chance to try the zip
line.”
Charlie dragged in a shaky breath. He eyed the harness, made of stout webbing
and metal buckles. “It looked really fun until I started thinking about
actually doing it.”
“Remember how you used to be scared to jump off the dock into Willow Lake?
And then you did it and it was awesome.”
“Hel-Zo. The landing was a lot different,” Charlie pointed out.
“You’re going to love it. Trust me on this.” Logan patted the top of
Charlie’s helmet. “Look at all the safety features on this thing. The
harness, the clips, the secondary ropes. There’s not one thing that can go
wrong.”
“Yo, Charlie,” shouted a kid on the opposite platform. “Go for
it!”
The encouragement came from Andre, Charlie’s best friend. The two had been
inseparable all summer long, and if anyone could talk Charlie into something,
it was Andre. He was one of the city kids in the program. He lived in a
low-income project in the Bronx, and for Andre, it had been a summer of
firsts—his first train trip, his first visit upstate to Ulster County, where
Camp Kioga nestled on the north shore of Willow Lake. His first time to sleep
in a cabin, see wildlife up close, swim and paddle in a pristine lake…and tell
ghost stories around a campfire with his buddies. Logan liked the fact that at
camp, all the kids were equal, no matter what their background.
“I kind of want to do it,” Charlie said.
“Up to you, buddy. You saw how it’s done. You just stand on the edge and
take one step forward.”
Charlie fell silent. He stared at the waterfall cascading down the rocky gorge.
The fine spray from the rushing cataract cooled the air.
“Hey, buddy,” Logan said, wondering about his son’s faraway
expression. “What’s on your mind?”
“I miss Blake,” he said, his voice barely audible over the rush of
the falls. “When I go back to Mom’s, Blake won’t be there anymore.”
Logan’s heart went out to the kid. Blake had been Charlie’s beloved dog, a
little brown terrier who had lived to a ripe old age. At the start of summer,
she’d passed away. Apparently Charlie was dreading his return to his mom’s
dogless house.
“I don’t blame you,” Logan said, “but you were lucky to have
Blake as your best friend for a long time.”
Charlie stared at the planks of the platform. “Yeah.” He didn’t sound
convinced.
“It sucks, losing a dog,” Logan admitted. “No way around it.
That’s why we’re not getting one. Hurts too bad when you have to say
goodbye.”
“Yeah,” Charlie said again. “But I still like having a
dog.”
“Tell me something nice about Blake,” Logan said.
“I never needed an alarm to get up for school in the morning. She’d just
come into my room and burrow under the covers, like a rabbit, and she’d squirm
until I got up.” He smiled, just a little. “She got old and quiet and
gentle. And then she couldn’t jump up on the bed anymore, so I had to lift
her.”
“I bet you were really gentle with her.”
He nodded. After another silence, he said, “Dad?”
“Yeah, bud?”
“I kinda want another dog.”
Aw, jeez. Logan patted him on the
shoulder. “You can talk to your mom about it tomorrow, when you see
her.” Yeah,, he thought. Let Charlie’s mom deal with the mess and
inconvenience of a dog.
“Okay,” said Charlie. “But, Dad?”
“Yeah, buddy?”
“Kids were telling ghost stories in the cabin last night,” he said,
picking at a thread in the webbing of his harness.
“You’re at summer camp. Kids are supposed to tell ghost stories.”
“Andre told the one about these people who committed suicide by jumping
off a cliff above the falls.”
“I’ve heard that story. Goes way back to the 1920s.”
“Yeah, well, the ghosts are still around.”
“They won’t mess with the zip line.”
“How do you know?”
Logan pointed to the group of kids and counselors on the distant platform.
“They all got across, no problem. You saw them.” The other campers
appeared to be having the time of their lives, eating Cheetos and acting like Tarzan.
“Show me again, Dad,” said Charlie. “I want to see you do
it.”
“Sure, buddy.” Logan clipped Charlie to the safety cable and himself
to the pulleys. “You’re gonna love it.” With a grin, he stepped off
the platform into thin air, giving Charlie the thumbs-up sign with his free
hand.
His son stood on the platform, his arms folded, his face screwed into an
expression of skepticism. Logan tipped himself upside down, a crazy perspective
for watching the waterfall below, crashing against the rocks. How could any kid
not like this?
When Logan was young, he would have loved having a dad who would take him
zip-lining, a dad who knew the difference between fun and frivolity, a dad who
encouraged rather than demanded.
He landed with an exaggerated flourish on the opposite platform. Paige
Albertson, cocounselor of the group, pointed at Charlie. “Aren’t you
forgetting something?”
“Oh yeah, my only son. Oops.”
“Why is he staying over there?” asked Rufus, one of the kids.
“I bet he’s scared,” said another kid.
Logan ignored them. On the opposite platform, Charlie looked very small and
alone. Vulnerable.
“Everything all right?” Paige put her hand on Logan’s arm.
Paige had a crush on him. Logan knew this. He even wished he felt the same way,
because she was great. She was a kindergarten teacher during the school year
and a Camp Kioga volunteer during the summer. She had the all-American
cheerleader looks, the bubbly, uncomplicated personality that most guys
couldn’t resist. She was exactly the kind of girl his parents would want for
him—pretty, stable, from a good family.
Could be that was the reason he wasn’t feeling it for her.
“He’s balking,” said Logan. “And he feels really bad about it. I
thought he’d love zip-lining.”
“It’s not for everybody,” Paige pointed out. “And remember, if
he doesn’t go for it, the world won’t come to an end.”
“Good point.” Logan saluted her and jumped off, crossing back to the
platform on the other side, where Charlie waited. The zipping sound of the
pulley and cable sang in his ears. Damn, this never got old.
“Just like Spider-Man,” he said as he came in for a landing. “I
swear, it’s the coolest thing ever.”
Charlie shuffled across the wooden planks of the platform. Logan reached for
the clips to attach him to the pulley. “That’s gonna be one small step for
Charlie,” he intoned, “one giant leap for—”
“Dad, hang on a second,” Charlie said, shrinking back. “I
changed my mind again.”
Logan studied his son’s posture: the hunched shoulders, the knees that were
literally shaking. “Seriously?”
“Unhook me.” Beneath the helmet, Charlie’s face was pale, his green
eyes haunted and wide.
“It’s okay to change your mind,” Logan said, “but I don’t want
you to have any regrets. Remember, we talked about regrets.”
“When you have a chance to do something and then you don’t do it and later
on you wish you had,” Charlie muttered.
Which pretty much summed up Logan’s assessment of his marriage.
“Yep,” he said. “At the farewell dinner tonight, are you going
to wish you’d done the zip line?”
Logan unhitched himself. Charlie studied the cables and pulleys with a look of
yearning on his face. Okay, Logan admitted to himself, it bugged him that
Charlie had conquered the jump off the dock with his mom, but Logan couldn’t
get him to push past his fear of the zip line. He had a flashing urge to grab
the kid, strap him in and shove him off the platform, just to get him past his
hesitation.
Then he remembered his own pushy father: get in there and fight. Don’t
be a chickenshit. Al O’Donnell had been a blustering, bossy,
demanding dad. Logan had grown up resenting the hell out of him in a tense
relationship that even now was full of turmoil.
The moment Charlie was born, Logan had made a vow. He would never be that dad.
“All right, buddy,” he said, forcing cheerfulness into his tone.
“Maybe another time. Let’s climb down together.”
The final dinner of summer at Camp Kioga was served banquet-style in the
massive dining hall of the main pavilion. There was a spaghetti feed with all
the trimmings—garlic bread, a salad bar, watermelon, ice cream. Awards would be
given, songs sung, jokes told, tributes offered and farewells spoken.
The families of the campers were invited to the event. Parents arrived, eager
to reunite with their kids and hear about their summer.
A sense of tradition hung like the painted paddles and colorful woven blankets
on the walls. The old Catskills camp had been in operation since the 1920s.
People as far back as Logan’s grandparents remembered with nostalgia the
childhood summers they’d spent in the draughty timber-and-stone cabins,
swimming in the clear, cold waters of Willow Lake, boating in the summer sun
each day, sitting around the campfire and telling stories at night. In a
hundred years, the traditions had scarcely changed.
But the kids had. Back in the era of the Great Camps, places like Camp Kioga
had been a playground for the ultrawealthy—Vanderbilts, Asters, Roosevelts.
These days, the campers were a more diverse bunch. This summer’s group included
kids of Hollywood power brokers and Manhattan tycoons, recording artists and
star athletes, alongside kids from the projects of the inner city and downriver
industrial towns.
The organizers of the city kids program, Sonnet and Zach Alger, pulled out all
the stops for the end of summer party. In addition to the banquet, there would
be a performance by Jezebel, a hip-hop artist who had starred in a hit reality
TV series. The show had been filmed at Camp Kioga, chronicling the efforts of
the outspoken star to work with youngsters in the program.
Tonight, the only cameras present belonged to proud parents and grandparents.
Charlie was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, because he knew
he was getting a swimming award. Andre was next to him as they took their seats
at their assigned banquet table.
Paige, who stood nearby, handing out table assignments, leaned over and said,
“Those two are such a great pair. I bet they’re going to miss each other
now that summer’s over.”
“Yeah, it’d be nice if they could stay in touch. Tricky, though, with
Andre in the city and Charlie off to an air force base in Oklahoma.”
“Must be hard for you, too.”
“I can’t even tell you. But…we deal. I’ll see him at Thanksgiving, and
he’s mine—all mine—for Christmas.”
At the moment, Christmas seemed light-years away. Logan wondered how the hell
he’d keep himself busy after Charlie left. He had his work, a thriving
insurance business he’d founded in the nearby town of Avalon. If he was being
honest with himself, he was bored stiff with the work, even though he liked
helping friends and neighbors and made a good living at it.
Initially, the whole point of setting up a business in Avalon had been to
enable him to live close to Charlie.
Now that Charlie’s mom had remarried and moved away, Logan was starting to
think about making a change. A big change.
His sister India arrived to join in the festivities, and Logan excused himself
to say hi. Her twin boys, Fisher and Goose, had spent the summer here. Charlie
had had a great time with his two cousins, who lived on Long Island, where
India and her husband ran an art gallery.
Red-haired like Logan and Charlie both, and dressed in flowing silks unlike anybody, India rushed over to her
twin sons, practically in tears.
“I missed you guys so much,” she said, gathering them against her.
“Did you have a good time at camp?”
“The best,” said Fisher.
“We made you some stuff,” said Goose.
“Real ugly jewelry, and we’re gonna make you wear it,” Fisher told
her.
“If you made it, then I’m sure it’s beautiful,” she said.
“Uncle Logan taught us how to light farts.”
“That’s my baby brother,” India said. “Now, you need no
introduction, but I’ll introduce you, anyway.” She indicated the woman
behind her. “Darcy, this is my brother, who probably needs to be sent to
the naughty corner, but instead, he’s a volunteer counselor.”
“And head fart lighter,” said the woman, sticking out her hand.
“I’m Darcy Fitzgerald.”
He took her hand, liking her straightforward expression. She had dark hair done
in a messy ponytail and a direct, brown-eyed gaze. Her hand felt small but
firm, and she had a quirky smile. For no reason Logan could name, he felt a
subtle nudge of interest.
“Are you here to pick up a kid?” he asked her. “Which one
belongs to you?”
“None, thank God,” she said with a shudder.
“Allergies?” Logan asked.
“Something like that.”
“Then you came to the wrong place.” He gestured around the dining
hall, swarming with excited, hungry kids. To him, it was a vision of paradise.
He liked kids. He liked big, loud, loving families. It was the tragedy of his
life that he was restricted to summers and holidays with his only child.
“Except for one thing,” said Darcy, turning toward the dais where the
band was setting up. “I’m a huge Jezebel fan.”
“You must be. We’re a long way from anywhere.”
She nodded. “I came along for the ride with India when she invited me to
pick up her boys. Thought it would be nice to get out to the countryside for a
weekend.”
“So you live in the city?” he asked.
“In SoHo. I didn’t have anything thing else going on this weekend. Yes,
I’m that pathetic friend everybody feels sorry for, all alone and getting over
a broken heart.” She spoke lightly, but he detected a serious note in her
tone.
“Oh, sorry. About the broken heart. Glad to hear you’re getting over
it.”
“Thanks,” she said. “It takes time. That’s what people keep
telling me. I keep looking for distractions. But hearts are funny that way.
They don’t let you lie, even to yourself.”
“Not for long, anyway. Anything I can do to help?” He instantly regretted
the offer. He had no idea what to do about someone else’s broken heart.
“I’ll spare you the details.”
Good.
*******************************************************************************
About the author: Susan Wiggs’s life is all about family, friends…and
fiction. She’s been featured in the national media, including NPR’s Talk of the
Nation, and is a popular speaker locally and nationally.
From the very start, her writings have illuminated the everyday dramas of ordinary
people. At the age of eight, she self-published her first novel, entitled
“A Book About Some Bad Kids.”
Today, she is an international best-selling, award-winning author, with
millions of copies of her books in print in numerous countries. Her recent
novel, Marrying Daisy Bellamy, took the #1 spot on the New York Times
Bestseller List, and The Lakeshore Chronicles have won readers’ hearts around
the globe. Her books celebrate the power of love, the timeless bonds of family
and the fascinating nuances of human nature.
She lives with her husband and family at the water’s edge on an island in the
Pacific Northwest, where she divides her time between sleeping and waking.
For more information, you can visit Susan’s website, her facebook page or find her on twitter.
Buy the book at:
/ Barnes & Noble / Indie Bound / Books-a-Million / Walmart
ISBN: 9780778314745 (hardcover)
Publication date:
October 29, 2013
