Josie Day Is Coming Home

by Lisa Plumley

  She remembered what TJ had said, the stories he’d shared about “Link.” She remembered knowing, with certainty, that she owed Luke more than her usual dodge-and-run routine. More than “pulling a Josie.” Which was why she was here today. Why she was coming back, really, for the first time in all her life.

  Luke laughed, and Josie felt herself drawn toward him. Gathering her courage, she squared her shoulders and started walking. Groups of people parted as she moved between them, her gaze fixed on the man she loved…on the man she’d arranged every moment of this occasion for.

  Hazily, she wondered why he wasn’t confused by the crowds descending on his estate. Why he wasn’t befuddled that his lawn, his house, and his impromptu “parking lot” overflowed with Donovan’s Corner residents. But then Luke glanced up and saw her. All rational thought fled, chased by the significance of knowing there was no backing out now.

  Surprise registered on his features. His gaze zipped over her halter top, her sexy pink pants, her wedgies. It had been a long time since she’d worn them. As though he’d only just realized that fact, Luke let his gaze linger on her rainbow shoes. A grin kicked up the corner of his mouth.

  His attention swerved to her face.

  Oh, wow. She’d forgotten the impact of having Luke completely focused on her. All at once, Josie felt as though everyone else on the lawn faded away…as though someone had pressed a gigantic mute button. All that remained was Luke. And her. And her clumsy, trembling, embarrassingly damp palms.

  “Hey,” he said when she reached him.

  His voice, deep and beloved and familiar, reached all the way inside her. It easily found every lonesome, missing-him molecule Josie had tried to push aside. Faced with Luke, here, now, pushing aside anything—least of all her feelings—was downright impossible.

  His smile widened. “You came.”

  Was it her imagination, or did he look relieved? She couldn’t imagine why that would be, but…oh, wow. Luke touched her hand, tentatively interlaced their fingers, gave her a gentle tug—a tug that clearly communicated I want you…but coming closer is up to you.

  Heart hammering, Josie bravely stepped nearer. At her movement, Luke definitely looked relieved. If she hadn’t known better, she’d have sworn he was the one who’d planned a surprise for today.

  “Of course I came.”

  She had no idea how she managed to string those words together. Her head reverberated with a chant of Luke, Luke, Luke. Her hands still hadn’t quit shaking. Her knees wobbled. She figured she could pass off her hot, blushing cheeks as a sunburn. Or maybe the result of an overzealous application of her Cover Girl Wild Raspberry Cheekers. But the overall meaning of those symptoms was unmistakable.

  This meant the world to her. Luke meant the world to her. That was all there was to it. On the verge of telling him so, Josie was stopped by the strange expression on his face. He looked…nervous?

  “Josie, I’m sorry,” he blurted. Roughly. Sincerely. “Things got out of hand with Blue Moon. I know it’s no excuse, but I never meant to hurt you. You’ve got to understand that. To believe it. I—”

  “No, I’m sorry!” she interrupted, squeezing his hand. “I should never have cut and run like that. I know you. I should have known you had a reason, a good reason, for everything.”

  It wasn’t enough. Not enough to make up for hurting him, for not believing in him. Contrite, Josie shook her head.

  “I want to make it up to you,” Luke said seriously. “That’s why…this. All this.”

  He released her hand and opened his arms wide, indicating the throngs of people. All the hullabaloo.

  She didn’t get it. “Huh?”

  “They’re your new dance school students. That’s why everyone’s here, for a grand opening sign-up party.” Beaming, Luke swerved his gaze to her face. “What do you think of that?”

  Grand opening? Dance school students?

  Stunned, Josie could only gape. She looked at the people, at the running children, at the—holy cow, how had she missed that?—nearby booth labeled dance school sign-ups. She looked at Luke’s proud, happy expression. His hopeful expression.

  “I think they’re all here for you,” she told him. Despite all evidence to the contrary, there was no way her plans were going AWOL. She just wouldn’t allow it. Stubbornly, she insisted. “They’re here for your auction. To bid on Blue Moon. Luke, I arranged it all for you. You’re going to get your mechanic’s shop!”

  This time it was Luke’s turn to gawk. Frowning in confusion, he took in the wine drinkers, the men in business suits, the photocopied auction flyers being passed from hand to hand. He noticed the arrival of Nancy Day with a suspiciously official-looking man by her side. He tilted his head and reexamined Josie.

  She bounced on tiptoes on those crazy shoes of hers. Her hair looked fiery red and loose, her eyes bright with excitement. Her sexed-up pants lured his attention again.

  Resolutely, Luke fought against succumbing. Something important was going on here. Something almost as big as finding Josie by his side again.

  They’re here for your auction. You’re going to get your mechanic’s shop.

  Still bopping, she nudged him. “Aren’t you happy?”

  “Happy?” He looked at her, with her warm smile and her just-Josie va-va-voom look. He remembered the way she’d felt in his arms, the way she’d laughed and danced and pushed him to work when he’d almost given up trying. He thought about loving her…and about losing her. “Absolutely. I’m happy.”

  It was true. With Josie by his side, Luke didn’t need anything more. He didn’t need to prove anything, didn’t need to rebel, didn’t need a trust fund or a fancy car or a state-of-the-art mechanic’s shop that would prove his dad wrong. All he needed, all he wanted, was Josie. Forever.

  “Me, too,” she said. “I’m happy. Now.”

  “It’s a good thing you came today,” Luke observed, reaching for her hand again. “You would have missed all…this.”

  She grinned. “Whatever ‘this’ is.”

  Drawn jointly to the confusion surrounding them, Luke and Josie both frowned. Clearly they’d somehow planned concurrent events, both at Blue Moon. An auction and a dance school grand opening. But how…?

  A nearby titter caught his attention. His suspicions growing, Luke sought out the source of that sound. He found it almost instantly. His aunt stood nearby, flanked by Ambrose and Jenna and Nancy, along with TJ the clown. Tallulah clutched a wineglass, looking fit to burst.

  “Gotcha!” she yelled. “This’ll teach you to break up on my watch!”

  “Ah.” Josie nodded. “Tallulah. I should have known.”

  “Me, too.”

  They looked at each other. Then, simultaneously, he and Josie shrugged. It didn’t matter how they’d gotten to this place, Luke reasoned. Only that they had.

  “Now go, you two.” Tallulah made pushing motions with her arms, an enormous grin on her face. “Go and be in love.”

  “Wait a minute.” Robert Donovan stepped forward. Wearing a stern look, he crossed his arms. “I think giving the familial seal of approval is my job.”

  Josie gasped. “That’s your dad!”

  Luke couldn’t believe it. “How did you know?”

  “Identical machismo. Carbon copy bad attitude.” She peered closer. “Matching devastating good looks.”

  For the first time, his father grinned. “I like her, son.”

  But Josie wasn’t acquiescing so easily. She stepped forward, spine straight and proud.

  “You might want to hold off on forming an opinion, Mr. Donovan. I have a bone to pick with you.”

  Bemused, his father raised his brow. “You do?”

  “I do!” Josie announced. “Starting with the terrible way you’ve treated your son.”

  “Josie!” Luke had to stop her. Nobody went up against Robert “the Crusher” Donovan—not his board members, not his employees…no one. No one except Luke. And look at the price he’d paid.

&nb
sp; But Josie only shook off his restraining hand. “For your information, Mr. Donovan—”

  “Call me Bob-O. Everyone’s doing it.”

  Luke gawked. Bob-O? What the…?

  TJ chortled. Ah-hah. That explained it.

  “For your information, your son is very talented,” Josie said. “He’s an excellent mechanic. Ask anybody. They’ll tell you. I don’t know why you can’t be proud of him for that, but you’d better get ready to change your ways. Because once he auctions off Blue Moon and gets that mechanic’s shop he wants—”

  “Josie—”

  “Hang on, Luke. I’m on a roll.” She shot him a loving glance, then tackled his father again. “He’ll be a huge success. A huge success! You just wait and—”

  “Josie,” Luke interrupted again. “I’m not auctioning off Blue Moon.”

  She stopped. Wheeled around, mouth agape.

  “I decided to keep the estate,” he explained, needing to make her understand. “So I can give it to you. For your dance school. It’s yours.”

  “Luke, no…” she breathed. “You can’t.”

  “I want to,” he said. This wasn’t the way he’d planned this revelation—with half the town looking on and the other half dribbling mustard and ‘kraut on his lawn. But if this was what it took to have Josie in his life, this was what he’d do.

  “That’s what this whole day is about,” Luke explained. “To give you Blue Moon. To give you a chance to become a Rockette.”

  Looking confused, Josie tilted her head.

  Nearby, Nancy Day grinned.

  “The estate is yours,” Luke said, cutting to the chase. “And so are these students.”

  He wanted to smile, to deliver the news with a flourish. But as he gazed into Josie’s eyes, as he prepared to make the final part of his offer, Luke discovered this felt too important for that. Too crucial to his future. Swallowing hard, he went on.

  “The only question now is…. Will you stay to teach them?”

  “Oh! Oh, Luke….”

  “Will you stay,” he continued doggedly, “to be with me?”

  She brought her hands to her mouth, looking stunned. Her eyes glimmered with unshed tears. As far as Luke was concerned, that was a bad sign. A sign that needed to be dealt with and eradicated.

  “I love you,” he said. “Pretty much, I’ve loved you since the moment you sashayed onto my lawn and took over my house. I love your smile and your courage and your jokes. I love the way you dance when you think I’m not looking. I love your crazy shoes and your false eyelashes and I love the way you feel in my arms. I know I can never be happy again unless you’re beside me.”

  Josie gave a small cry. Luke stopped. Oh, crap. Now she wept openly, gulping for air like the goldfish Luke had owned when he was ten. The one he’d killed with kindness by feeding it too many stinky fish flakes.

  “I love you. I love you, and I’ll never lie to you again,” he blurted, desperate to make her understand. Casting around for proof, he said, “I’ll tell you if your pants make your butt look too big. I’ll tell you if I don’t want you to eat my French fries after you order a salad for lunch. I’ll—”

  “Shhh.” Blinking away her tears, Josie put her palm against his lips. “Quit it before you promise something really radical, like giving up Monday Night Football.”

  “Mmmmph,” he protested against her hand.

  She smiled. “I take that to mean you’d do that, too.”

  “Whoa,” TJ said. “That’s what I call true love.”

  There were murmurs of agreement from everyone else. But Josie only went on gazing into Luke’s eyes, looking beautiful and beloved and exactly like everything he’d always wanted. She drew in a breath and blinked again.

  “Well. I’ve only got one thing to say to that.”

  Luke pulled away her hand. “What?”

  “It goes like this.” Josie smiled. “Knock, knock.”

  This time, he smiled, too. “Who’s there?”

  “I love.”

  “I love who?”

  “I love you and no one else!” Jubilantly, she flung her arms around him and kissed him. “I love you more than anything, Luke. More than dancing. More than Ding Dongs. More”—she paused for emphasis, her eyes sparkling—“than my Swiffer Duster.”

  “Now that’s saying something.”

  “You bet your life, it is.”

  Tallulah whooped. Ambrose hollered right beside her. Everyone else looked on and smiled. Warren Day hugged Nancy close. He volunteered the opinion that he’d known all along “the kids” were perfect for each other. TJ agreed.

  But Luke didn’t care who was watching, and he didn’t care who took credit. Because an instant later Josie kissed him again, and he could feel her love in every sigh, in every glance, in every brush of her lips against his. That was all he needed.

  That, and a few good knock-knock jokes.

  For the rest of his life.

  “There’s only one more thing,” Josie announced.

  Luke raised his brows in question.

  “We have to share everything,” she specified. “Everything, like Blue Moon. We can live in the main house together. You can expand the carriage house for your mechanic’s shop, right? I mean, your Harley-riding friends already said you’d have all the business you could handle.”

  She gazed at him in all seriousness. In that moment, Luke loved her more than ever—just for believing in him.

  Before he could agree, though, his father butted in.

  “That shop of yours is a fine setup,” Robert Donovan said. “It’d be a shame to waste it.”

  He stepped forward, an unfamiliar caring in his expression. He looked straight at Luke. In his eyes, Luke glimpsed all the pride, all the respect, all the love he’d ever hoped to receive from his father. The realization left him too shook up to speak. Naturally, the same couldn’t be said of Robert Donovan.

  “I was never opposed to your having a mechanic’s shop, son. TJ will tell you that. I only wanted to make sure it was really what you wanted to do. Not a knee-jerk rebellious decision you’d regret later on.”

  Nudged by that comment, Luke flashed on what TJ had said.

  Make sure Luke’s okay. Damn. His dad really did care.

  Saving Luke from speaking around the sudden knot in his throat, Josie stepped forward. She regarded Robert Donovan solemnly, shaking her head with sham regret.

  “Oh, Bob-O,” she said. “We never make knee-jerk rebellious decisions around here.”

  At that, half the crowd guffawed.

  Luke laughed, too. Now that he had the woman he loved, his family and friends, and his father by his side, he felt unstoppable.

  “No knee-jerk rebellious decisions, huh?” He gazed into Josie’s upturned face, unable to hold back an answering smile. “What do you call all this, then?”

  Securely and dazzlingly herself, she studied the expectant crowd.

  “I call it a party!” she yelled. “Woo-hoo!”

  Grabbing his arm, she tangoed them both across the lawn.

  Just as Luke might have predicted, Donovan’s Corner fell in step right behind them. Because when it came to dancing—just like when it came to true love—all anybody really needed was the courage to get started…and a really good partner to try out the moves with. After that, it was mostly a matter of keeping the rhythm.

  From the Author

  Thank you for reading this book! If you enjoyed it, I hope you’ll share your enthusiasm by writing a review online, posting about this story on your blog, Facebook page, or Twitter account, or just telling your friends.

  If you’re curious about my other books, please visit my Web site at www.lisaplumley.com, where you can read first-chapter excerpts from all my books, sign up for my new-book reminder service, catch sneak previews of my upcoming books, request special reader freebies, and more.

  You can also follow me on Twitter, like my official Facebook page, or circle me on Google+. I’d love to connect with you!
/>
  Best wishes,

  Lisa Plumley

  Like connected stories? Look for Lisa’s series romances!

  “Perfect” series

  Perfect Together (2003)

  Perfect Switch (2004)

  Kismet Christmas series *

  Home for the Holidays (2008)

  Holiday Affair (2010)

  Together for Christmas (2012)

  All He Wants For Christmas (2014)

  Morrow Creek series

  The Matchmaker (2003)

  The Scoundrel (2006)

  The Rascal (2006)

  “Marriage at Morrow Creek” in the anthology Hallowe’en Husbands (2008)

  Mail-Order Groom (2010)

  The Bride Raffle (2011)

  Wanton in the West (short-story/e-book exclusive) (2011)

  “Something Borrowed, Something True” in the anthology Weddings Under a Western Sky (2012)

  The Honor-Bound Gambler (2013)

  Notorious in the West (2014)

  Morrow Creek Runaway (2015)

  All of Lisa’s series books stand alone and can be read in any order. Remember, you can also visit Lisa’s RomanceWiki page to view a list of books in the “Perfect,” Kismet Christmas, and Morrow Creek series in reverse order (most recently published first).

  *Note: So Irresistible is a prequel to Together for Christmas, but is not part of the Kismet Christmas series.

  Praise for the novels of Lisa Plumley

  ALL HE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS

  “Fourth in the Kismet Christmas series, All He Wants for Christmas is the perfect combination of naughty and nice. The Christmas spirit in a small town paired with steamy hot romance will satisfy all fans of contemporary romance this season. The witty banter will have readers laughing, and the sexy interludes will delight.” —Romantic Times (4 stars!)

  “In the charming fourth contemporary set in Kismet, Mich., (after Together for Christmas), a charismatic CEO falls unexpectedly for a store manager. Jason and Danielle have incredible chemistry—and very different ambitions that might drive them apart. Plumley paints a beautiful portrait of a town where the holiday spirit is felt all year round and gives readers warm glimpses of the couples from previous stories.” —Publishers Weekly