by Katy Regnery
“I remember the last Christmas your parents were alive,” he says, his voice gentle. “They were great people, Dave and Margaret.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, swallowing over a small lump in my throat. Their memory is bittersweet.
My parents died eight years ago when their private plane hit stormy weather between Nantucket and Manhattan, leaving me—just twenty-two at the time—the guardian and caregiver of my twelve-year-old sister. Because I was in grad school and didn’t feel I had the luxury of dropping out to be a full-time parent—especially since the future of Findley Imports rested upon my young shoulders—I enrolled Harry at Deerfield Academy, from which both my father and I matriculated.
“I guess you’re ready for that shot now,” says Dr. Lafferty. I open my mouth and he sticks his gloved hands inside to give me the Novocain injection. “So, how will you spend Christmas this year, Faye?”
“Uhhhh.” I wince at the weird sensation of Novocain spreading out along my gums. “I a-n’t de-ci d yeh.”
“Haven’t decided yet, eh?”
It’s remarkable to me that dentists understand garbling so well. It really is a skill.
“Well, I guess you’ve still got a week or so to figure it out.” He rubs my gums to spread the analgesic. “I watched a great show on the Travel Channel recently...all about Christmas festivals around the world. There’s one in Hyde Park I’d love to see sometime.”
“Im Lon-non o-ah New Yor?”
“London. And of course in Germany they’ve got a Christkindlmarkt in just about every city. I didn’t know, but Budapest has an enormous festival.” He gestures to his assistant. “She’s ready. Let’s get started.”
I stare up at the bright light over the dentistry chair as various instruments slide in and out of my mouth. A Christmas festival. Hmm. That’s not such a bad idea.
Our offices are closed from December 24-26 and again from December 31-January 2, and I haven’t taken a vacation in four years. While Harry’s and my Christmases aren’t super exciting, I always looked forward to having her home for a week. Being alone in my big, old house over Christmas and New Year’s sounds like Miss Havisham levels of depressing.
“In Finland, there’s a place called Santa Claus Village,” Dr. Lafferty continues. “Beautiful spot.”
“Im app-ann?”
“Uh-huh. In Lapland,” he answers, the whirr of the drill strangely soothing when it isn’t accompanied by pain. “That looked pretty cool. Ha ha. Literally. Moose. Reindeer. Snowy Nordic weather, you know?”
I close my eyes as he drills and fills, thinking about the last time I was in Finland, just a few months ago. It was to visit distilleries, however, not Santa Claus.
I’ve spent a good deal of time in Scandinavia, where some of the best vodkas in the world are made. I like Copenhagen and Stockholm especially, and briefly consider the option of spending Christmas in either, though it leaves me feeling figuratively—well, and literally, I guess—cold. I don’t speak Danish or Swedish very well, and all of my contacts in both cities are business-related, not personal friends who might include me in their holiday celebrations.
“Speaking of cold places, did you know there’s a town in Alaska called North Pole? Yep. They do a whole festival there called Christmas in Ice. Northern Lights. Santa’s house. Ha ha. Cute for the kids, I guess.”
He packs some composite on the now-cleaned cavity, then uses an ultraviolet light to harden the polymer, while I sit back and think about this.
No, I didn’t know there was a place in Alaska called North Pole, but I’m unaccountably intrigued.
“Oo oo oh whe-ah it is?”
“Yes, I do. About twenty minutes south of Fairbanks.” Again, Dr. Lafferty has mad skills with the garbling. It’s uncanny.
Twenty minutes south of...Fairbanks.
Hmm. Is it just me, or so all roads point to Fairbanks today?
Fairbanks, of North Star Distillery and North Pole fame, is also the home of a certain bachelor seeking holiday companionship.
How about Christmas in the North Pole and New Years in Fairbanks?
The question slides through my mind like the slow-motion replay of a puck sliding across the ice, and I watch the letters appear one after the other, until the question is crystal clear, and lingers, like the light of a camera flash, in my mind.
As Dr. Lafferty preps the second cavity for filling, the following internal conversation ensues:
No. I couldn’t.
Why not?
Because...I’m not that sort of woman.
The sort who has sex with strangers?
The sort who has sex with...anyone.
But perhaps, my insistent mind continues, this could be a chance to remedy that.
Virginity is not a disease, I fire back. It doesn’t require a goddamned remedy!
“How does that feel?” asks Dr. Lafferty. “Any pain?”
I’ve been so consumed with my thoughts, I’ve ignored everything else going on around me, but now I snap out of it.
“None,” I manage through numbed lips.
“Terrific,” he answers. “I’m just going to do a little smoothing and you’ll be good to go.”
“Perfect.”
“The next time you come in,” says Dr. Lafferty with a warm smile, “you’ll have to let me know what you decided to do.”
“To do?” I ask, horrified that he’s somehow overheard my conversation with myself.
“For the holidays,” he says.
PRE-ORDER A FAIRBANKS AFFAIR NOW!
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More Odds-Are-Good Stand-Alone Romances are coming this fall!
~ALL BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER~
SINGLE IN SITKA (October 7, 2019) – Thank you for reading!
When Seattle journalist Amanda heads north to Sitka to research a story, she answers the Odds Are Good personal ad of single dad Luke, hoping for some no-strings-attached fun. But could the sweet, widowed father of three—who just happens to be a smokin’-hot state trooper—turn out to be the man of her dreams?
NOME-O SEEKS JULIET (November 4, 2019) – Thank you for reading!
Upon learning that his entry in the Qimmiq Dog Race will be canceled if he doesn’t have a female teammate, Cody places an ad in the Odds Are Good magazine, desperately searching for a woman in the Lower Forty-Eight to enter the competition with him. Luckily, he recruits Montana-born Juliet, a veterinary student with an agenda of her own.
A FAIRBANKS AFFAIR (December 2, 2019) – Preorder on Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo
Tired of being treated like a freak when men discover that Faye is a thirty-year-old virgin, she answers an ad in the Odds Are Good magazine, hoping to trek up to Fairbanks over New Year’s and turn over her v-card to a sexy Alaskan. But when her chemistry with businessman Trevor turns out to be stronger than she ever could have imagined, what started out as a one-and-done mission becomes much more complicated.
MY VALDEZ VALENTINE (February 10, 2020) – Preorder on Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo
When Los Angeles lawyer Addison receives a desperate voice mail from her adventure-seeking brother, she hires Alaskan helicopter pilot Dakota (whom she finds via an ad in the Odds Are Good) to take her to her brother’s last-known location. As the two venture farther into the harsh Alaskan wilderness on a dangerous rescue mission, they quickly discover they’ll have to safeguard their lives...and their hearts.
KODIAK LUMBERJACK (April 20, 2020) – Preorder on Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo
Activist Casey has never met a cause she won’t champion, and that includes a new antiforestry initiative by the nonprofit group Trees-Are-Friends. Hired to write a smear piece about Alaskan logging operations, she answers a personal ad in the Odds Are Good, seeking an inside contact, not romance. Once she meets hot lumberjack Soren, however, she discovers that people, like causes, are often more layered than they originally appear.
from Katy Regnery
a m o d e r n f a i r y t a l e
(A collection)
The Vixen and the Vet
Never Let You Go
Ginger’s Heart
Dark Sexy Knight
Don’t Speak
Shear Heaven
Fragments of Ash
THE BLUEBERRY LANE SERIES
THE ENGLISH BROTHERS
(Blueberry Lane Books #1–7)
Breaking Up with Barrett
Falling for Fitz
Anyone but Alex
Seduced by Stratton
Wild about Weston
Kiss Me Kate
Marrying Mr. English
THE WINSLOW BROTHERS
(Blueberry Lane Books #8–11)
Bidding on Brooks
Proposing to Preston
Crazy about Cameron
Campaigning for Christopher
THE ROUSSEAUS
(Blueberry Lane Books #12–14)
Jonquils for Jax
Marry Me Mad
J.C. and the Bijoux Jolis
THE STORY SISTERS
(Blueberry Lane Books #15–17)
The Bohemian and the Businessman
The Director and Don Juan
Countdown to Midnight
THE SUMMERHAVEN SERIES
Fighting Irish
Smiling Irish
Loving Irish
Catching Irish
THE ARRANGED DUO
Arrange Me
Arrange Us
ODDS ARE GOOD SERIES
COMING FALL 2019 – SPRING 2020
Single in Sitka
Nome-o Seeks Juliet
A Fairbanks Affair
My Valdez Valentine
Kodiak Lumberjack
STAND-ALONE BOOKS:
After We Break
(a stand-alone second-chance romance)
Frosted
(a stand-alone romance novella for mature readers)
Unloved, a love story
(a stand-alone suspenseful romance)
Under the sweet-romance pen name
Katy Paige
THE LINDSTROMS
COMING FALL 2019 – WINTER 2020
Proxy Bride
Missy’s Wish
Sweet Hearts
Choose Me
Virtually Mine
Unforgettable You
My Treasure – all new!
Summer’s Winter – all new!
Under the paranormal pen name
K. P. Kelley
It’s You, Book 1
It’s You, Book 2
Under the YA pen name
Callie Henry
A Date for Hannah
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Katy Regnery started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract, and Katy’s first novel was published in September 2013.
More than forty books and three RITA® nominations later, Katy claims authorship of the multititled Blueberry Lane series, the A Modern Fairytale collection, the Summerhaven series, the Arranged duo, and several other stand-alone romances, including the critically acclaimed mainstream fiction novel Unloved, a love story.
Katy’s books are available in English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Turkish.
Check out Katy’s Website here: http://www.katyregnery.com/
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