Tying the knot, p.1
Tying the Knot, page 1
Tying the Knot
A Marriage of Convenience Romantic Comedy
Love on Christmas Street
Book 5
Heather Horrocks
Contents
Tying the Knot
Dedicated to the memory of my nephew,
The Happy Ending is at about 98%.
Tying the Knot
1. Time for a Change
2. The One Thing He Couldn’t Do for Her
3. Sounds Like You’re About to Start
4. Snap Out of the Funk, Woman
5. Watch Out For Bruno
6. Make Sure He Proposes Soon
7. Just How High is Your Credit Score?
8. We Need to Involve Your Mother
9. Light-Hearted and Even Mischievous
10. A Stroke of Genius
11. Do You Faint Often?
12. Risqué Lingerie
13. Tonight is for New Beginnings, Not for Endings
14. I’ll Need Help Unbuttoning This Dress
15. Our First Marital Compromise
16. 16. I Have to Wonder Where She Keeps Her Oscar
17. Good Night, Irene
18. Lori’s Masterpiece
19. You Dropped This
20. I Know Both of My Grandsons
21. Free Cupcakes and Kisses
22. Epilogue
Excerpt: Tangling the Tinsel
Recipe - Apple Pie Cupcake Recipe*
Recipe - Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe*
Thank you!
Author’s Note
About the Author
Series by Heather Horrocks
Acknowledgments
Book Club Questions
Thanks again!
Rights & Copyrights
Copyright © 2020 Heather Horrocks
Cover Art & Interior Graphics Copyrights. Licensed from istockphoto.com.
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Word Garden Press. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
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All Rights Reserved. This includes the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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Work of Fiction. This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Tying the Knot
Book Description
Marry a stranger? Who does that?!?
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Taylor Thompson’s mother is haranguing her to get married, but she’s working too hard to fund her dream—the best cupcake shop in town—to have time for romance. Nathan Fletcher’s movie star grandmother has only months left to live. Her death bed wish? To see him married before she dies. So they strike a deal—if Taylor will pretend to be his girlfriend, Nathan will fund her shop. When his excited grandmother takes over planning the wedding, they can't bear to disappoint her so they decide to go through with it—and have it annulled after Grandma’s gone. Except nothing after “I do” goes as planned. What happens when you fall in love with a stranger?
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Join Tayler on her enchanting journey in Tying the Knot, the fifth heartwarming installment in USA Today bestselling author Heather Horrocks’ beloved Love on Christmas Street series. If you adore the laughter and warmth of holiday rom-coms, reminiscent of the tales spun by Caroline Mickelson or the classic movie While You Were Sleeping, and if you crave sweet, humorous, Hallmark-esque love stories set against the backdrop of a snowy Christmas, then this enchanting series is your festive cup of cocoa. Each book in the Christmas Street series is a standalone story, interwoven with familiar, endearing characters from the uplifting universe of this series.
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There are over sixty 5-Star Reviews of Tying the Knot, including: Sweet and tender hearted story! You know it’s a great book when you get to the end and just want the story to continue! This was a fun read. Loved it.
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Warning: This book contains just-kissing sweet romance, strong friendships, a community on an enchanting street, and laughs. Come home to Christmas Street and rediscover the joy of the season's greatest gift—love mixed with laughter.
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OTHER BOOKS SET ON CHRISTMAS STREET:
1. Bah, Humbug!
2. Kissing Santa
3. The Naughty List
4. Deck the Malls
5. Tying the Knot
6. Tangling the Tinsel
7. Better Not Pout
8. The Ugliest Christmas Sweater Ever
9. Holly’s Jolly Christmas
10. Looks Like Reindeer
11. Merry and Bright
12. Home for the Holidays
Dedicated to the memory of my nephew,
Sean Samuel Barnhurst.
We miss you—and your unique gravelly voice. I’m sure you’re in heaven right now, making music and loving people, because that’s what you were so good at here.
The Happy Ending is at about 98%.
Enjoy!
In case you’re like me and want to know how close you are to the end of a book, and because there are pages that come after the end of a book (copyright, book club questions, about the author, excerpts, recipes, and—in some boxed sets—more novellas), I just want to let you know where ‘The End’ of this book is.
Tying the Knot
© 2020 Heather Horrocks
Word Garden Press
1
Time for a Change
At a Best Friend’s June Wedding
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“I do,” the bride said.
Standing beside her, maid of honor Taylor Thompson’s eyes teared up a little as her best friend, Ariel Swanson, said her vows and became Ariel Monson. She blinked furiously because she did not want her mascara to run. There were still lots of wedding pictures that would be taken at the reception, and she didn’t want to be caught looking like a raccoon in them.
Ariel had met Dr. Matthew Monson six months earlier when her Nana did some matchmaking by pretending to be sick so Ariel would come home to take care of her—thereby throwing Ariel and Dr. Monson, who was living in Nana’s garage apartment, together. It had worked.
“You may now kiss the bride,” the preacher pronounced.
That did it. Taylor choked up as she watched Ariel kiss her new husband.
When they stopped kissing, the happy couple walked down the aisle of the church.
The groom’s married brother, also his best man, held out his arm and Taylor took it. They followed the couple toward the doors leading to the lobby of the church. Outside the chapel, the best man thanked her and excused himself to find his wife and daughters to drive to the reception.
Ariel and Matthew walked between two lines of people blowing bubbles and climbed into an antique Cadillac limo, though Taylor knew the main send-off would be after the reception.
Lance found her, smiled fondly, and kissed her sweetly, almost chastely. “Where to now?”
“The reception center. It’s about ten minutes from here.”
“I’ll go get my car and pick you up at the front steps.”
“Thanks.”
She watched him go, thankful she’d found such a thoughtful guy. She may even have finally found “the one.”
Just in the moments between leaving the church and climbing in his car, she was shivering. It was 84 degrees here, but her body was used to over 100 in June. In fact, it had been 110 in Mesa, Arizona, three days ago.
When she climbed into Lance’s car, she raised her hands to catch some warm air from the vents. He was also from the Phoenix area, so he wasn’t used to the cooler weather, either, and had the heat blasting for them both. They chatted about the wedding while he drove to the Ivy House wedding venue, one block west of Trolley Square, an old trolley train station transformed into an upscale shopping plaza.
He dropped her off at the main door. “I’ll meet you inside, babe. Better get in there and handle your maid of honor duties.”
The reception area was set up like a fairy wonderland. Twinkle lights hung from the stair railing and wound amid white flower arrangements on the tables. There were numerous chandeliers lighting the large open space filled with round red-tablecloth-covered tables and ornately designed wrought-iron backed chairs. A wrought-iron spiral staircase led up to a balcony.
Shortly after, Lance joined her.
Matthew pulled off the garter from Ariel’s thigh and shot it into the crowd of groomsmen. The guy who caught it—who’d been hanging back from the rest of the guys—looked horrified, and everyone laughed.
Ariel tossed her bouquet and Taylor caught it, and she gave a shy smile to Lance. She’d met him on a dating website four months ago. He was handsome and attentive, and they seemed to like the same types of music and movies. Best of all, last week he’d mentioned marriage, not quite proposing but putting it on the table. She was cautiously hopeful.
There was cake and refreshments and dancing.
The ceremony and the setting put Taylor in a romantic mood, and she smiled up at Lance as he spun her around the dance floor.
Laughing, they headed back to their table. “Would you like some cake?
“I’d like some more cake.” She laughed.
“You got it, babe.”
She looked at the twinkle lights on the table, circling the white flowers in the center.
“May I join you?” a woman asked.
Taylor realized she’d been daydreaming. She smiled at Ariel’s Nana, Elizabeth Swanson, and motioned her to sit. “This is beautiful.”
“I’m so happy for them.” Ariel’s Nana—who had asked Taylor to call her Nana Elizabeth on prior visits and who acted as a grandmother figure to Taylor—sank into a chair and nodded happily. “Now that the good doctor is moving out of my apartment over the garage, you could move right in. You’d have the nicest landlady in the world.”
“And would you do the same matchmaking for me that you did for Ariel?” Taylor smiled.
“I can’t lie. I’d probably try. Though it looks like you’ve already found a handsome prince.”
“I hope so.” She sighed. “I think I’d better keep my apartment in Mesa. If I ever decide to move up here and freeze, though, I’ll take you up on your kind offer of housing.”
“I guess it is cooler than Arizona, even at this time of year.”
Taylor shivered in her sweater, though the others around her were dressed in summer weight clothing and didn’t seem cold at all.
A couple came to the table and hugged Nana Elizabeth.
Laughing, she turned and introduced them as Hannah and Zeke Pepper, explaining that Zeke’s family also lived on Sycamore, which was known as Christmas Street because of all the holiday decorations. Turning back to the couple, she said, “How are you doing?”
Hannah smiled sweetly and patted her flat belly. “I’m three months pregnant.”
“You’re not showing at all. But that’s to be expected with first babies.”
Cheyenne Montana—who Taylor had met last night—came up to the table, greeting everyone, then telling the other couple, “I’ve got to run and pick up Devin. I’ll bring him back for a few minutes.”
She waved as she left.
Hannah must be able to see Taylor’s confusion, because she explained, “Cheyenne is Zeke’s sister, and she’s married to Nick, who has a little boy. Devin is five and cute as a button.”
Zeke waved. “Hey, honey, there are my parents.”
Hannah said, “So glad to meet you, Taylor. See you, Nana.”
They moved off as Nana’s beau, Joseph Carter, an older doctor, sat beside Elizabeth, kissing her on the cheek, then smiled. “Good evening, Taylor.”
“Hi, Doc. Good to see you again.”
They chatted, then the older couple excused themselves to dance. Taylor scanned the room but didn’t see Lance. He’d been gone a really long time, fifteen minutes or so. Longer than it took to get cake and return.
She began circling the room, passed the table with the cake, greeted people in the crowd—friends who’d known both Ariel and Taylor in college, people she’d met here in Utah, friendly people she’d never met before asking how she knew the lucky couple.
Finally, she managed to slip through the doors and into the hall.
When she checked her phone, she saw he’d been gone thirty minutes.
Perhaps he’d gone to use the restroom?
She walked down the hallway until she reached the restrooms. A man was just coming out of the men’s, and she asked, “Would you mind stepping back in and call out for Lance Roberts?”
“Sure.” He did so and, a moment later, came out, shaking his head. “Sorry.”
“Thanks for trying.”
Anxious now, she paced farther down the hallway and past a slightly open door. Then she took a few steps back and peeked in through the barely open door.
Lance was in there.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone.
He was with a woman.
With a woman.
As in kissing a woman, and not a chaste friendly kiss, either. Their arms were wrapped around each other, hands roaming, and even some moaning involved.
“Lance?” Shocked, she pushed the door open, and the two startled apart.
Lance’s eyes widened as he saw her. “Baby, this isn’t what it looks like.”
He took a step toward her while the other woman glared at her—a wild-haired blonde with a dress cut down to there and hemmed up to there. Barely there.
Taylor raised her hands up to halt his progress. Shaking her head in disbelief, she turned away and raced back down the hall.
Behind her, Lance called out, “Taylor!”
Still shaking her head, she raced around the corner and darted into the women’s restroom.
She’d stay in here all night if she had to in order to keep from talking to her boyfriend again. Her cheating, low-life scum of a boyfriend. Former boyfriend. Dead-to-her boyfriend.
Her stomach in turmoil, adrenaline flooding her system, she swore she would never trust online dating again.
She rushed into a stall, closing the door and leaning against it, trying not to throw up. She lost that battle.
Coming out into the empty restroom, she rinsed out her mouth, and washed and dried her hands.
Staring at herself in the mirror, she said, out loud, “No more online dating. I mean it.”
The line from The Princess Bride taunted her: Anybody want a peanut?
She fought back the tears fighting to burst through. She’d never thought Lance would betray her like this.
No. Stop. She would not cry one tear over Lance.
Straightening, she decided that, not only would she give up online dating, she would give up dating in general. She had dreams to pursue, and she didn’t need a man distracting her.
Especially a cheater like Lance.
She couldn’t even stand the thought of him expecting her to ride back with him to Arizona.
She didn’t even want to be in the same state with him, wanted no risk of running into him anywhere.
Nana Elizabeth’s offer came to her mind.
The lease on her Phoenix apartment had come up three months ago and was now on a month-to-month basis, so she could easily leave that behind.
The thought brought a bubble of hope with it.
Maybe she would take Nana Swanson up on her offer, after all.
With her degree and credentials, she could get a job working in a bakery here in Salt Lake City. And, when the time came to open her own cupcake shop, she could do it right here, in Salt Lake City.
Yes. It was definitely time for a change.
2
The One Thing He Couldn’t Do for Her
Five Months Later ~ Thanksgiving Day
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“So ... are your parents coming?” Taylor asked her best friend.
Ariel slipped her cell phone into her pocket. “Two guesses.”
“I vote for no.” Taylor had known Ariel for nearly seven years, since they’d roomed in college. And in those seven years, Ariel’s parents had only come to visit her three times. They’d even missed her wedding because of an important scientific discovery in their work. Taylor’s impression of them was that they were as cool and standoffish as Ariel’s grandmother was warm and welcoming.
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