Stranded in the Woods Read online

  Stranded in the Woods

  Holiday Acres, Book Three

  Noelle Adams

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Noelle Adams. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About Stranded in the Woods

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Stranded for Christmas

  About Noelle Adams

  About Stranded in the Woods

  A SURPRISE SNOWSTORM. A grumpy recluse. One very hot night.

  When Penny Holiday gets stranded during a snowstorm, she has to seek refuge with Kent Matheson, a childhood friend who lives like a hermit and has never forgiven her family. Kent is everything she shouldn’t want, but feelings are awakened in his cabin in the woods that don’t disappear when the snow finally melts.

  One

  PENNY HOLIDAY WAS FRAZZLED.

  It wasn’t an unusual feeling for her.

  Her three sisters seemed to glide through life with the world falling into place around them in an orderly fashion, but Penny had never been able to organize herself. Her room and her art studio were always cluttered. Her hair was always flying out in all directions no matter how she tried to tame it every morning. Her makeup and jewelry were usually half-done because something would distract her before she finished dressing.

  And she was always running a few minutes late.

  Today was no exception.

  It was a week before Christmas, so it was the busiest time of the year at Holiday Acres, her family’s business that included a sprawling tree farm, an enormous Christmas store, and a dozen charming vacation cottages. Today they were trying to finalize plans for an upcoming wedding in the picturesque barn they used for events, as well as handle the overwhelming wave of customers at the store and coffee shop.

  Penny wasn’t much help with any of that since they’d learned years ago that her gifts didn’t include corralling customers or anything that involved planning, paperwork, or maintaining a schedule. Since she was the only one of the Holiday sisters who was at all artistic, she consulted on the aesthetics of the store displays and the events they hosted at Holiday Acres, but most of her time was spent finding the best local arts and crafts to stock in the Christmas store.

  Today she was supposed to visit Sheila Blankenship, who carved nativity scenes that were so popular they usually sold out before October. The Holiday Acres property was just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, and Sheila lived about forty minutes away, so it should be an easy trip.

  At least it would have been an easy trip if Penny could ever get out the door.

  She’d been running around since she’d woken up at eight that morning, she still hadn’t eaten lunch, she wore only one earring, and she couldn’t remember if she’d taken Raven, her springer spaniel, out to do her business.

  Plus it had started to snow an hour or two ago.

  She was pulling on her boots and coat to take her dog outside, just in case she’d forgotten earlier, but instead of getting moving, she found herself thinking back on a memory from fourteen years ago when she’d been a finalist in a countywide art contest.

  She’d entered a woodland landscape painting in the age thirteen-to-sixteen category—the best painting she’d ever done at that point in her life. As she’d been getting ready to leave for the contest ceremony to find out if she’d won, she’d been just as frazzled as she felt right now.

  She’d been running around, looking for one of the earrings she wanted to wear, when Kent Matheson had arrived to wish her good luck.

  Kent was a year older than her, but their fathers were best friends and the families had been close all her life. There were three Matheson boys, and Kent was the oldest.

  Kent had always been her favorite. He liked art almost as much as she did.

  He’d grinned as he found her searching the couch cushions for her missing earring. “Is there a killer spider in there you’re hunting?” he asked.

  She scowled at him over her shoulder. “No, there’s not a spider. I lost one of my earrings, and I can’t find it anywhere.”

  “So wear another pair.”

  “I don’t want to wear another pair. I want to wear this pair.” She gave up on the couch and went to the sunroom, where she did most of her drawing and painting. She scanned the floor for a flash of gold and sparkling beads.

  Kent followed her into the sunroom. “When did you last have it?”

  “If I could remember when I last had it, I’d know where to look. But I can’t remember!” Her voice turned into almost a wail on the last word.

  “Hey, hey, hey. It’s not a crisis, is it?” Kent was quite a bit taller than she was, and he had a comfortable, rounded face. A baby face, she privately called it, although she’d never say that out loud to him. His thick brown hair had a lot of a curl in it, and his amber eyes were just like his father’s and brothers’. She liked how he looked, but he wasn’t one of the popular guys at school. He was bigger and stronger than almost everyone, and he did well at sports by virtue of his size. But he had a quiet, almost retreating personality, and he kept to himself a lot.

  Penny was a lot more popular than he was. People called her “bubbly,” and she tried to be nice to everyone, even the kids no one else talked to. But she still liked Kent more than almost anyone else.

  “It feels like a crisis,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “I wanted to wear these earrings.” She held up the other earring—long streams of beads dangling from a gold ball.

  “So we’ll find it.”

  “I’ve looked in my bedroom, the living room, and in here. Where else could it be?”

  “You’re always taking off your earrings on the way home from school,” Kent said. “I find them in my truck all the time. Did you check the van?”

  “Oh.” She blinked, beaming at him as she processed the suggestion. “Good idea! Let’s look.”

  She hurried, and Kent followed at a more leisurely pace. She checked under one of the bucket seats in the middle of the van where she always sat, and she immediately saw the glitter of beads. “It’s here!”

  Kent chuckled as she wiped off the hook with the bottom of her shirt and then slid it into her ear. “There,” she said, smoothing down her rumpled hair and her long dark red broomstick skirt. “Do I look gorgeous?”

  Kent’s eyes ran up and down her body, and he gave a nod. “You look great.”

  She appreciated the words, although she could tell from his face that he wasn’t blown away by her appearance.

  She hadn’t expected him to be.

  She figured she was pretty enough but not as pretty as her three sisters. There were four Holiday girls, ranging from age eleven to seventeen. She knew how people in town tended to tell them apart.

  Laura was the freckled one.

  Olivia was the pretty one.

  Rebecca was the blond one.

  And Penny was the chubby one.

  Most of the time she didn’t mind. She liked her face and her skin and her eyes and her smile, and she didn’t mind her body except in the summer when she had to wear swimsuits. She was good at art, and she had tons of friends.

  But h
igh school guys weren’t interested in her.

  She’d never looked at Kent as anything but a friend. She currently had a crush on a very cute new boy in her class who’d just moved to town. But if Kent had suddenly shown some interest in her, she could have easily changed her tune.

  He wasn’t likely to ever look at her as anything but the frazzled girl who liked art as much as he did, and Penny was happy with that. She was just glad he was in her life.

  “You want me to drive you?” Kent asked, gesturing toward the pickup truck he’d gotten a few months ago. He’d joked that his dad had gotten it for him so Kent could chauffeur his brothers around now that he was sixteen and his dad wouldn’t have to be bothered anymore.

  Kent might have been making a joke, but Penny wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t exactly what happened.

  She might complain sometimes that her dad worked all the time, but at least he was around. Kent’s father spent most of his days at work and his nights at a local bar.

  Penny realized Kent was waiting for a response. “Oh. No. Thanks. Mom and Dad and Laura and Olivia and Rebecca are coming, so we’re all going together.”

  Kent’s expression was oddly wistful as he nodded. “That’s nice. That they’re all going.”

  “They’re all really excited about it. They keep saying I’m going to win.”

  “Well, you should win. I’ve seen all the other paintings, and yours is way better.”

  “Thanks, but I’m not convinced.” She paused. “You should have entered too.”

  Kent glanced away with a dismissive gesture of his big hand. “Eh.”

  She frowned. “You could have entered that painting you did last month of the plane landing in the sunset. You would have given me a run for my money.”

  “Eh.”

  “Stop saying eh. Tell me why you didn’t enter.”

  Kent met her eyes again for a moment before he dropped his gaze. He shifted from foot to foot, and she realized that he was embarrassed about something.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  He cleared his throat. “Dad wouldn’t pay the entry fee.”

  Her heart clenched painfully. “Oh.”

  “It’s fine. I don’t really care about a contest, and you would have won anyway. It’s fine.”

  “Couldn’t you have used the money you get from mowing lawns?”

  “Yeah, but Scott’s birthday is next week. I want to buy him something good. It might be... It might be the only present he gets. Dad doesn’t usually remember birthdays, even when I remind him.”

  Penny raised a hand to her chest to cover her heart, which was hurting even more now. Her eyes burned slightly. “Oh no, Kent.”

  “It’s fine. I’d rather see you win the contest, and I can get Scott a new model car to put together.”

  She reached out to put a hand on Kent’s arm. She was standing close to him, and she had to tilt her head up all the way to see his face. He was so much taller than her. Big and strong and gentle. Gentler than any guy she’d ever known. “You’re a really good brother,” she whispered, still feeling like she might start to cry.

  “I have to be.” Kent’s voice was gravelly, like he was emotional too. “Since Dad won’t be a dad. I’m not going to be like him. I’m never going to be like him.”

  He was so intense that Penny was momentarily speechless. She was used to Kent being quiet and companionable. Not intense like this.

  “So that’s why I didn’t enter,” Kent said, slightly stiff as if he was suddenly as uncomfortable as she was.

  She could tell he wanted things to go back to normal between them, so she did her best to sound casual. “That makes sense. And Scott’s going to have at least two presents since we’re getting him a model car too.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Of course we are. You guys are like family.”

  “He’ll like that.” Kent was smiling now.

  “Are you ready, Penny?” her mother’s voice called out from the doorway of the house. “We’re leaving in three minutes.”

  “I’ll be ready!” The confidence in Penny’s words wasn’t entirely warranted since she still needed to fix her hair and find her purse.

  Kent’s expression had gone back to normal, and he smiled at her again. “I’ll see you over there then.”

  “Okay. See you.”

  Penny was waving at Kent as she ran back into the house to fix her hair.

  She was feeling frazzled again.

  THE MEMORY FROM FOURTEEN years ago had hit Penny unexpectedly and left her feeling heavy.

  Maybe Kent was still that gentle giant she remembered growing up, but she would have no way of knowing. He didn’t talk to her anymore.

  She was still pulling herself together from the emotions of the memory when her oldest sister, Laura, walked by with a clipboard in hand.

  “I thought you were going to Sheila’s,” Laura said.

  Laura was taller than Penny and also a lot slimmer. She had freckles, and her eyes were brown rather than Penny’s gray blue. Penny’s hair was long, auburn, and currently slipping out of the sleek, low ponytail she’d attempted that morning.

  “I am.” Penny struggled with the zipper on her boots. She was in decent shape, but she still had a lot of curves, and those curves included her legs. It wasn’t always easy to zip her tall boots up over her calves, especially with the thick leggings she wore today.

  “Weren’t you supposed to leave an hour ago?”

  “Yes, but I had things come up.” Penny blew her hair out of her face. “I’ll text Sheila and tell her I’m running late.”

  “If you’re going to go, you need to leave soon. The snow is coming down hard now.”

  “Is it?” Penny knew it was snowing but hadn’t had time to investigate beyond that. “I’m sure it will be fine.”

  “Maybe you should just postpone.”

  “Why should I postpone? I’ll take the pickup truck. It’ll be fine.”

  “Okay. Just be careful. Focus on driving and not on some artistic vision you’re creating in your mind.”

  Penny rolled her eyes, although she was smiling. “I’m twenty-nine, and you’re just two years older than me. Bossing me around isn’t necessary anymore.”

  “Hey, I’m the oldest. I’m always going to boss. Plus the roads really aren’t good out there.”

  “I’ll be careful, and I’ll stop if they get too bad. I promise.” Since Penny had her boots zipped at last, she stood up, smoothing down her colorful tunic top and her long red belted sweater. “How’s the wedding stuff coming?”

  “Fine. Carla and her mother just left so they could get out of here before the snow gets any worse. I’ve got to leave right now to check something at the Candy Cane Cottage and then pick up Tommy from his piano lessons.”

  Laura was a single mother of a six-year-old boy. She was the only one of the Holiday sisters who’d had a child. Their youngest sister had just gotten engaged, however, and Penny wouldn’t be surprised if Rebecca and Phil started having babies in the next year or two, which would mean more nieces or nephews.

  “Okay,” Penny said. “So if you’re driving out in the snow, you need to be careful too.”

  “I’m always careful.” Laura was wearing her efficient look, which meant she had already mentally begun whatever task she was about to tackle, but she paused and glanced back with a twist of her mouth. “Did you see Scott is here?”

  “No!” Penny clasped her hands together in excitement. “Does Olivia know?”

  “She’s having to take him to look at the Mistletoe Cottage.” Laura snickered. “She’s so mad about it.”

  “No sign of her admitting that she’s into him yet?”

  “Not yet. She’s still convinced she hates him. Talk about blind.”

  Penny started to say that Olivia wasn’t the only one who had feelings for a man that she wouldn’t admit to since it was perfectly obvious that there was something unspoken going on between Laura and a certain man of her o
wn, but Penny stopped herself from saying it.

  Laura would get upset about it, and Penny tried not to upset people if she could help it.

  Instead, she laughed and gave Raven a pet on the head since the dog had run over panting to silently admonish her for taking so long in getting outside. “It won’t be long before Olivia figures it out. I’ve got a feeling.”

  “You and your feelings.”

  “My feelings are usually right. You know that.”

  “They are sometimes, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to put my faith in your random psychic twinges.”

  “They’re not psychic twinges. It’s intuition. It’s a real thing, and just remember seven years ago when I had the strongest feeling that you should come out and have fun with us on a Saturday night when you wanted to stay in and work.”

  “Yeah. Your intuition was right on the money. I got drunk and ended up screwing an asshole. Good times.”

  “And you got pregnant with Tommy!”

  Laura’s face changed, and she reached out to squeeze Penny’s arm. “I know that. Tommy is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I know he wouldn’t have happened without your feelings. I’m just teasing you.”

  Penny relaxed and reached out to hug her sister. She only had a few seconds before Laura pulled away.

  Laura wasn’t a touchy-feeling person like Penny was.

  “I’ve got to leave now to pick up Tommy before the snow gets worse,” Laura said in her normal practical tone. “You be careful.”

  “I will. I’m leaving as soon as I take Raven out.”

  Laura was out the door before Penny even got the words said.

  As she was walking outside, Penny discovered her second earring, which she must have stuck in her pocket at some point during the morning. She wore platinum studs all the time, but she had second holes that she liked to switch out to match her outfit. Today her second earrings were tastefully beaded snowflakes, handmade by one of her favorite jewelry makers.

  Smiling as she found the earring, she paused to admire the craftsmanship for a minute and then put it into her ear before she finally got Raven outside.