Secret Billionaire Returns on Christmas novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Basket Night
On New Year's Eve, the church pantry stood open all day, and it had no lock.
A new sign hung over the door, painted by the candle seller in careful red letters.
THE HAZEL REICHERT BASKET FUND.
Hazel had cried when she saw it, and then told the painter the H was crooked.
By five o'clock the fellowship hall was loud with the sound of a town packing boxes.
There were a hundred and forty names in the green ledger.
For the first time in seven years, every one had a tick beside it.
The veteran in his cap read out the addresses.
The barber taped lids.
The boy from the diner stood on a chair with a marker and wrote a name on every box in letters that leaned downhill.
Reichert Hardware had a banner in its window now that said FUND STORE.
The pastor had sat with two lawyers on Tuesday.
The shelves inside were selling at honest prices, to pay back what Dale owed.
Dale himself had signed a statement for the state.
He was staying with a cousin two counties away, waiting to be called.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Secret Billionaire Returns on Christmas are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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