Page 24 of Merry Little Hate Notes

Holly caught my eye. “Did they confirm?”

“For Monday.” I smiled.

Holly clenched her fists and swallowed hard.

I was sure she wasn’t looking forward to spending the day with me. I, on the other hand, couldn’t wait.

Dad clapped his hands together. “This is excellent news. Artemis will be our biggest account this year if you can close it.”

“We will,” I assured Dad while heading for the door, hoping to stave off any more antics from my parents. Surely Dad would see how important it was for us to focus on our work and not on these shenanigans.

“Wait.” Mom put a stop to our exit. “We need to get a picture of you two together.”

“That’s okay,” Holly was the first to voice her disagreement. She tried to make a run back to the bathroom to retrieve her things.

Mom wasn’t having it. She grabbed Holly’s hand. “Please stay.” Her lip quivered along with her words.

Holly’s eyes widened, alarmed by my mother’s intensity. Yet she made no more attempts to flee.

“Life is too short to spend it running away,” Mom cautioned gently with love.

If I wasn’t mistaken, I saw tears forming in Holly’s eyes.

Mom’s words got to me, too. We all knew how life could get cut short without a moment’s notice.

“I know Christian wouldn’t want this for either of you. You were his best friends. Might I even say you were best friends, too?”

Those words left Holly awestruck, but she didn’t disagree.

It gave me some hope. Aside from Christian, I missed Holly’s friendship more than anything. But Mom didn’t understand how adamantly Christian had demanded I stay away from Holly—I wasn’t sure this situation would be to his liking.

“So, both of you come here and smile for Christian.” Mom was wickedly good. Too good.

I found myself obeying her, even if I could hear Christian’s voice in my mind yelling at me to keep my eyes to myself where his sister was concerned. Little did he know that was a promise I’d never been able to keep.

Mom pulled us together with the subtlety of a wrecking ball. “Look how cute you look together! This reminds me of all the pictures I have of you tubing down the hill in the neighborhood. Such wonderful memories,” Mom choked out before stepping back and pulling her phone out of the pocket of her long cardigan. “Brandon, put your arm around Holly.”

Those words made Holly stiffen like a three-day-old corpse.

When I hesitated for Holly’s sake, Mom sighed. “Oh, come on. You’re both adults now.”

Not sure how that made it better. It only meant I had some adult thoughts about touching Holly.

“Hurry and play along so we can get this over with,” Holly gritted out under her breath like it tortured her to stand so close to me.

I hesitated, not because I wasn’t interested in touching Holly—I was more than eager to do so—but because I knew she hated me, and knowing my touch would be unwelcome put a damper on it. It wasn’t something I just wanted to get over with. I wanted it to be a start to something.

But for the sake of getting out of there before Mom did anything else to embarrass me, I placed my arm around Holly. My hand landed securely at the curve of her waist, causing her to draw in a huge intakeof air, followed by shallow breaths that I could feel pulsing under my touch. My hand had been here before, and my fingers longed to own the curve and guide her body to press against mine. I wanted to gaze into her eyes again and feel her velvet lips on my own. What I wouldn’t do to repeat those five minutes when I’d given in to my desire to know exactly how Holly tasted and felt. Those minutes were some of the best of my life. And they were gone too soon, just like I knew this moment would be.

“I can’t tell you how happy this makes me,” Mom about cried. “You two look so precious together. Now smile.”

I smiled on cue, unsure whether Holly would do the same.

Mom took several pictures from different angles, beaming all the while.

With each snap, Holly relaxed a little, allowing my fingers to press more snugly against her waist.

Unfortunately, she realized she’d let her guard down and pulled away from me, blinking rapidly in a daze.

---