Page 3 of The Holiday

“Oh, come on,” Harlow argues. “You two are totally defined.” Athena shoots her a warning look. “Sorry.”

Ella turns to Harlow. “Your sister may have love in her life in the coming year, dear, but you have success. You’re working on a project right now, yes?”

Harlow’s cheeks pinken. “Yes,” she admits. “I am.”

“Well, I’m not sure what it is, but I see something good happening for you.”

“I’m so thrilled that both of my girls have good things coming their way,” Ruby says. “I worry about both of you.” She looks at their young faces as they sit there in Ella’s tiny room. “You’re both so magical to me, and I think you can do anything—be anything—you want to. I believe in you.”

“Mom,” Athena says, reaching out to take Ruby’s hand. “We love you. We want good things for you, too.”

Ella’s eyes darken slightly as she looks at Ruby. “Ruby. My darling girl.” Ella stops talking and laces her hands together as she closes her eyes. “You have created such a beautiful life for yourself here on the island, and we’re all so thrilled to have you here.”

Something in the way Ella is speaking raises the hair on Ruby’s arms; she isn’t sure why it feels like there’s a “but” in there somewhere.

“The foreseeable future is full of laughter, love, and happiness. I think the bookstore will do remarkably well?—“

“The bookstore?” Ruby frowns. She didn’t open the bookstore with any plans to make great money, and it’s only ever been a passion project. She loves it and is willing to keep putting money into it indefinitely because of the joy it brings her, butremarkably well? That seems like a stretch.

The citrusy smoke from the candle tickles Ruby’s nostrils and she puts a finger under her nose to ward off a sneeze.

“Yes,” Ella goes on. “The bookstore.”

“How about things with Dexter?” Ruby ventures. She’s almost hesitant to ask questions about her love life—after all, she isn’t even a full and true believer in psychics—but she’s also a little iffy on discussing her romantic life in front of her daughters. But the girls are grown women, she reasons, so she waits to hear what Ella will say.

“Dexter is a solid and permanent fixture in your life,” Ella says carefully. “He does and will continue to bring you the kind of security that you need. His love and support are integral to your future.”

Ruby shakes her head. “That feels so…vague. Do you think he wants to move here? Get married?”

Harlow and Athena’s heads volley back and forth as they look between their mom and Ella, waiting eagerly to hear the answer.

“I think he’s open to anything that you want to consider,” Ella says. She presses her lips into a smile and gives Ruby a long, searching look. “He’ll be there for whatever you need him to be there for.”

These answers frustrate Ruby slightly and she slaps both of her thighs. “Okay,” she says, nodding. “Thanks, Ella. I think that gives us an idea of what we have coming our way.” She looks at Athena. “We’ve got love.” Her eyes flicker over to Harlow. “And success.” Ruby pauses. “And I’ve got the bookstore and a man who will do whatever I want him to do.” She blinks a few times as the words cross her lips. “Actually, that doesn’t sound too bad when I say it out loud.”

“It’s not,” Ella assures her. She’s still watching Ruby closely. “Nothing wrong with books and a good looking man.”

Ruby can’t argue with this, but she’s still not entirely satisfied. She pays Ella for the reading while the girls pick out necklaces and earrings to send to friends in New York and Washington D.C. as Christmas gifts, but her mind is elsewhere as she hands over her Visa card. Of course she loves knowing that Dexter is a permanent fixture in her life, but a part of her wanted to hear that she was about to embark on a year of sheer bliss. That they were on the cusp of a wild, romantic ride. That he was going to tell her over the holidays that he’d sold everything and was ready to stay on Shipwreck Key and write his books from the guest room of her house forever.

But maybe those kinds of things are outside the purview of a psychic anyway, Ruby thinks.Maybe going to someone else and asking them to project into your future is a long-shot even under the best of circumstances.

"Hey, Mom?" Harlow says once they're back outside on Seadog Lane, standing there in the bright winter sun. "Want to get an iced coffee?"

Athena is already walking towards The Scuttlebutt with an eager look on her face. "Oooh, yes. I could follow up a psychic reading with an iced latte, hands down."

Ruby smiles at her girls absentmindedly, her thoughts still lingering on the way Ella had eyed her carefully as she predicted her immediate future. "Of course," she says, following them into the coffee shop. "Let's do it."

Heather

Heather Charleton-Bicks is in love. Again. She's known Dave Hutchens since the previous New Year's Eve when they'd met on Christmas Key, and she's pretty sure he's the one. Or rather, she's pretty sure he's thenewone.

"Soooo," Marigold Pim says, sitting in the pedicure chair next to Heather's. "You want to marry this guy?"

Heather looks out the window of the Bodacious Booty Salon and out at Seadog Lane, watching as Ruby and her daughters step out of Doubloons and Full Moons. "I think so."

"Okay." Marigold sounds unconvinced. "Tell me why this guy makes you want to take the plunge again."

Heather feels dreamy just picturing Dave's face. He's tall, distinguished, older--an absolute prerequisite for her, and a fact that makes her dating life the butt of many jokes amongst her female friends--and he treats her like a queen. That's been the common thread in each of Heather's first five marriages: an older man who acts like a gentleman and treats her like gold. Someone who understands that a woman of valor is a true gem, and that she's worth coddling and caring for. Certainly a therapist could spend time unwinding Heather's relationship with her own father and come up with some sort of hard nugget at the center of her attraction to older men, but she's not terribly interested in any of that. She likes what she likes, and what she likes now is Dave Hutchens.

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