Page 51 of Holly and Nick Hate Christmas
Then awhooshsounded through the air vents. Warm air filled the room. Chloe and Olivia cheered, effectively saving me from responding. I blinked to clear my eyes.
“What do you know?” Kat smirked. “They actually pulled it off.” Then she shot Olivia a look, clearly remembering her recent admonition. “I mean, great job, those gentlemen of ours.”
Male voices sounded from below. Nick’s laugh echoed over the other voices, tightening the knot in my stomach.
Heart racing, I stood and gathered my art supplies. Time to go distribute these chains in Nick’s room and forget about being rejected.
Being angry was so much easier than being sad.
Point Bluff was obsessed with trees—or maybe that was just the Sinclairs. Apparently, if the family wasn’t decorating a tree or chopping one down from their own forest, they were bundling up to watch one light up downtown.
But at least there would be coffee.
Nick tapped his foot as he waited in line at the crowded coffee shop, the aroma of freshly ground beans tempting his nose. He never had gotten a cup earlier, and now a mild headache throbbed at the base of his neck.
He tried and mostly failed to ignore Holly twirl-dancing with Janie near the holiday-themed reusable cups, their plaid scarves swinging along with them. Mason stood to the side of the shop with his mom and grandmother, hands stuffed in the pockets of his oversized hoodie as he stared with a frown at a poster of Santa on the wall. The rest of the Sinclair family had stayed outside, begging off coffee in exchange for hot chocolate from the high school fundraising tent strategically situated near the still unlit tree.
Nick shifted his weight as the person in front of him ordered a white mocha with red and green sprinkles.Come on, come on.Rockefeller Center couldn’t have matched the level of energy Point Bluff created as they waited for this decorated spruce to light up. It was like Nick had gotten sucked into a Hallmark movie. Though he couldn’t know for sure as he’d never seen one, but he’d seen enough social media reels to get the gist, and this whole event, from the dogs wearing matching Christmas sweaters with their owners, to volunteers ringing bells next to shiny red kettles, to Bublé pulsing through the buzzy outdoor speakers, felt very Hallmark-y.
“Next!” The college-aged barista with green eyeliner and snowman earrings snapped her gum as he moved up in line. “What can I get you?”
Redemption was near. Nick smiled back, finally able to mean it now. “Espresso. Double shot, please.”
Dark eyebrows shot toward an equally dark hairline. “You sure?”
He set the package of chocolate-covered coffee beans he’d been considering on the counter and tapped them. “Positive.”
The younger woman glanced at her watch, then dipped her chin pointedly at him.
He raised his eyebrows.
She angled her wrist toward him, as if he wasn’t wearing his own watchandcarrying a cellphone that shone the time in big block numbers. “It’s almost 8p.m.”
“I know.”
“That’s a lot of caffeine.” She shrugged one shoulder. “Just saying.”
He could have sworn Holly muffled a laugh, but he refused to give her the dignity of a glance to confirm. “Listen, Ms….”
She cracked her gum again. “Brailyn.”
“Ms. Brailyn.” Nick braced himself on the counter, leaning over the coffee beans. The package crackled under his forearms. “I know what time it is. But doyouknow what time I woke up today?”
She shook her head, her blue eyes guarded.
“The crack of dawn. And do you knowhowI was woken up?”
She shook her head again.
He leaned closer. “By a giant snowman threatening me.”
Brailyn’s pierced lip rolled in. “Oh.”
Holly was definitely snorting now. He didn’t care anymore, so long as he got the double shot.
“I was assaulted by Christmas music and deprived of caffeine.” Nick held eye contact until wariness replaced the judgment on Brailyn’s young face. “Then I was sent to the basement.”
Brailyn paused. Squinted. “I could make it a triple.”
