Page 7 of Healing Hearts at the Christmas Inn
Holly's shop was thriving. Business had picked up in the fall, and she'd taken on two new restoration projects that would keep her busy well into the new year. She should have felt proud. Accomplished. Free.
Instead, she felt hollow.
The phone rang, cutting through the quiet like a blade.
Holly set down the book she was holding and crossed to the desk, glancing at the caller ID. Her breath caught.
Gabe.
She snatched up the receiver. "Gabe?"
Static crackled through the line, followed by a voice that sounded both impossibly close and a world away. "Hey, Mom. You weren’t answering your mobile phone."
Holly looked at her mobile phone on Simon’s… no, her desk. There were missed calls, and that’s when she realized the sound was still off. She quickly put it back on.
"Sorry, sweetheart, I hadn’t put the volume up." Holly sank into the desk chair, gripping the phone as if it were a lifeline. "How are you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." His voice was tired, rough around the edges in a way that made her chest ache. "Just wanted to check in. See how you're doing."
"I'm good. Really." She forced brightness into her tone, the same brightness she'd been forcing for six months now. "The shop's busy, and Trinity's doing great in school. She made the honor roll again."
"That's my girl." There was pride in his voice, but also something heavier. Something he wasn't saying.
Holly's stomach twisted. "Gabe, what's wrong?"
A pause. More static. Then, quietly, "I'm not going to make it home for Christmas again this year."
The words hit her like a punch to the gut. She closed her eyes, pressing a hand to her mouth to keep the sound from escaping.Not again. This would be the third consecutive year.
"Mom? Are you still there?" Gabe’s voice was slightly raised over the static.
"I'm here." Holly’s voice came out steadier than she felt. "It's okay, sweetheart. I understand. You're doing important work."
"I hate this." Gabe’s frustration bled through the line. "I hate being so far away. Especially now, with everything you've been going through, and Trin’s going to be so disappointed. I hate disappointing my girl."
"Don't." Holly cut him off gently. "Don't do that to yourself. I'm fine. Trinity’s fine. Trinity and I will have a wonderful Christmas, I promise."
She didn't know if she was lying or not. Christmas wasn’t going to be the same this year. Not at all!
Before Gabe could respond, Holly heard light footsteps in the hallway. She turned to see Trinity appear in the doorway, her eyes bright with hope.
"Is that Daddy?" Trinity said.
Holly's heart squeezed. She nodded and held out the phone.
Trinity practically flew across the room, grabbing the receiver with both hands. "Daddy! Hi! How are you? Where are you? When are you coming home?”
Holly watched her granddaughter's face as she listened. Watched the hope flicker and fade, replaced by a brave smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Oh. Okay. Yeah, I understand." Trinity's voice was small, careful. "No, it's okay. Really. Gran and I will be fine." She licked her lips. “We will miss you so much, though.”
Holly had to look away. She couldn’t stand the heartbreak in her granddaughter's eyes. Trinity had been through so much in her young life after having lost her mother when she was six.
She turned back to the desk, busying her hands with sorting through the drawers. Papers. Pens. A letter opener she'd given Simon for their twentieth anniversary. She set it aside without looking at it and pulled open the bottom drawer.
And there, tucked beneath a stack of old contracts, was a brochure.
Holly lifted it carefully, as though it might crumble in her hands. The cover was glossy, showing a sprawling white inn perched onthe edge of a shoreline, its balconies draped in twinkling lights. Palm trees wrapped in golden bulbs swayed in an unseen breeze, and the ocean beyond glowed with the reflection of a thousand stars.
