Page 18 of A Holly Brown Christmas
He looked ready to argue but seemed to reconsider.
“I know it would just be easier for you to put the kibosh on the whole thing, but I truly feel like this is important. I’m more than willing to do most of the work! Just…please consider it, Lucas. Please.”
And that was all she was going to say about it. It was now officially out of her hands. She refused to be a bully, and she didn’t know him well enough to keep arguing with him.
No matter how much she wanted to.
Instead, she stood and walked over to where Shmoop was wandering around in the fenced doggie area. He was sniffing around and completely oblivious to all the anxiety she was feeling.
Behind her, she heard Lucas get to his feet and then heard the sliding glass doors open and then close. The loud and weary sigh was out before she could stop it. For the last few days, she genuinely believed she was going to pull this off and not only save the Christmas party, but possibly save the Brooks family as well.
And maybe a teeny tiny part of her believed that Lucas was going to fall in love with her.
Okay, probably more than a teeny tiny part of her.
In her mind, the party was going to be an amazing success, everyone was going to be wowed, his parents were going to reunite, and then he would kiss her under the mistletoe and tell her that he was madly in love with her.
“Ugh, clearly I watch too many Hallmark Christmas movies,” she murmured before unlatching the gate and letting Shmoop out. “Come on, boy. It’s time to go home.”
She had already cleaned up the dinner dishes while Lucas was on the phone with his mother, so all she needed to do was gather up her Crock-Pot and Shmoop’s bowl and carrier and be on her way.
Just thinking about never coming back here or having time alone with Lucas was devastating, but…she’d survive.
“And now I can be depressed about the holidays too.”
That wasn’t completely true. Her family always had a wildly festive time for Christmas and all through the new year. It would be a pleasant distraction, but in the back of her mind, Holly knew she’d be thinking about Lucas and his family and all that could have been.
Shmoop sat down beside her, tilting his head as he looked up at her. “It just wasn’t meant to be,” she whispered. “We need to go home.” Reaching down, she scratched behind his ear the way she knew he loved and then nodded toward the sliding doors. “Let’s go.”
When they stepped back inside the house, she didn’t see Lucas anywhere and fought off a wave of disappointment.
And annoyance, because…well…that was rude. The least he could do was wait for her and walk her out instead of making her wander around alone. It was on the tip of her tongue to call him a jerk, but she wasn’t feeling it.
She was halfway to the stairs when she heard, “Oh, good! You came back in!”
Turning, she saw Lucas standing in a doorway in the far corner of the family room area. She looked at him quizzically, but before she could ask any questions, he was already speaking.
“I found more decorations! Come check them out!” Then he disappeared back through the doorway, missing the look of pure joy—and relief—on her face.
It was ridiculous that he was caving and doing this, but Holly had a point. He did need this. But not for his parents or the company—for himself.
Sure, it would be easy to just say no and have a completely peaceful, serene holiday season. It’s the kind of thing he loved. However, the thought of the house not being decorated and just looking like it did every other day of the year was more unappealing than he would have thought.
So here he was in one of their storage rooms, pillaging through the multitude of boxes of decorations.
The dog came wandering in with Holly not far behind. Her blue eyes were wide with wonder.
“Oh my goodness! I think this room is bigger than my entire house too!” The laugh she let out sounded a little nervous, but she kept walking around. “What else did you find?”
“Tons of boxes of decorations for the interior of the house—bows, garland, statues, a nativity scene, the train, and the rest of the village. Then there’s an entire stack of boxes of ornaments, and four twelve-foot trees.”
“Seriously? That’s awesome!”
He nodded before raking a hand through his hair. “Yeah. We always had two trees down here, one in the living room, and another up in the bonus room.”
“That’s right! I was so focused on the giant tree in the entryway that I forgot about the other ones!” She peeked in one of the boxes with part of the train set in it before moving on. “And the bonus room? I don’t think I’ve ever heard it called that.”
Another nod. “On the floor with all the bedrooms, there’s a large living room area that we just call the bonus room. That was how my mother referred to it, but some call it a flex space.” He shrugged. “I also found a smaller tree that I’m going to use in the guesthouse.”
