Page 45 of Wounded Christmas Wolf
“So are you saying he’s stalking you after you broke up, what, fifteen years ago? That’s delusional.”
Holly shook her head and gave Jace’s arm a little tug. “Come on, let’s keep walking. Remember how I said word gets around in this town?” Indeed, people were craning at them from doorways. “When I got back to town, I sort of dipped a toe into getting back together with Rob. Then I found out what he’s like now. You know that feeling when you see someone you haven’t seen in a decade or so, and in your head they’re still the same, but in real life they’ve moved on?”
“Sort of,” Jace said.
“And sometimes they were an ugly duckling who grew up super awesome, and sometimes they had all this potential that got squandered? Rob is the second kind. When I left Pine Junction, he was going to get a job at his dad’s bank, but these days, he can barely handle seasonal work. He drinks a lot, gets into fights, and basically wouldn’t know what to do with an opportunity if one landed on his face.”
This gave Jace a sudden, vivid image of Holly landing onhisface. With spread legs. He missed a step on the sidewalk and nearly toppled off.
“Careful,” Holly said, catching his arm. “Curb’s kind of high there .... Anyway, we went on a couple of dates—uh—doyou mind me talking about this? I want to be honest about it.”
“You have a past,” Jace said. “Me too. That’s just part of dating in your thirties.”
“Right. So we got to first or second base a couple of times. And that’s all it was, meaningless and unsatisfying. Back in high school, I thought we could have been something, and I wanted to know if we could be something, if I could maybe turn Rob around, or turn me around ...” She trailed off for a minute. “I was pretty unhappy when I came back from the city, after all. And I mean, I’ve moved back into my old childhood bedroom, so it’s not like I’m a model of figuring my stuff out, either.”
Jace caught hold of her arm and turned her to face him. “You listen to me. You’re nothing like that guy. Nothing at all.”
“Maybe not. But I did want to find out if I was just dismissing Rob because he stayed in my hometown and I went to the big city. I didn’t want to be a snob, you know? It turned out I shouldn’t have bothered. Rob says that by getting to know him again, I led him on and gave him the idea that we were going to get serious. I don’t think I said anything like that ...”
“I think I can say with absolute confidence that’s all him,” Jace said firmly. “You didn’t do anything. And if he comes around again, I’m more than happy to make it clear that he’s not welcome.”
Holly smiled up at him, and his chest clutched. “I’m not worried at all,” she said. “Not with you here.”
HOLLY
She was totally lying.
Being confronted with Rob at his most belligerent and angry, even with Jace on her side, had rattled Holly more than she wanted to admit. She had a feeling that her nerves were anything but subtle, as she tried to find things to talk about on the drive back to the ranch and ended up babbling about Christmases when she was a kid. Jace listened as if he found her fevered rantings about favorite childhood gifts the most fascinating thing he’d ever heard, and held her hand most of the way.
As they turned into the driveway, Jace asked, “Do you want to set up a Christmas tree today?”
That’s right, they had talked about that, approximately a million years ago. “Sure.”
After she took her purchases up to her room and petted the dogs, they walked up to the Christmas tree farm, where her dad was just closing things up and putting up the chain across the gate. Seeing them approaching, he hastily stuffed something into his pocket; Holly didn’t see exactly what itwas, just a brief flash of color. “You two have a good day in town?” he asked gruffly.
“It was great, Dad.” Once again she teetered on the edge of telling her dad about Rob, then veered away. Maybe after being told off in no uncertain terms, he would stay away now, and the whole thing would just die down.
“We’re looking for a Christmas tree,” Jace said.
Dad glanced between them. “Is this one of those role play things? Are you two pretending to be customers?”
Holly felt herself turning bright red at the words ‘role play’; she was confident her dad hadn’t meant it that way,and yet. “Dad!”
Jace also flushed to his ears. “I mean, Holly wants a Christmas tree, so we were going to try to find one.”
“Oh.” For a minute her dad looked caught off guard in a way that Holly was unused to seeing him. “Yeah, of course. You two pick out the best tree on the lot. I’m sorry, honey. It’s been so busy I didn’t even think?—”
“I know,” Holly said. She stood on tiptoe to kiss her dad’s work-roughened cheek. “Don’t worry about it. We’re going to pick a great tree, and then head down to start supper.”
It was snowing again lightly, and they walked around the Christmas trees in the slowly gathering blue dusk.
“What about this one?” Jace asked, pointing to a perfectly symmetrical Fraser fir.
“I hate to choose one of the really good ones,” Holly lamented. “We could get a good price for that.”
“Which one do you like?”
Holly hunted around and pointed to a slightly lopsided tree. “We can’t sell that one, at least without a discount.”
