Page 55 of Wounded Christmas Wolf
It was brutally cold, and she was shivering. She hadn’t bothered with a coat or hat before running after him. “You’re right!” she yelled after him. “I don’t understand! So explain to me instead ofrunning awaylike a—like a coward!”
His shoulders hunched up. He just kept striding away from her.
HOLLY
It was an uncomfortable morning.Holly avoided her dad as much as possible. He seemed to be avoiding her, too. They took turns watching the tree farm. There was no sign of Jace; he stayed up the hill at the cottages.
If he wasn’t gone completely.
Holly caught herself on the verge of texting him a dozen times. She forced herself not to. Jace was right: therewassomething there she didn’t understand. She had no idea what to say to him if they did try to talk about it. And she was too furious with her dad to talk to him about it right now.
She got a text from Noelle:Flight’s on time. You’ll be there?
Can’t wait!Holly texted back, with a cheerfulness she didn’t feel.
At least Noelle, with her bubbly personality and (even better) two-year-old son, would provide a buffer between Holly and her dad. Although Holly felt bad about dragging her into the middle of whatever the heck was going on here.
With that in mind, she tried to corner her dad before she left for the airport. “Are you going to tell me what was going on with Jace this morning?”
“Are you?” her dad returned.
This was something different from his “you were out after curfew” dad voice. It was, in a way, even worse. He was talking to her like an adult who had disappointed him, and she realized she had never seen that from him before.
Not when any of her previous relationships had broken up. Not even when she had lost her job and moved home to live on the farm again.
She hated it.
“Yes, so I slept with Jace,” she told him. “We had sex in my bedroom. I didn’t think I needed to check with you first, but I guess I was wrong.”
Her dad, not quite looking at her, said gruffly, “You took precautions?”
“Oh my g—okay, no, I am not going to stand here and have ‘the talk,’ okay? I am a fully grown woman who isn’t a virgin. I know how to take precautions!”
“Your sister didn’t.”
“Noelle isn’t me,” Holly said grimly. “And if you’re going to throwthatin her face too, I’m telling her to get a hotel.”
Finally he looked at her. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he said.
“How’d you mean it, then, Dad?” If this was meant to be a reconciliation, it wasn’t going at all well.
“I don’t know,” her dad said. He looked suddenly deflated. “All I ever wanted was to do what was right for you girls.”
Holly absolutely was not going to feel sorry for him. At least she didn’t plan to. But she kind of did.
“I need to go pick up Noelle,” she said. “Is there, um .... anything we need from town while I’m out?” She hoped it felt like a peace offering. She didn’t currently have it in her to offer him anything else.
“No thanks, Holly,” her dad said. He went back to the tree farm.
Holly realized it might be the first time she could remember that he had addressed her directly by her given name, as opposed to using a pet name or needing her name to distinguish her from her sisters.
She didn’t know what to think of that.
And she didn’t know what to do about Jace. She didn’t even have a clue.
The nearest airport to Pine Junction was in the next big town. It was a pretty drive through a patchwork of farms, forests, and small towns. The private time with nothing but the road and her thoughts gave Holly an opportunity to brood, and, eventually, to calm down a little about the annoying men in her life. All of them. Men were a mistake.
Never mind her traitorous thoughts reminding her of Jace between her legs last night, the two of them flexing together, the rising waves of pleasure, the pleasant ache of the hickey on her neck ...
