Page 60 of Wounded Christmas Wolf
Holly’s stomach fell to her knees. “Having to pay for me can’t have helped. Dad, I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have gone on a holiday shopping spree if I knew we were in a financial hole.”
“No!” her father snapped. “The last thing I want to do is ruin Christmas for you girls.”
“We’re not ten anymore!” Holly shot back. “We can stand to have you tell us the truth. How much trouble is the farm in, exactly?”
“Not too bad if we can get through the holiday season without going into the red. We can pay back part of the loan right now. We just don’t have the whole thing.”
“Dad, why in the world didn’t you tell us?” Noelle asked.
The Colonel dodged her stare awkwardly. “I didn’t want to worry you. You girls are grown with your own lives. It’s my problem.”
“No, it’s not, it’s all of our problem!”Mine too,she thought guiltily. “And I know you well enough to know that this isn’t financial mismanagement or even any difficulty selling trees and farm produce. It’s because you never sell things for full price if you can give someone a break. I’ve seen how often you cut people deals you can’t afford, or give them half off or even this year’s tree for free because they’re in financial trouble.”
She hesitated.
“What is it?” Jace asked her quietly.
“If we need to make payments we can’t afford, maybe we can let some of the people you’ve helped over the years help us back,” Holly mused.
The Colonel was already shaking his head. “No. Not a chance. I’m not taking charity. Not for any reason.”
“It’s not charity, you stubborn old ape. It’s letting people who we’ve helped get to help us in return. We wouldn’t be asking for much. Just a little, from people who can afford it. I bet they’d give it gladly, especially at this time of year.”
She began to pace, aware of Jace watching her.
“I know that look,” Noelle said, grinning at her sister over the top of Kaden’s head. “That’s Holly on a mission.”
“Okay, the first thing we do is keep the tree farm open longer hours for the days we do still have,” Holly said. “We don’t have to close at four. Remember when we used to have it open late into the evening, with the Christmas lights strung up everywhere? We can do that again. We haveenough people now, with me and Noelle and Jace, as well as you, Dad.” Her dad opened his mouth at the mention of Jace’s name, then closed it again. “That’s the first thing, just making sure we can sell more trees, and getting the word out that we’re open all the time, even late on Christmas Eve.”
“I have some old high school friends I can get in touch with,” Noelle said. “I’ll send out word on our reunion Facebook group to tell everyone.”
Of course Noelle was still in touch with her high school friends. Holly could barely remember the names of most of hers.
“I’ll make a donation box,” she said. “Dad, I know you won’t like that idea. But I think they’ll want to help, if they know we’re facing foreclosure. We’re all neighbors here, and whoever turned us in, I think most people will step up to help us just like we’ve helped them over the years.”
She had a pretty good guess about who was responsible. Rob’s dad ran the town bank, and probably still sat on most of the town and county business committees. But she didn’t think chasing down blame at the moment was going to do anything. Once they had the tree farm back on solid footing, she could deal with Robandhis dad.
Somehow.
She hadn’t stopped to grab a hat, and her ears were freezing. With her head full of ideas, she strode down toward the house. Jace fell into step with her.
“I see you’re still here,” Holly said. It came out more argumentative than she intended.
“Yes,” Jace said quietly. “I’m not going anywhere. Not unlessyoutell me to go. Not your dad. You.”
Holly glanced at him.
“Let me help,” he added. “I want to help.”
“All right.” She wasn’t prepared to soften yet. Not entirely. Not toward either of them. But she really did need his help—and deep down, she was grateful beyond measure that he hadn’t just walked away after that confrontation with her dad. It took a strong man to stand up to Douglas Porter, and it seemed she was looking at one right in front of her. “We need a nice-looking donation box. I bet you can help me make one.”
JACE
Jace honestly didn’t believe,at first, that Holly’s naive optimism about the neighbors turning up to help them would be rewarded. It was too ... too Christmas holiday movie, too cheesy to believe.
But they came.
As Noelle got the word out about their extended hours, as well as the tree farm needing extra money to make it through the holiday season, people came.
