Page 61 of Wounded Christmas Wolf
And came.
They brought their friends, they brought their families. They came back to buy a second tree after the first one.
And there was hardly a single customer for the entire next couple of days who didn’t shove a few dollars into Holly’s cheerful box labeled SAVE OUR TREE FARM! As word spread, people who had already bought their trees began showing up just to put money in, too.
“Here you go,” said the red-haired toy shop saleslady, stuffing a handful of bills into the slot in the box. “On behalf of me and the kids.”
Jace didn’t know the matronly lady with half-moonglasses who showed up with an envelope that she slipped quietly in the box, but Holly clearly did. “Mrs. Wilberf—That is, Mags. You don’t have to do this.”
“I want to,” Mags said. “How’s that sweet little pup getting along in his new home?”
Holly’s lips quirked as if she was struggling not to smile. “He’s the best dog ever.”
“I knew he was perfect for you,” Mags said soulfully. Looking past Holly, she noticed Jace. “Oh, speaking of perfect, isn’t that the nice young man who?—”
“Is very busy, sorry!” Holly said. Hustling Mags off, she put an arm around the older woman’s shoulders. “I don’t suppose you know any way to take the squeaker out of a bacon-shaped chew toy, do you?”
People just kept coming. And coming.
Jace was aware the Colonel was writhing inwardly at the tangible show of support. Now and then he’d vanish off to the barn, from which came loud hammering noises and Christmas music played at full volume while he dealt with his feelings. But then he would emerge and come up the hill to shake hands with each and every person who donated ... and those who didn’t, too.
With the tree farm running from dawn to dusk and late into the night, they needed all the help they could get. Jace was aware that he wasn’t entirely welcome in the house—nothing about that seemed to have changed—but he was still working on the tree farm, cutting trees and occasionally standing down by the road holding up a homemade sign, painted by Holly with enthusiasm if not that much artistic skill, that said GET YOUR TREES HERE! OPEN ‘TIL 9!
Holly brought meals up the hill to Jace when he wasn’t at the tree farm.
“I’m still mad at you, you know,” she said, slamming a warm, covered Tupperware container down on his table.
“I know. What can I do to make it up to you?”
“Just ... be here,” she said, and whirled away, almost running down the hill to the house.
But she kept coming back.
And he kept being here.
“I’m not going to let Dad make my choices for me,” she said, shoving a plate of Christmas cookies into his hands.
“I believe you.”
“But I need to get through the holiday first,” Holly said, searching his face with her gaze. “Just promise you won’t leave.”
“I promise.” And he meant it. Sneaking out was the coward’s way. One taste of it had told him that wasn’t the kind of man he wanted to be.
Jace’s wolf remained stubbornly just out of reach. His hands were nearly back to normal—and being around Holly seemed to help with that—but whatever communion he and his animal had almost reached was once more unattainable. And he didn’t know why, or what to do about it.
He was still worried about Rob coming back to cause trouble. The tree farm was too busy during the day for anyone to get away with sabotage, but at night, he had started sleeping in the hay in the tree farm shed, curled up in a pile of blankets he brought down from Mistletoe Manor. He stashed the blankets behind the hay during the day, and to Holly’s dad it just seemed like he’d arrived early. The yawning could be excused by the early hour, and Holly and her sister supplied plenty of hot coffee.
“One thing about it, though,” Holly said as they sat on the back of the tree wagon between customers, swinging their feet and eating sandwiches that Noelle had come up the hill to bring them. (She had also brought Cupcake. From inside Holly’s coat: SQUEAKASQUEAKASQUEEEEEEEEK.) “Christmas presents are a no-go this year, except for the onesI already bought. Which is fine; Kaden is the one who really matters, and it looks like between me, Dad, and everything Noelle brought in her suitcase, he’s going to have a wonderful Christmas.” She glanced sideways at Jace, her lashes downcast. “But I don’t have anything for you.”
Holly giving him a gift had never even occurred to him. Just the idea was wildly extravagant. And this kicked him in the gut with the idea that he had absolutely nothing for her, and no way to repay her for everything she had done.
“Don’t worry about it,” he protested. “Everything you’ve given me so far has been more than I could have dreamed of. I don’t know how to pay you back.”
She gave him another sideways look, her mouth twisted wryly. “Pay me back for what, sleeping in the shed?”
“What?”
Holly reached out to tweak a piece of straw out of his hair. “You think I don’t know you’ve been spending the nights out here? To keep Rob away, I’m guessing?”
