Page 67 of Wounded Christmas Wolf
She trailed off.
“I don’t think your dad will fight with you,” Jace said quietly. “I think he loves you more than you know.”
She blinked rapidly, staring out the windshield where snow was starting to collect, flakes whipping against the glass as they drove.
As they approached the farm, she noticed Jace looking behind them, glancing frequently into the rearview mirror and out the back window.
“What’s wrong? Do we need to stop and wipe off frost?”
“What?—no. I just ... nothing.”
Holly gave him a swift look. The driving was getting harder as the snow came down more heavily. “We aren’t keeping secrets anymore, remember?”
Jace made a noise under his breath that might have been frustration or agreement. After a moment he said, “I thought there were a pair of headlights following us for a while. I lost sight of them a couple of minutes ago, though, so maybe they turned off.”
Holly looked back. All she saw was highway half eclipsed by snow whirling up in the truck’s wake. “How could you tell it was the same ones?”
Jace gave a low laugh. “You drive in a lot of convoys in the military. Gives you a pretty good sense for when it’s the same set of headlights or different ones.”
“Really?” She gave him another look, intrigued. “Dad always seems to be able to tell, too.”
“Probably the same reason.”
“Wild.” Holly grinned. “It’s like a superpower.” But she lost the grin a moment later as the implications sank in. “Someone was following us?”
“Not necessarily,” Jace said quietly. “I don’t see them at all now. Probably just someone going the same way for a while.”
“I’m going to believe that.” She reached over to turn up the radio.
During the week leading up to Christmas, it could be a hunt on the dial to find stations playing Christmas carols, and the truck’s ancient stereo couldn’t connect to her phone. But on Christmas Eve, every station had turned into an all-carols-all-the-time bonanza. She found “Silver Bells” and they both sang along, wiping away the lingering traces of paranoia, until she turned into the farm’s driveway.
As she pulled up in front of the house, Noelle ran out on the porch, sleeves rolled up and wiping her hands on a dish towel. “Well?” she called when Holly opened the truck door. “Did it work?”
Holly threw her hands in the air and gave two thumbs up. Noelle squealed happily and ran down the stairs to meet her halfway and throw her arms around her. Then Noelle turned and gave Jace an impulsive hug as well, to his obvious surprise.
“How did it go? Did you give them the check in person? Tell me everything!”
“We got there in time, and we paid them in person, right before they closed. It all went off without a hitch.” Holly hesitated but decided to go ahead with the next part. “We also ran into Rob Sr. outside the bank.”
“Football Rob’s dad, I remember him,” Noelle said. “Is Football Rob a total loser now? I heard he’s a total loser.” She leaned closer. “Did you really kiss somebody in the community center under the mistletoe? Is it Jace? Spill!”
“My goodness, how plugged into the gossip mill in this townareyou? You weren’t even here!”
“Yeah, but the Glitter Girls chat is a live wire, sis.” Glitter Girls had been Noelle’s social group in high school. Now they had a Facebook group, an ongoing group chat, and who knew what else.
“See?” Holly said to Jace. “This is what I mean about the small town grapevine’s weirdly comprehensive knowledge of the finer points of my personal life. And my sister knows all the grapes.”
“Thanks, I think,” Noelle said. “Speaking of grapes, I’ve opened a bottle of wine, and I have the alcohol tolerance of a rubber bath duckie after nine months of pregnancy and two and a half years of single motherhood. Please come help me drink it.”
Holly had never been much of a drinker, and when it was just her and her dad, the only alcohol that ever turned up at dinner was an occasional beer for her dad and an even more occasional wine cooler for Holly. She wondered where on earth her sister had found the wine. Maybe it was a Christmas gift from some previous year. At the moment, however, a glass of wine to celebrate their near miss with bankruptcy sounded amazing.
Jace hesitated at the door. Holly took his hand firmly, and they went in together. If her dad had a problem with it, she was prepared to deal with it. She was tired of sneaking around, tired of playing games. That was no way to spend a holiday.
She hadn’t realized her dad was in the house until she saw him on the couch with Kaden. Specifically, trying to separate Kaden from Cupcake’s bacon squeaky toy.
“Son, that’s been in a dog’s mouth. Give it here.”
“No!”
