Page 13 of Daddy's Christmas Rescue
“Of course,” she said. “As soon as there’s a ring on my finger, we’ll take him to the cleaners. He’s too trusting to see it coming.”
My heart didn’t break. Not right then. It just… stopped. I didn’t move. Didn’t say a thing. Just stood there listening to the woman I’d planned a life with talk about me like I was a mark in a con.
She walked past the doorway, still smiling, and froze when she saw me.
I didn’t yell. I didn’t throw anything. I didn’t ask why. I just took the ring box out of my pocket and set it on the counter between us. She could have it. I wanted nothing to do with it.
Her mouth opened—maybe to explain, maybe to lie—but I didn’t wait to find out. I walked back out the door with Biscuit at my heel and never looked back.
The reply from Clem was instant: “Give me a few hours. Don’t do anything stupid in the meantime.”
I didn’t bother answering. I wasn’t planning on being stupid. But if anyone came for Holly, I wasn’t promising I’d be smart about it, either. I shoved the phone in my pocket and went back out to the kitchen. Holly was at the table, hunched over a pad of paper. Biscuit lay with his chin on her foot, tail thumping every time she moved.
She looked up, startled, like she’d been caught doing something wrong. “I was just…” She trailed off, eyes dropping to her hands.
I kept my voice even. “Just what?”
A flush crept up her cheeks. “Making a list. Things you might need from the store. If I’m going to bake more…” She twisted the ribbon, knuckles white. “You’re probably low on sugar now.”
The urge to smile hit hard and fast. “You’re making a grocery list?”
She nodded, so small I almost missed it. “I thought it would be helpful. So I wasn’t wasting anything.”
I sat across from her and reached for the list. She didn’t pull it away. The handwriting was neat, careful, but the list was tiny. Sugar, eggs, butter, more chocolate chips. There was a note at the bottom: “Only if it’s not too expensive.”
God. I wanted to shake someone for teaching her to apologize for breathing.
“That’s a good list,” I said. “How about we do an online order?”
She bit her lip. I waited, because sometimes when you asked Holly a direct question she needed a second to process it. She looked down at the page again, like she was worried the list was too long. She shook her head, curls bouncing, and then said, “That’s okay. I don’t need anything special. I just… I thought maybe you’d want cookies for Christmas.”
The way she said it. Like she’d just confessed to robbing a bank.
I tried not to let the emotion show, but I could feel it in the back of my throat. “Holly, you can bake every day if you want. I’ll buy out the damn store.”
Her hands went tight on the napkin. “I don’t want to be expensive.”
“Trust me, you’re not.”
She looked away, hiding behind her hair, but I could see a smile twitching at the corner of her mouth. “Maybe just more flour. And sprinkles? The colored kind, if it’s not too much.”
“I’ll put it on the list.” I reached over and wrote it down myself. I made sure my handwriting was big, easy to read. I didn’t want her thinking it was a secret or something she had to whisper about.
Biscuit parked himself under the table and nudged her bare ankle with his nose. He was always good at knowing when people needed comfort. I set my phone on the table and brought up the grocery app, easy as pie.
“Watch. This is how it works. You just type what you want, and it shows up.” I waited to see if she’d get nervous about it, but she leaned in, peering at the screen like it was magic.
“They bring it right to the house?” Her voice was awed, and I struggled to keep the surprise out of my voice. I thought everyone had heard of this? “Right to the door. No fuss.” I added everything she’d written, and then some extras just in case. I didn’t want her running out of sugar ever again.
She watched the numbers add up. I could see her counting, biting her lip, worried about the total.
“Don’t worry about the price,” I told her. “I got it covered. Always.”
She nodded, but I could see her fighting the urge to apologize again. I didn’t say anything else. Sometimes it was better just to let the words settle.
After we finished the order, I asked if she wanted to help with Biscuit’s walk. She hesitated, but when Biscuit danced in place, eager, she smiled and nodded.
I insisted she used the sweatpants which I had to say looked a little ridiculous and resolved when we got home my next order would be clothes for her.
