Page 24 of Christmas with the Boy Next Door

At the end of the day, he knew her heart was in the right place, even if her methods left a lot to be desired. Holly had never met a Christmas hater she couldn’t successfully bring over to the dark side. He should be proud of himself for holding out for so long.

With one last glare at the tree, he went to his fridge and pulled out a beer. Then he crossed back to the newly delivered leather couch he’d bought from a local furniture store and plopped down.

His gaze landed on the cold fireplace, then flicked up to the tree. With a furrowed brow, he set down his beer and started a fire, then returned to his seat to watch it come to life.

The fire crackled and danced, and before long, he felt its heat on his face and smelled the burned wood mixed with the pine tree. He scratched his head as he sank deeper into the sofa. This was actually kinda nice.

The decorations Holly had chosen for the tree were simple and understated, fitting him perfectly, unlikeherover-the-top preferences. But as he continued to study the tree, a small flash of red caught his eye. It was tucked between two silver ornaments, and when he rose to investigate, he realized it was a small envelope.

He wandered back to the couch and turned it over. The handwriting on the front was clearly feminine, but it didn’t belong to Holly. He’d seen enough of her loopy scrawl during his time in her employ to know that, but if it wasn’t hers… did that mean it was from Robin?

He tore into the envelope, holding his breath as he skimmed the words for the signature. It was signed simplyR., and his heart skipped a beat.

Jack,

Don’t be too mad at Holly for this. I’ll admit, I thought it was a bad idea at first, but she convinced me this tree would help you realize that it’s okay to love Christmas even if it makes you sad. I wound up thinking that was a really sweet thing for her to want for you, so I went along with it willingly after that.

Jack snorted and shook his head, glancing up at the tree again. He could picture the two of them trying to finagle it here from the lot, and the overprotective side of him hoped they’d at least gotten help from someone rather than carrying it here themselves. Holly didn’t need to be doing that kind of heavy lifting in her condition.

Turning back to the letter from Robin, he continued to read.

Anyway, if it’s too much, just toss it and avoid inviting her over until after the holidays. Maybe she’ll never know.

Just kidding, don’t do that.

And for what it’s worth, as annoyed as you might be right now, I can promise you that I’m in the same boat. She gave me a push of my own today.

That’s some sister you’ve got there, and I have a feeling we’re both really lucky to have her in our corners.

R.

Jack finished reading the letter too soon for his liking, so he read it again, slower this time. He smiled as he heard Robin’s voice in his head as if she were narrating the words. He could picture the deadpan expression she would have used if she were here when she’d said, “Just kidding. Don’t do that.”

He ran a hand over the smile that was entirely too big for such a short letter, then he leaned back on the couch and once again fixed his attention on the tree.

It was annoying. It was pushy. It was so totally and completely… Holly. Which meant he loved it, as much as he wished he didn’t.

Robin was right. He was lucky to have Holly in his corner. And he didn’t know what thepush of her ownpart was about, but if it had anything to do with him, he’d feel luckier than ever to have Holly as his annoying little sister.

* * *

Two weeks later,Jack sat at his kitchen table, sifting through what should have been a heck of a lot more evidence in the Matthew McBride case. One box? They’d lost an officer, and they only hadonebox of evidence in the case? There had to be more. It seemed impossible that there wouldn’t be, especially since the uniform he’d been wearing and his other effects took up the majority of the space in the single measly box.

One expanding file folder contained the entirety of the paperwork. Its contents were spread out over the table, and it hadn’t taken Jack very long to read through everything in a quick first pass.

He leaned back, dropping one of the files on the table with a smack. Disappointment quickly edged out the hope he’d felt when he’d first brought home this box. But he wasn’t sure what he was disappointed about.

Himself, for getting his hopes up that he’d open this box and a golden ray of light would explode out of it, leading him right to the culprit? The SHPD for not doing their jobs? No, more likely it was the situation itself. Cold cases were practically an epidemic in this country, and the sad truth was, most of them would never be solved.

Determined not to let Robin’s husband become one of those forever unsolved mysteries, Jack scrubbed his hands over his face and began a second pass over the documents.

Three hours later, he had a couple of questions for Holden, a pounding headache, and only five hours until he had to wake up for work. He tucked everything neatly into the folder—which he placed at the bottom of the box, followed by the evidence bags containing Matthew’s uniform and other effects.

He got ready for bed in a daze, half of his brain still trying to puzzle out the mystery of what happened in that park with Matthew, the other trying to come up with a delicate enough way to approach his new beat partner with his questions.

He liked Holden well enough now that they’d worked together for a few weeks, but he was no Tommy. That said, there was an old saying that you never forget your first, and the only downside of moving to Snow Hill to be with his sister—well, besides the HOA’s Christmas light laws—was losing Tommy as a partner. He was grateful they were still friends and had maintained it well thanks to texting and their fantasy football league, but it wasn’t the same.

That train of thought had Jack sitting up straight in bed. Holden wasn’t Matthew’s partner because they didn’t do it like that out here, but working adjacent beats made them close enough. So, Holden and Matthew were basically each other’s first partners in the same way he and Tommy were. That was the type of bond that cops took to their graves—no matter when it happened. If Tommy had been shot on the job and Jack hadn’t been there, he knew he’d be just as racked with guilt as Holden appeared.

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