Chapter 3 #2
Lucas knew most people didn’t live like this, but sometimes it felt incredibly awkward when it was casually brought up like Holly just did.
There wasn’t anything he could say to that, so he walked over to the opposite end of the attic and began reading the labels on everything.
It didn’t seem possible for there to be this many boxes and none of them be Christmas decorations, but right now, he wasn’t finding any.
They were at it for almost thirty minutes when Holly called out, “I think I found something!”
“Thank God,” he mumbled as he made his way over to her. There was an alcove that had a bunch of tall boxes, and the closer he got, he could see that they all had the word “Christmas” written on them.
“I think we should open them up here and see what we’re dealing with. It certainly doesn’t seem like enough for the entire house, but at least it’s a start, right?” she asked excitedly before her expression fell when all he did was shrug.
Still, he moved several of the boxes out and when he opened them, he found strands of pine garland, an obscene amount of red and gold bows, half of their indoor holiday village, and the train set.
This was merely the tip of the iceberg.
Plus, it was getting late.
Wiping his hands on his jeans, Lucas stood up and stretched. “I think this is a great start, but maybe we should call it a night. We both worked all day and now it’s almost nine, so…”
As if on cue, Holly yawned. “I guess you’re right. Would it be okay if I came back again tomorrow?”
It was the obvious thing to ask—especially since they hadn’t found everything—but it still felt weird to be planning dinner together again.
“I was planning on making a pot beef stew for dinner tomorrow. I could bring it over after work if you’d like,” she suggested. “And maybe I’ll ask if my parents can take care of Shmoop. I feel bad that he’s been out in the yard. Even though that is a rather deluxe doggie area.”
“Tomorrow we can explore in the basement, so maybe that won’t be so bad? You know, he can hang out with us. I just honestly had no idea what everything was going to be like up here in the attic.”
“This is neater and cleaner than some houses I’ve been in.” She laughed. “And I wish I was only joking.”
Again, he wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“Okay, so Shmoop and I will be back with dinner tomorrow. I’m going to make more calls while we’re at work, but I won’t bother you with any of the details until after hours. Is that okay?”
“Holly, I feel incredibly guilty that you’re spending so much of your time on this. Wouldn’t it just be easier to…you know…let it go? It’s okay if we skip one year of this particular party. And from my dad’s email, it’s not like there isn’t going to be a party. It just won’t be here.”
Her soft sigh was her first response. Then she surprised him by reaching out and taking his hand in hers.
“Lucas, there are so many reasons why this party is important. For starters, it’s a wonderful way for everyone to get together, and it’s tradition.
Your parents need to see how vital it is for morale.
Plus, I think it’s important for you to see that as well.
To you, this was just another party your parents threw, but to the rest of us, it was something we all looked forward to. ”
He never thought of it like that.
“And then there’s the whole you being depressed and needing involvement. I can’t let you just back out of this because I’d feel terrible knowing you’re just sitting home feeling miserable with no holiday spirit. I’ll bet you weren’t even going to decorate the guesthouse either.”
It hadn’t been on his to-do list, but…
“Don’t you see? This party brings people together! It can even bring your parents back together! We need to make this happen. Even if it’s not identical to the way your mother always made it, that doesn’t mean it’s bad. I’ll bet we can even make it better!”
That made him chuckle. “Holly, my mother is the epitome of a hostess and party planner. All of her friends come to her to help with their parties. I think we can put together a decent party, but in no way do I think we can do any better.”
She gave him a sassy grin as she leaned in close. “Challenge accepted.”
Challenge? What challenge? Did she mean…
“Holly, seriously. We need to just stick to the plan and try to make this like every other Brooks family holiday party. Please don’t take it upon yourself to try to outdo the previous ones. Please.”
That plan had disaster written all over it.
Slowly, she pulled her hand from his. “Okay. Fine. I’ll stick to the plan. But if the opportunity arises for something spectacular, I’m not going to say no.”
“Holly…” he began wearily.
“But I promise to run it by you first.”
He supposed that was better than nothing.
Letting out a long breath, he looked around one last time. There were probably a few more places up here that they hadn’t looked. And if they wanted to keep on track and start in the basement tomorrow, he supposed they should finish looking at all the boxes in the attic first.
“What do you say you run down and check on the dog, and I’ll finish looking around to make sure we didn’t miss anything? There’s that whole back corner over there that we haven’t looked at.”
“Ooh! Yes, that sounds great. Give me five minutes and I’ll be back up!” She turned to leave and tripped over the box of bows. Lucas caught her before she fell. His arms banded around her and she looked up at him with wide, green eyes. “Oh my goodness! Thank you! I would have totally face-planted!”
He steadied her and didn’t quite let go until he felt like she was okay. “Maybe I should go down and check on the dog and you stay up here,” he teased.
“That might be safer,” she said with just a hint of amusement. “With my luck, I’ll fall down the stairs—and there are a lot of them.”
Giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze, he nodded. “Okay. You stay up here, and I’ll be back in five minutes. Would you like me to bring you something to drink?”
Her smile was full of gratitude. “That would be wonderful. Thank you.”
And with that, he made his way down three flights of stairs before heading out to the doggie area. Shmoop was sniffing around, but he didn’t seem overly impressed. It was chilly out, so he figured it couldn’t hurt to bring the dog back inside.
“C’mon, boy,” he said as he opened the gate. “Let’s go inside where’s it warmer, and hopefully find your mom hasn’t tripped over anything else.”
If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear the dog was smiling at him like he understood.
Together, they walked back into the house and up the stairs to the kitchen. Lucas put fresh water in Shmoop’s bowl and grabbed a couple of bottles of water for himself and Holly. And when he turned to head back up to the attic, the dog was right by his side.
“Holly wasn’t sure you could be trusted here in the house, so be sure to behave. I’m mad at my folks at the moment, but I also don’t want to destroy any of their things. Does that make sense?”
Oh God…I’m talking to the dog like he’s a person! What is wrong with me?
But when he looked down at Shmoop, the darn dog nodded at him.
“Maybe I’m more tired than I thought because there’s no way a dog could understand what I’m saying and nod,” he murmured.
When they reached the attic, Holly turned to them both and smiled before crouching down as her dog trotted over to her. “There’s my good boy! Are you behaving yourself?”
And he nodded again.
Stepping closer, Lucas had to ask, “Um…is he nodding? Because I feel like he did that when I talked to him.”
She was scratching Shmoop’s ears when she looked up at him.
“Oh, for sure! He’s very smart. Sometimes I swear I think he’s going to talk to me.
He knows exactly how to convey what he wants.
I don’t know how because I certainly didn’t train him to do half of the things he does; he just does them. It’s really kind of cool!”
“I’ll say.”
“I found several boxes that have more holiday decorations in them. One box had mantle written on it, one had windows, another had upper family room, and the last one was exterior lights. That one’s important so I can hire a company to come and hang them.
Other than that, there’s nothing else up here.
Hopefully, there’s more in the basement. ”
He nodded. “We’ll find out tomorrow, right?”
“Absolutely! I’m already looking forward to it!”
He had a feeling she got this excited about everything, but he supposed it wasn’t a bad thing. He’d just never met anyone who seemed to find this much joy in such mundane tasks.
“This is going to be so much fun, Lucas! I already can’t wait to come back!”
And there was a tiny part of him that couldn’t wait to spend more time with her.