Chapter 8 #2
He stepped toward me, closer in the crowded space, his woodsy scent filling my nose and lungs and making me suddenly not hate Christmas trees nearly as much as I had ten minutes ago.
“What is it?” I licked my dry lips. His gaze followed the movement, and all my nerves stood on high alert.
Scratch the apology. Was he going to ask if he could kiss me?
I wasn’t sure which was worse—being apologized to by your mortal enemy or having your mortal enemy kiss you and make it very obvious you were no longer mortal enemies.
One thing was certain. I was never going to make it through this Christmas without the distraction of Operation: Naughty List, and an apology would bring that to a halt.
Though to that point, a kiss would certainly be a different kind of distraction, wouldn’t it?
My stomach flopped and my knees suddenly felt as stable as marshmallows. Why, oh why couldn’t I have chemistry with a handsome, available, honest man instead of a handsome, available trickster?
He angled his head down. “I just wanted to ask…”
“Yes?” My voice was breathy, all the air caught in my chest. Nick reached out and gently moved my hair away from my cheek, shooting fireworks straight down my spine and out my toes.
This was a horrible idea. Yet my eyes drifted shut, as if on autopilot.
“Do you have any allergies?”
I blinked, bringing his curious expression back into focus. “Um, no. Not that I’m aware of.”
“Just making sure.” He tapped one of my elf ears and grinned. “You look a little swollen, there.”
I narrowed my eyes as he left the closet.
Nick, 1.
Holly, 1.
Man, it was hot in here, and Nick couldn’t blame it on the oven.
The string of lights slipped in his sweaty grip.
He worked to keep his focus on the tree they were decorating and not on Holly, both beautiful and annoying—annoyingly beautiful, maybe—as she sat on the kitchen counter, sliding hooks into ornaments for her siblings to hang and humming “O Christmas Tree.”
What had almost happened back there?
Nick’s stomach dipped. He hadn’t had a date in forever.
Surely that was why his filter was off. Holly was cute, and single, and…
there. It was the only explanation for why he’d almost fallen off the edge like that.
No way he was actually attracted to someone with such bizarre holiday mood swings.
When it was time for him to date, he needed someone calm and mature that could partner with him in his dream to help teenagers.
Not bug him to death with holiday shenanigans.
Ryan hooked a red ball on a low-hanging tree branch. “Next.” He held out his hand for someone to give him another ornament, his expression taut.
Did Ryan know what’d almost happened? Could he sense it?
Nick swallowed as he handed his friend a gold ball from the box at their feet. Olivia, her kids, Chloe, and Axel had been assigned decorating the tree on the front porch, while he, Holly, Ryan, Lydia, and Kat had taken the one in the kitchen. Thankfully, the work was moving pretty quickly.
Ryan stretched to hang the gold ball higher up the tree. “Are we just not even going to talk about the fact our baby sister brought home a boy?”
Ah. So that was it. Nick ducked under Ryan’s raised arm as he continued winding lights into the branches. Relief loosened his shoulders. He’d much rather talk about Chloe than the fact he’d almost kissed his best friend’s sister in a closet.
He shot Ryan a sideways glance. “You realize you just said boy with the same inflection most people say Brussels sprouts or escargot ?”
“I know what I said.” Ryan narrowed his eyes as he stared out the window at the little group on the porch. Poor Axel—the guy didn’t stand a chance.
What would Ryan think if he knew how close Nick had come to completely forgetting his own script?
The moment from the closet still melted in his stomach like hot chocolate.
He and Holly had been arguing, as usual, but she’d smelled like vanilla, and instead of sending a burst of annoyance, seeing her in those elf ears had somehow sent a jolt of…
joy? Something pleasant, anyway. Something he was not used to feeling when staring at a closet full of holiday décor.
Maybe that’s what scared him the most.
Nick glanced down at the lights in his hand. Usually, the sight of all the traditional elements—especially snow globes—pulled him into a deep melancholy. Flaunted “what could have been” in his face.
Somehow, Holly wrapping him in lights and grinning like a mischievous little elf had unwound a tiny knot in his chest.
What was going to keep him from unraveling?
Nick kept working the lights, his palms stinging from the stiff faux needles of the branches.
See? Annoying. It was all annoying. He needed to stay focused on his goal.
Christmas was and always would be something to simply get through.
That wasn’t going to change because of one half-charged moment in a closet with a woman wearing elf ears.
They were each other’s date for a holiday party. Nothing more.
Lydia patted Ryan’s shoulder as she squeezed past Kat to reach for a box of candy canes. “I don’t see the big deal, babe. Your sister and Axel are in college.”
Ryan’s scowl deepened and he snatched a candy cane from the box. “ Exactly. Much too young to bring someone home for the holidays.”
“Now you sound like Dad.” Holly kicked one leg against the cupboard as she threaded another hook into a sparkly snowflake.
She still wore the ears, which had triggered several looks between her siblings when she wasn’t watching.
“We all knew it was only a matter of time before Chloe got another boyfriend.”
Kat took the snowflake from Holly. “Yeah, big bro—don’t you want all your siblings to find utter bliss like you and Lydia?” She rolled her eyes, as if making sure he got the sarcasm.
Nick paused. Had Holly just stiffened at that?
Ryan pointed the candy cane at Kat. “You’re married too. Are you telling me you’re not in utter bliss?”
She smirked. “I’m saying we’re not honeymooners anymore. Just you wait.”
Lydia hooked her arm through Ryan’s and pressed a kiss against his cheek. “Your sisters are just messing with you.”
“Right. That’s it.”
Lydia winked at her behind Ryan’s back.
Holly leaned against the counter and craned her neck to peer out the window toward the front yard. “So what do we think of Axel? Besides the fact he’s a boy, apparently.” She grinned at her brother.
“Axel looks like what I’d imagine if a boy band and a made-for-TV Disney movie had a baby.” Kat wrinkled her nose. “By the ocean.”
“Kat!” Lydia widened her eyes, trying too late to hide a smile behind her hand.
Kat bristled. “What? I’m just saying what we’re all thinking.”
“You sure have lost your filter lately.” Ryan gestured toward Kat. “But I’m not arguing against your description.”
“He does have a surfer vibe. But he seems…nice.” Holly squinted out the window, her voice pitching with doubt.
Everyone followed her gaze. Axel had stuffed a pair of ornaments under his T-shirt and was dancing around, making Chloe giggle.
Olivia swatted at him as the kids bent over double, laughing.
“Oh for crying out loud.” Kat face-palmed with both hands. “An entire college campus and that’s what she finds?”
“Let’s give him a chance.” Lydia turned Kat away from the window, keeping one arm tucked around her shoulders as she guided her back toward the half-decorated tree. “After all, I’m glad you guys accepted me.”
“That was different,” Ryan, Holly, and Kat said all at once.
“Yeah, you guys were older. More mature,” Kat clarified.
“Besides, you know Chloe.” Holly gestured with another ornament. “She cycles through boyfriends faster than TikTok trends. I doubt he sticks.”
“True.” Ryan’s shoulders lowered a little. “I guess I can wait him out.”
Nick’s own shoulders relaxed as he finished with his string of lights.
Being here in the kitchen with the Sinclair siblings talking about family was making him feel part of it.
His gaze rested briefly on Holly, who was still perched on top of the counter with her box of hooks.
Why couldn’t she be like this with him— chill, funny, down-to-earth?
Why did she see him and immediately spring into holiday spirit?
Though maybe that was for the best. Because if it wasn’t for this sudden quirk of hers, he might have actually caved and kissed her.
Everything happened for a reason, right? There had to be some grander plan in place for him to be in Point Bluff, Ohio, for Christmas. And if that was true, that divine plan was happening solely to give him a place to help teens in trouble. To make up for his past.
Not to find him someone to kiss under mistletoe.
“I think what we really need to talk about is the fact Olivia thinks Mom is sick.” Kat shrugged out of Lydia’s grasp. “Ryan, have you and wifey here heard the latest?”
Ryan and Lydia nodded simultaneously. Ryan brushed at the faux needles clinging to his sweater. “Yeah, Lydia told me her theory.”
Nick rubbed at one of the prickly scratches on his wrist. The distracting closet encounter had made him forget that Olivia was trying to convince the others that Grace was sick. Of course, that wasn’t true. He knew Grace’s secret.
Was he a horrible person to let them continue thinking a lie? His stomach clenched.
“So Olivia already got to you.” Holly grinned at her sister-in-law. “What do you two think?”
Lydia squinted. “I’m not sure. Mom does seem a little different this year, but I can’t pinpoint why.”
Holly’s eyes flickered at the maternal endearment, and sympathy welled in Nick’s chest. If Holly would just have a real conversation with him, like she did her siblings, maybe he could get to the bottom of that wall between her and Lydia.
But Holly didn’t seem open to being serious, and he sure wasn’t going to try to force her and risk getting himself gift wrapped or light-strung.