26. Holly CreekBust
26
HOLLY CREEK OR BUST
CHELSEA
“I’m stuffed. I’ll need to switch to sweatpants if you keep feeding us this way, Mom.” Maisy unbuttoned the top button of her jeans after the Christmas Eve meal.
“If you ask me, you were too skinny to begin with.” Mom patted her cheek as she collected empty plates from the table.
“Come on. We’ll turn on the radio and dance in the kitchen to burn calories while helping Mom clean up.” I practically dragged her with me.
“I’ll come help, too,” Aunt Louisa said.
“I’ll stay here and keep watch on Uncle Doug,” Colt chortled, knowing he got the easy job. He grabbed a card deck out of the sideboard. “How about a game of Gin Rummy, Uncle?”
“You know me. I never turn down a game of cards.”
In the kitchen, there we were, four fine women dancing away to golden oldies from the fifties, washing, scrubbing, rinsing, drying, and the chore was done before we knew it.
“Just in time. We have the Holly Creek community caroling tonight,” Mom reminded us. “I’ll put the kettle on and make thermoses of hot cocoa. You girls dig out all the mittens, hats, scarves, boots, and jackets. The storm that passed through here yesterday covered the ground, and even though the snow plows cleared the streets, it’ll be slick. Grab the flashlights, too.”
“We know.” Maisy and I replied in unison. The holiday experience in Holly Creek hadn’t changed as long as I could remember. Christmas Eve always involved the town caroling. We’d walk the Main Street and route through some of the side streets singing traditional Christmas music, ending up at the community center for pies baked by Mom and Flora’s Diner. It was BYOC—Bring Your Own Cocoa.
I couldn’t wait. I joined Maisy in digging through the closet by the front door, only to find her sitting on the floor trying to match mittens with her phone in her hands.
“Texting Brooks?” I worked faster at matching things up.
“Yes. He’s so sweet. Look at the photo he sent. He opened my gift early and is wearing the scarf I knitted him.”
She showed the photo of him with a broad grin, proudly wearing the scarf of variegated blue colors. Maisy was determined to get the hang of knitting, and that one was her third attempt, much better than the first two.
“He’s so dang cute.” Her smile right now… I knew that look, the look of infatuation or lust or love, when just thinking about the special man in your life can put the glow of longing into your eyes and smile. Sometimes I recognized that look in myself when good memories of Rex came back to me… but then remembered that night at the rooftop and the glow faded.
“You really like him, don’t you?” I asked.
Her cheeks pinked, and she put the phone away, sighing and reaching for the scarves next. “Yeah. But I made the decision to apply for the Scientific Fleet of Oceanic Enterprises. If I get accepted to the research team, I’ll spend all summer and fall traveling and working, only back in time for Christmas next year. Brooks has been hinting lately about taking a vacation together after I graduate and making all kinds of plans for us after that. I don’t know how to tell him I might not be here.”
I covered her hand with mine. I used to think she should focus on work and forget about distractions from men, but now? All I just wanted for her was to live life and be happy. “Take it slow and easy, Maisy. I have a feeling Brooks really likes you, too, and will stick around for a while. Maybe he’d wait for you and pick up where you left off when you return?”
A knock on the door above our heads scared the heck out of us. “Who the heck could that be on Christmas Eve?” I exclaimed.
The knocking turned to pounding. “Chelsea? Chelsea? Please be in there.”
That sounded like Rex. Couldn’t be. “Hurry, Maisy.” We shoved all the winter clothes and boots back into the closet and scrambled up. My breath caught at the sight of Rex’s face in the door’s window.
I flung the door open, focused on his face, like I forgot what he looked like. “Rex? What are you doing here? You can’t just show up and crash another family’s Christmas Eve.”
“Why not? What if you’re the woman for me and this is the family I should have been with all along?”
My heart jumped. “Don’t do that. Play all the What Ifs.”
“Okay, fine. Then how about this story? I’m a dumbass and there’s a woman I’ve never been able to forget. So in an effort to spend what remains of the holidays with her, I drove to a small town, only to hit a snowstorm, crash my car, freeze for hours, finally walk across ice and snow until a truck driver picked me up. Then, was dropped in Holly Creek where everything was closed and I had to find people to tell me where she lives. Does that suit your sensibility better?” He coughed into his sleeve.
“You really did all that?”
“What does it look like? Yes, Chelsea. I crashed a Mercedes SL. Ruined a damn good pair of leather shoes, and this tuxedo is beyond repair now and definitely not enough to keep the chill off. I don’t even have my b-bag to change clothes because the car went over a little c-c-cliff.” He coughed more, almost hoarse by the end of his tirade.
“Chelsea, let the man inside. It’s cold out there,” Mom admonished, coming up behind me to see what was the commotion.
I snapped out of it and pulled him in. Maisy shut the door behind him. Rex coughed more, but from his intense body heat radiating to me, I knew instantly something was wrong. I put the back of my hand to his forehead.
“Oh no. You have a fever. Mom!” I cried.
“I’ll get my medical kit. You get him to the bathroom for a quick bathing. Colt, get some clothes for him to change into. Maisy, heat some chicken broth,” she barked orders, and everyone jumped into action.
“I’m fine. Just give me a c-cup of c-c-coffee.” He started shivering as I ducked under his arm and helped him down the hall to the bathroom. “I h-had to s-s-see you, Ch-Ch?—”
“Sh. Rex, you’re here, but you’re feverish. I’ll take care of you for now. There’ll be plenty of time for talking later.”
In the bathroom, I finally got over my initial shock and took in his pale appearance and condition. He’d braved a storm to get to me. But what did this mean? Was he here to make another pitch to marry for all the wrong reasons?
A couple hours later, in my room, Rex slept while I kept a constant vigil in a chair next to my bed, changing the cold washcloth on his head frequently. Everyone else went out to the festivities in town, leaving us alone in the house. I didn’t mind missing it; I was only worried about him and what he was doing here.
I reached up and fingered the hair on his forehead. The typically virile man slept like a baby after taking medicine and drinking a little broth. The fever weakened him, hopefully only temporarily.
I hadn’t talked to him or seen him for almost two months, but certainly thought and wondered about him. If I was honest, I even fantasized that somehow we might find our way back together and try again one day, under different circumstances.
Never did I think he’d show up on my doorstep on Christmas Eve. I still couldn’t believe he was in Holly Creek. Had he changed, or was he desperate and still after the same things he wanted before, my hand in marriage for his precious building remodel?
He stirred, and I stood, leaning over him and feeling his chest a little clammy. I untucked the sheet a little, when I felt a hand on my thigh. I gasped and locked eyes with him.
“Hi, sweetness.” He half spoke, half coughed.
“Hi. Don’t talk. Try to rest.”
“That’s hard to do when I have so much to say to you.”
“I know.” A stray tear rolled down my cheek for some reason, and he caught it.
“Don’t cry.” Somehow his touch on my cheek and nearly hoarse voice were even sexier and set my heart racing. Why couldn’t I resist Rex Buchanan?
“I’ll be fine. I just need you to rest so you can get better fast. Then we’ll talk and figure all this out between us.”
“Promise you won’t run away?” His face took on a boyish quality, and I just wanted to eat him right up. But I had to remember our last conversation on the rooftop. Clearly, our goals didn’t align. He wanted me to marry just to get what he wanted. Not for love. But talking would help bring closure.
“Yes, promise. I’m not going anywhere. The deli’s closed for the holidays. I don’t report back to the TV station until the second week of January. Besides, the roads aren’t the best to drive on right now, as you know. Do you have to be anywhere soon?”
“Mom fired me from CEO of the family company. I’m free to do what I want, and right now, without a car, I’m not going any—” He coughed more. I blinked at the news.
“Sh. We have time then. You rest and get better.”
“No, sweetness, I need to talk with you.”
“We’ll talk when you’re better. If you don’t mind staying here in Holly Creek and resting for a few days, that is.”
“Is that all we’ll do? Rest and talk?” He tried to be sly about his question, but ended up in a coughing fit that lasted a couple of minutes this time. I shook my head and helped him with a glass of water.
Once he quieted down, I forbade him to open his mouth. Instead, I became chatty, telling him about Holly Creek and all the festivities this week before New Year’s Day. “Flora’s Diner, my mom’s place, is featuring her famous Pie Duo Plate—any two homemade slices with ice cream, and you can pick from pumpkin, apple, cherry, mincemeat. My cousins give horse and sleigh rides through the fields for a few dollars. Some of my friends have businesses in town, so I’ll be visiting them and shopping. And the pond is popular for ice skating. Do you know how to ice skate? ”
He nodded. Then he scooted over to the other side of the bed and patted the mattress.
“What? You want me to lie there?”
His smile and vigorous head bobbing had me giggling. He was too darn cute right now as my patient. Although he still looked tired, his blue eyes brightened, luring me in. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Rex.”
“It’s the best idea, because I miss you, sweetness. Besides, I’m cold and the best thing to warm up a body is another warm body. You want to nurse me back to good health, don’t you?”
I caved in and got under the covers with him, spooning my back into his chest out of habit. “I’m not sure this is proper nursing technique,” I teased. He responded with a growl and tightened his hold on me.
“Does that mean don’t move?” I asked.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Stay with me.” His breath feathered across my ear and his chin scruff tickled my neck.
I missed him, his rich scent, his body, and our nights together—and apparently he did too, since something was knocking at my back.
“No, Rex. You need to save your energy.”
He growled again, caressing a hand down my body.
“If you won’t behave, I’ll get out of this bed.”
His hand snapped back up into place, and he tightened me to him.
After a minute, I sighed and whispered, “I’ve missed you, too. But you were such an asshole.”
“I know,” came his reply .
It didn’t take long before I heard his heavy breathing, showing he’d drifted off to sleep. It took me a little while longer, though. A vision came to me, where I was walking in a field of snow at Christmas time wearing a bridal gown.
What did it mean? What did he want? What did I want ?
Would he be the same old Rex, trying to get me into his scheme for marriage just so he could remodel his precious building? Or did he have a change of heart?
The picture of a white wedding dress in the snow kept nagging me as I tossed and turned beside him all night. Was it a sign? Could Rex and I find some way to make this work? Could this be my last Christmas as a Miss?