Chapter 9 Julie
JULIE
Julie stood at the entrance of the Christmas Inn, her arm linked through Jack’s, watching as the shuttle van pulled away from the curb.
The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the driveway, and she could see faces pressed against the windows. Holly waving. Jane blowing a kiss. Trinity and Maddy waved from the back seat in excited anticipation of the trip.
Logan sat in the driver’s seat, his hands steady on the wheel, while Charlie occupied the passenger seat beside him.
Behind them, Holly sat beside her son, Gabe, who had Jane on the other side of him.
In the row behind them, Maddy and Trinity flanked Christopher, all three of them already laughing about something Julie couldn’t hear through the closed windows.
They were heading to Miami. To wrap up the lives they’d built there so they could move permanently to Anastasia Island. To Holly’s house, where they’d all be staying together while they sorted through decades of belongings and decisions.
It was the right thing to do. The necessary thing.
But that didn’t make watching them leave any easier.
Jack’s arm tensed beneath her hand, and Julie felt the worry radiating off him like heat from pavement in summer.
“They’ll be fine,” she murmured.
“I know,” Jack said, but his voice carried the weight of someone trying to convince himself. “I just hate them traveling during the festive season. The roads are terrible. Everyone’s in a hurry. People drink too much and think they’re fine to drive.”
Julie squeezed his arm. “Logan is the most careful driver I know. And Charlie won’t let him take any risks.”
“I know,” Jack said again.
Isabella stood on Jack’s other side, her eyes fixed on the van as it turned onto the main road and disappeared from view. Her face was composed, but Julie saw the tightness around her mouth, the way her hands were clasped in front of her like she was physically holding herself together.
This was the first time Isabella and Maddy had been apart since Maddy had been born. But Maddy had wanted so badly to go to Miami, to spend time with Trinity and see the city and be part of the adventure. And Christopher had promised to look after her like she was his own.
But that didn’t make it easier for Isabella to watch her daughter drive away.
The van disappeared completely, swallowed by distance and trees.
Julie turned to both of them, slipping her arms through theirs. “Do you two need a hot chocolate?”
Jack looked down at her, his expression softening slightly. “I could do with one.”
“Me too,” Isabella said quietly.
“I’ll make it,” Isabella added, already starting to turn toward the Inn.
“Not a chance.” A firm voice came from beside them.
They all turned.
Mrs. Hurling stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips, her expression brooking no argument.
Her steel-gray hair was pulled back in a bun, and she had the kind of no-nonsense demeanor that came from years of running professional kitchens.
She’d been helping Isabella since the holiday rush began, and the two of them had developed the kind of efficient partnership that made the dining room run like clockwork.
“You’re not setting foot in that kitchen right now,” Mrs. Hurling said, pointing at Isabella. “I’ll make the hot chocolate. You go take a seat in the dining room.”
“But what about the front desk?” Jack asked, glancing back toward the lobby.
Marcus appeared beside Mrs. Hurling, his young face serious. “I’ll take care of it.”
Julie smiled. “See? Everything is handled.”
She marched them both toward the dining room before either of them could come up with another excuse to work instead of rest.
The dining room was quiet this time of day, the lunch rush long over and dinner service still hours away. Soft light filtered through the windows, catching on the polished wood tables and making the room feel warm and safe.
Julie steered them to a table near the window and sat them down like children who needed supervision.
“There,” she said, settling into her own chair. “Now we wait for hot chocolate, and we don’t worry.”
“Easy for you to say,” Jack muttered, but there was affection in his voice.
“They’ll call when they stop for gas,” Julie said. “And they’ll call again when they get to Holly’s house. We’ll hear from them every step of the way.”
Isabella nodded, but her gaze drifted to the window, following the road the van had taken.
Mrs. Hurling appeared a few minutes later with a tray bearing three mugs of hot chocolate, each one topped with whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon. She set them down with the kind of efficiency that suggested she’d been serving people for decades.
“There you go,” she said. “And I don’t want to see any of you near the kitchen or the front desk for at least thirty minutes. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jack said with a grin.
Mrs. Hurling shook her head and disappeared back toward the kitchen.
Julie wrapped her hands around her mug, letting the warmth seep into her palms. “See? This is exactly what we needed.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, sipping their drinks and watching the late afternoon light shift across the room.
Finally, Isabella spoke. “Jack, has Jane decided whether she’s going to press charges against her mother?”
Julie felt the shift in the air immediately. Jack’s shoulders tensed, and his expression closed off slightly.
“I don’t think she will,” Jack said after a moment.
Julie understood Isabella’s hesitation in asking.
She and Jane had grown close over the past few weeks leading up to Christmas, but the subject of Pamela was still raw.
Jane pretended her mother didn’t bother her, that the manipulation and lies and attempts to steal her inheritance, and even worse to Jane, the Christmas Inn, hadn’t left scars. But they all knew better.
“William thinks he has to, though,” Jack continued. “As an ex-attorney, he says it’s his duty to make sure she faces consequences.”
“I agree with William,” Isabella said quietly.
Her voice carried the weight of someone who understood what it meant to be manipulated by someone who was supposed to love you.
“Your ex-wife is cold, calculating, and narcissistic enough to try to use her own daughter, a daughter she walked out on when Jane was very young, to come back into her life just to steal Jane’s inheritance and the Christmas Inn. ”
Jack’s jaw tightened. “I know.”
Julie reached over and squeezed his hand. “Jane will make the right decision when she’s ready. And whatever she decides, we’ll support her.”
Jack nodded, some of the tension easing from his shoulders.
Julie decided it was time to steer the conversation toward happier topics. She turned to Isabella with a smile. “So, how are things going with Christopher?”
Isabella’s face transformed. The worry and tension melted away, replaced by a smile that made her look ten years younger. The kind of smile Julie knew all too well because she’d seen it on her own face in the mirror lately when she thought about William.
Julie sighed, warmth spreading through her chest.
So many of her favorite people had found love this Christmas.
Her son Jack, who’d been alone for so long after his divorce, had finally opened his heart to Holly.
Isabella, who’d come to the Inn broken and afraid, had found safety and love with Christopher.
Jane, her precious granddaughter, had discovered that Gabe’s quiet strength was exactly what she needed.
And Logan, who’d been like a second son to her for decades, had finally admitted his feelings for Charlie.
A whole bunch of Christmas wishes that had been hung on William’s wish tree had come true.
“It seems everyone got a second chance at love this Christmas,” Julie said aloud, her voice soft with wonder.
“Yes,” Jack agreed, his grin returning. “Mother, we concede to your power of Christmas magic.”
Julie laughed. “I had nothing to do with it.”
“Sure you didn’t,” Jack teased.
They fell silent for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts.
Isabella broke the quiet. “Julie, what’s the story with the newcomers to the Inn? Eve, Mia, and Lila?”
Julie set her mug down. “From what William told me, Mia is a top surgeon in Los Angeles. She had a terrible case that shook her to the core. A child died on her operating table. Eve and Mia’s daughter, Lila, decided she needed a change of scenery.”
“William was right to advise them to come here,” Isabella said, her smile gentle and knowing. “The Christmas Inn is really the right place to come to heal your soul and your heart.”
“That’s true,” Jack agreed. “We should put that in our advertisement.”
“It’s there already,” Isabella reminded him. “Remember, I updated it the day before Christmas.”
“I know,” Jack said with a wink. He turned to his mother. “Well, I haven’t made a wish yet.”
Julie’s eyebrows rose. “No, you haven’t. Do you have one?”
“Yeah, but can I say it out loud without putting it on the wish tree?” Jack asked, and at first Julie thought he was being sarcastic, but then she saw he meant it.
Julie smiled. “I’m sure the universe doesn’t mind.”
Jack leaned back in his chair, his expression turning thoughtful. “Okay then. I wish that Eve, Mia, and Lila find healing, hope, and the love their hearts are searching for here at the Christmas Inn.”
The words settled over the table like a blessing.
“That’s a lovely wish,” Isabella said. She turned to Julie. “I haven’t made one either. Can I?”
“Of course,” Julie said.
“Well, as Jack has taken care of our new friends,” Isabella said, “I’m going to wish that our family is safe on their travels to and from Miami.”
Julie felt her eyes prickle with emotion. “That’s a very sensible wish. I’m proud of both of you because you didn’t make selfish wishes.”
Jack shrugged. “We have everything we want or need.”
“That’s so true,” Julie said, her voice thick with love.
She glanced at her watch and gasped. “Oh goodness, I have to go get ready. William is coming early to fetch me for dinner. We’re taking Eve, Mia, and Lila to Salvatore’s.”
“Oh, nice,” Jack said, standing and helping her with her chair. “I’d better get back to work. There’s so much paperwork I’ve been putting off.”
“And I have to get going for the dinner rush,” Isabella said, rising as well.
They finished their hot chocolate and dispersed, each heading in different directions.
Julie walked through the Inn and toward their house, which was joined to the inn. Her mind was already moving through the evening ahead. William would be here within the hour. She needed to change, freshen up, maybe add a touch of lipstick. The deep green dress she’d chosen would be perfect.
She stepped into her bedroom and moved to the closet, pulling out the dress and laying it across the bed.
A breeze swept through the room.
Julie froze.
The window was closed. She could see it from where she stood, latched tight against the December evening.
But the breeze wrapped around her anyway, cool and insistent, pressing against her skin like a hand on her shoulder.
Julie closed her eyes and let the feeling surround her.
It was familiar. As familiar as her own heartbeat. As familiar as the way she knew when Jack was troubled or when the Inn needed her attention.
Her late husband had called it her gift. Her mother had called it sight. Julie just called it knowing.
And right now, she knew.
The breeze moved around her, through her, carrying with it something she couldn’t name but recognized all the same. A warning. A whisper. The kind of certainty that came from somewhere deeper than logic.
“Yes, my darling,” she whispered to the empty room, to the breeze that shouldn’t exist, to the presence she’d learned to trust decades ago. “I can feel it. More danger and mystery are coming.”
The breeze tightened around her, confirming what she already suspected.
It wasn’t a question. It was a fact, delivered with the gentle insistence of someone who loved her enough to warn her.
Julie sighed as the breeze released her and slipped away, the room falling still once more.
She opened her eyes and looked at the dress laid across the bed.
Her hands were steady as she picked it up, even though her heart had begun to beat a little faster.
“And I know just who it followed here,” she said quietly to the empty room.
The words hung in the air, heavy with certainty as she went to get ready.