Chapter One #2
Her sister beamed at him and held out her hand. After a beat, he shook it, looking bemused.
Not for the first time, Holly wished she wasn’t always the quiet sister, the serious, bookish one. Sometimes she wanted to be the fun, flirty twin who was comfortable talking to anyone.
“How kind of you to drop everything in San Diego and come out to help Kim with Audrey during the holidays,” Hannah went on.
He shrugged. “We’re family. Isn’t that the kind of thing family does for each other?”
“Definitely, though I would have thought Audrey could stay with your dad over in Haven Point.”
Something hard flashed across his expression but it was there and gone so quickly Holly thought she must have been mistaken.
“The colonel is busy taking care of Diane after the accident as well as running Caldwell Aviation. He doesn’t have time to run Audrey back and forth to school here in Shelter Springs.”
“How is Diane?” Holly asked, feeling great sympathy for the other woman. She couldn’t imagine being laid up over the holidays, with broken bones sustained in an accident a week earlier.
“She came home from the hospital a few days ago, apparently. I talked to her this morning while I was driving and she assured me she’s fine.
I haven’t seen her yet. I was thinking I could take Audrey there this evening, after we pick up her things from your place. She has been staying with you, right?”
Audrey, Kim’s thirteen-year-old daughter, had been sleeping in Holly’s spare room since Sunday.
“She has. It’s been no problem.”
“Thank you for that. I know my sister is grateful.”
“There is nothing to thank me for. Audrey is a delight. I enjoy her company and she’s wonderful with my daughter. I was grateful her mother trusted me enough to let her stay with me while Kim gets the help she needs.”
His mouth tightened again and he gave a short nod. She had only spoken briefly with her friend and employee since Kim checked herself into an addiction treatment facility in Boise the morning after the accident, the one that had injured Kim’s stepmother, Diane.
“I didn’t mind at all,” she said again. “In fact, she could have stayed with me the whole time Kim expects to be in Boise. I told your sister that. You really didn’t have to come out here.”
“I wish I could have made it earlier, but it took me a few days to arrange leave.”
Kim talked often about her younger brother while she and Holly were working together at the shop. Holly almost felt like she knew him. She likely knew far more about him than he did about her.
She was aware that Ryan Caldwell was a naval pilot who flew helicopters—a pilot who had been relegated to a desk job the past two months while healing from a knee injury sustained in the line of duty.
It was one thing to know information about a man in the abstract. It was entirely different when the same man was standing in her floral shop, looking rough and masculine and gorgeous.
“I’m sure Audrey will be happy to see you,” she said.
Before he could answer, the bells on the door heralded a new arrival. A young man rushed in, clearly in a hurry. He was good-looking in a clean-cut way but not at all in the same league as Ryan Caldwell.
Happiness also beamed out of him so brightly it probably could power all the Christmas lights in town.
“Hi. I’m Austin Harris. I’m here to pick up a bouquet for my wife. She just had a baby this morning.”
He brimmed with excitement and pride, as if no other couple on earth had ever been clever enough to bring a child into the world.
“I ordered it about an hour ago and the person I spoke with said it would be ready at three p.m.”
Holly quickly turned away from Ryan, switching back into business mode. “Congratulations to both of you,” she said warmly. “Is this your first?”
“Yes. That is, she had a miscarriage around this time last year, so technically our second.”
His words and the hint of sorrow on his expression made her like him that much more, though she couldn’t help but remember her own miscarriage, the year after Lydia was born. That dark time had been the beginning of the end of her marriage.
Her now-ex-husband hadn’t been at all thrilled to find out she was unexpectedly pregnant, as if she had found herself in that condition all by herself. When she lost the baby at ten weeks, Troy hadn’t bothered to hide his relief and Holly had never been able to forgive him for it.
Of course, now he and Brittany, the woman he had married only two months after their divorce was final, had a child together. Hudson was a healthy, adorable baby boy, and the man who had claimed he didn’t want more children couldn’t be more thrilled.
She pushed away the lingering hint of bitterness she had no right to. She did not regret their divorce at all. She had accepted the inevitability of it a long time ago and knew both she and Lydia were much happier now.
When she presented the arrangement to Austin Harris, his already bright face lit up even more. “It’s perfect! Gorgeous.”
As she processed the order, he went on gushing about how brave his wife had been, how thrilled they both were at the healthy delivery, how adorably perfect their baby girl was.
His sheer delight made Holly smile as she handed him the receipt to sign.
He was still beaming as he grabbed the bouquet and hurried out of the store. Before the door closed behind him, Holly saw a light snow had begun to fall.
“I’ve got to run too,” Hannah said, gathering up her coat, hat and scarf. “I’m meeting with Reverend Ashford to go over the final music selections for the Christmas Eve service.”
“Thank you for lunch. I wouldn’t have had time to grab anything if you hadn’t taken pity on me and picked up a sandwich,” Holly said.
“What are twins for?” Hannah said, then turned a flirtatious look on the other man in the shop, who had been standing to the side, waiting for her to finish the interaction with the new father.
“Nice to meet you, Ryan. I hope you enjoy your stay in Shelter Springs.”
“Thanks,” he said.
After she left, he glanced at the sleek watch on his wrist. “What time do you expect Audrey and your daughter?”
“It should be any minute, though sometimes Lydia likes to dawdle,” she admitted.
The words were barely out when the door burst open and her beautiful girl rushed through as if she were chasing a pack of wild puppies.
“Mommy! Mommy!”
She dropped her backpack just inside the door and lunged for Holly’s outstretched arms.
“There’s my girl.” She hugged her close. “Hi Lydi-bug. Did you have a good day?”
Lydia nodded. “We drew pictures and heard a story and played at the sand table and sang songs. And we had pizza for lunch. I love pizza.”
“I know you do.”
Holly was deeply grateful for the teacher and aides at her child’s special education kindergarten class, as well as the regular ed teacher where Lydia was mainstreamed for half of her day.
They were all angels, as far as Holly was concerned.
Smoothing her flyaway hair away from her face, Lydia gave Kim’s brother her wide, generous smile. “Hi. I’m Lydia.”
Ryan Caldwell looked nonplussed for an instant then gave her a slow smile in return that Holly somehow found even more devastating.
“Hello. Nice to meet you, Lydia. My name is Ryan.”
“Uncle Ry!”
Even as he spoke, the door opened and Audrey came in looking breathless, as if she had run after Lydia the whole way from the elementary school, which was just down the street from the middle school Audrey attended.
“You’re here already! I didn’t think you would be here for a few hours! I’m so glad you were able to come early.”
Audrey hurried toward him and gave him a hug, which he returned. Holly found the clear affection between them reassuring.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to make the arrangements,” he said.
“Totally fine.” Audrey gave him an apologetic look. “I can’t leave with you yet, though. I’m sorry! I promised to watch Lydia until the store closes.”
When Ryan shifted his attention to Holly again, she tried not to feel guilty.
“She’s been babysitting Lydia after school for me. Usually I try to work my schedule around Lydia’s so I’m done here by the time school is over. It’s a little more, um, challenging now that I’m short-staffed.”
While her best employee, Kim, was absolutely where she needed to be, her absence created a scheduling nightmare this time of year, especially when the season also inevitably brought more sick days for her staff.
“Audrey has been so great to help out.”
“I love Audrey,” Lydia announced. “She’s my friend.”
The older girl tousled her hair. “And you’re mine. We’re besties.”
“Besties,” Lydia repeated with a giggle. She truly did adore Audrey, which warmed Holly’s heart. She was grateful all over again for the older girl’s kindness and willingness to take a job babysitting for her.
“Why don’t we skip today and start up again Monday?” Holly suggested.
She was still overwhelmed, especially with the first of her three seasonal weddings the next day, but she was sure she could figure out how to work around Lydia’s presence. With luck, Holly might even be able to get her to take a nap in the break room, where she and Audrey usually hung out.
“I’m sure your uncle could use your help getting settled in at your place,” she went on.
“But what about my bestie here?” Audrey asked.
“We’ll be fine,” Holly assured her. “We’ve finished all the deliveries for the day and I don’t expect the afternoon to be too busy. I’m only going to be working on wedding decorations and Lydia can help me with that. Isn’t that right?”
“I’m a good helper,” Lydia declared. It wasn’t precisely true but Holly would never dispute her daughter’s claim.
“Are you sure?” Audrey looked worried.
“Positive.”
“I was thinking we could head over to Haven Point to check on your Grandma Diane this afternoon,” Ryan said to Audrey before turning to Holly. “I would hate to put you in a bind by stealing away your babysitter though. We don’t have to go this afternoon. There’s no rush.”
“It’s no problem,” she said. “Go.”
“What about my stuff?” Audrey asked. “My suitcase is still at Rose Cottage with my phone charger and everything.”
“I can gather your things and your suitcase and take them to you later tonight.”
“You don’t need to go to any trouble,” Ryan said with that stiff politeness again. “I don’t want to put you out further, especially when it looks like you have your hands full. If it works for you, we can stop by later this evening to grab them.”
“We have a Christmas tree,” Lydia announced. “Audrey doesn’t have a Christmas tree.”
“We’ll have to do something about that, won’t we?” Ryan said.
Lydia nodded with a vigor that made him smile.
“While I’m here, do you have some kind of bouquet I could take to my stepmom?” he asked Holly.
“We have a few premade arrangements.” She pointed to the large refrigerator with the clear door. “You can take a look and see if you like any of them. If not, I can throw something else together for you.”
“I’m sure we can find something that works. I don’t know anything about flowers. Can you help me choose, Audrey?”
The two of them made their way to the display and quickly came to the counter with one of her favorites, a lovely spray of red roses, white Asiatic lilies and red-and-white carnations. It was accented with pine cones and seasonal greenery along with a small balloon pick that read Get Well Soon.
“This is a nice one,” she said as she rang it up and gave him the total.
“Yes. It’s lovely,” he said, swiping his credit card.
“I suppose we’ll see you later tonight, then,” he said, after she gave him the receipt.
“Sounds good,” she answered, trying her best to ignore the little quiver of anticipation she didn’t want to feel.
Something told her Ryan Caldwell was trouble, something she definitely didn’t need this year.
She had endured enough trouble because of a man who wasn’t good for her. She didn’t need to go looking for more.