Chapter Eight
THIS PROBABLY WASN’T HIS SMARTEST IDEA EVER.
As Ryan pulled more boxes marked Christmas out of his sister’s attic he had to ask himself what he had been thinking.
Why had he signed himself up for this? Bad enough that he was now committed to decorating his sister’s house for her but he had also jumped into the middle of what was bound to be an uncomfortable social event.
He wasn’t a big fan of weddings in the first place.
All that fuss over something that probably wouldn’t last anyway.
A wedding for a couple of strangers, along with all the accompanying social unease, felt like the fifth circle of hell.
How could he refuse, though? He liked Holly. Something about the woman and her cute daughter stirred up all his protective instincts. Holly seemed to have been given more than her share of challenges and she was handling them with grace. He had to respect that.
He also had kind of a thing for protecting and defending the vulnerable. He didn’t like the idea of Holly having to face her ex and his new family without backup.
It was only one night. He could handle that, couldn’t he?
He had already talked to his dad about borrowing one of his suit jackets, though he hadn’t told the colonel why.
The doorbell rang as he was setting down the last box in the living room.
“I’ll get it!” Before he could react, Audrey raced from her room where she was supposed to be finishing a homework assignment before their guests arrived.
He heard her greet Holly and Lydia with enthusiasm. “Thanks so much for coming to help us,” he heard Audrey say in the entryway. “We’re both pretty clueless when it comes to decorating.”
“Speak for yourself.” Ryan moved into the small foyer to take their coats and hats. “Maybe we’ll discover I have a hidden talent for this kind of thing.”
“I hope so,” Holly said with a smile. “Then you won’t need me. And if we find that talent, I’ll immediately hire you at the store while you’re in town. I can use all the help I can find right now.”
Yeah, working in a florist shop intimidated him far more than spending an entire day at the Christmas wedding of a couple of strangers.
“Hi, Mr. Ryan.” Lydia beamed at him with her entire face and he could swear the whole world seemed to brighten.
He smiled down at her. “Hello, Miss Lydia. You are looking lovely today.”
She twirled to show off a cute Christmas sweater and skirt that she wore over matching leggings. “We going to Grandma’s today to take a shower.”
He frowned in confusion. “Are you?”
Holly gave him a rueful smile but he noticed she didn’t outright contradict her daughter; she only made a slight correction to her claim. “My ex-mother-in-law is hosting a bridal shower for Kristine this afternoon. We’re heading over as soon as we’re done here.”
“Are you sure you have time to help us put up our tree? Sounds like your day is packed.”
“We absolutely have time. We’re looking forward to it, aren’t we?” she asked her daughter.
Lydia clapped her hands with delight. “I love Christmas,” she declared.
When you were living with so much joy, it would be hard not to love the holidays.
“Where do we start?” he asked. “I went through the attic and brought down everything I could find marked Christmas but I haven’t had time to go through the boxes yet.”
“That’s okay. Going through boxes is one of our favorite things, isn’t it, Lyd?”
Her daughter nodded vigorously. “I love presents, too.”
“Who doesn’t?”
Holly smiled at her daughter and something about that gentle expression, overflowing with love, left a soft ache in his chest, an unaccustomed warmth.
When she turned that smile in his direction, he felt as if the sun had come out from behind the clouds during a hard winter storm.
“Let’s see what you have,” she said.
He led the way to the living room, dominated now by the artificial Christmas tree he and Audrey had put up the night before.
“Oh good,” Holly said. “You’ve already set up the tree.”
“That’s all we’ve done. We were afraid to put up any decorations. We didn’t want to ruin it.”
“First rule of Christmas trees, you can’t ruin them.
No matter what you do, if you like the results, it’s perfect for you.
Christmas trees don’t have to be fancy. The decorations don’t all have to match and they don’t have to have expensive ornaments.
You can use whatever you want, as long as it brings you joy. ”
The Christmas trees of his childhood had been elegant, with matching ornaments and ribbons, he suddenly remembered. His mother had opted for entirely new tree decorations every time they had to move to a new military base, leaving the old ornaments behind for other families.
Had that been his father’s preference? Or had his mother perhaps been a little more picky about that sort of thing than he remembered?
“How does your mom usually decorate your Christmas tree?” Holly asked Audrey, as if following his train of thought. “Does she use color-coordinated ornaments or does she prefer a hodgepodge of things on the tree?”
Audrey grew thoughtful. “We always had two trees, even before we moved here. We would put the big fake one in the front room and put up a smaller real one in the family room or one of our bedrooms.”
“That’s nice.”
She nodded. “The fake one is always fancy, with silver and blue ornaments, and the real one is decorated with all the ornaments I’ve made through the years or things Mom and I have made together or ornaments we’ve picked up on vacation.”
“Since we don’t have a real one this year, why don’t we save most of the fancy ornaments for next year when things are back to normal for you and put all the most cherished ornaments on this one?”
“Okay.”
“You and Lydia can start going through the boxes and see if you can find the ornaments you’d like to use, as well as the garland and whatever tree topper you usually have out here.”
“It’s an angel my mom said my grandma used to hang on the tree.”
He had totally forgotten that angel. With a sudden rush of nostalgia, he remembered how much pleasure Laura used to get in taking the angel out of the box every year and setting her atop the tree.
He used to talk to the angel, he remembered, with no small amount of mortification.
“Perfect.” Holly smiled at Audrey. “We’ll save that job for last, since that’s something you and your uncle can do without us, if we run out of time and have to leave for our shower.”
“Sounds good.”
“While you’re looking through the boxes, set aside any other holiday decorations you are absolutely sure your mother would want you to put out.”
“Okay. Lydia and I can do that.”
“Great. Meanwhile, your uncle and I will head outside with that box of lights and hang them on the tree out front. As I recall, that’s what your mom did last year.”
Audrey nodded. “She was so happy after we moved into this house. We had always lived in apartments before we started renting this one and we never had our own yard to decorate.”
“How lovely,” Holly said.
“Even when we lived in apartments, Mom always decorated our balcony or patio with lights and a little Christmas tree.”
Kim had loved Christmas. He should have remembered. After their mom died, when they would both come home from their respective boarding schools, she would insist the two of them decorate the house. She used to say it was her way of connecting to their mom, who had also loved the holidays.
He was suddenly grateful he had asked Holly for her help. With everything Kim was going through, his sister deserved to be able to return home to lights and decorations and holiday cheer.
“I can probably decorate the trees and shrubs outside on my own, if you want to stay here and help Audrey and Lydia.”
She appeared to consider his suggestion, then shrugged. “I expect things will go faster and be less frustrating if there are two of us. In my experience, lights are easier with a team. You can string the lights while I work on keeping them untangled as much as possible.”
“Good plan.”
“I should have left my coat on,” she said ruefully.
“Here. Let me help you.”
He grabbed her coat from the rack and helped her slip her arms into the sleeves. As he did, he couldn’t help noticing the sweetly seductive scent of her, vanilla and lemons and apples.
He grabbed his own coat from the rack and donned it before fishing his gloves out of his pocket.
She grabbed one box of lights and he picked up the other one and they both headed outside into the cold December day, where sunlight gleamed off the snow.
He couldn’t help an instinctive shiver and she sent him a sidelong look.
“Sorry. I’ve been living in San Diego for two years and before that I was in Hawaii, with Guam before that.”
“Must be tough.”
“Well, I did spend six months deployed on a carrier in the North Atlantic, but that’s been a few years. I’m still trying to get used to winter weather again.”
He gestured back to the house. “Also, nicely done back there. I’ve had commanding officers who didn’t give orders as clearly as that.”
She winced. “Sorry. I stepped in and took over, didn’t I?”
“I meant that as a sincere compliment. I had no idea where to start, which is probably why I haven’t done anything to decorate the house since I first arrived in town. I should have. Kim loves Christmas so Audrey probably does, too.”
“She does.”
“I was thinking a moment ago how grateful I am that you agreed to help us.”
She gave a short laugh, her cheeks going slightly pink in the cold air. “I’m coming out ahead in this deal, as we both know. I only have to help you with something I love doing anyway—decorating for Christmas—while you’ll be stuck having to endure my ex-in-laws for an entire evening.”
Right now, the idea of spending more time with Holly, even at a wedding, didn’t seem unappealing at all.
“Don’t forget we also have to persuade them we’re head over heels for each other.”
“Again, I’m not sure we have to go that far. Your presence will probably be enough.”
“Maybe. But it will definitely be more fun.”