Chapter Fourteen
HOLLY WAS TOO BUSY THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON TO DWELL much on the prospect of spending the upcoming evening with Ryan. That’s what she told herself, anyway. At random moments when the thought of him crowded into her brain—along with sparkly anticipation—she tried to quickly push it away.
She had to do something about this growing fascination she was developing for the man. She knew better than this. Any entanglement with Ryan was doomed to end with a broken heart.
She had one job right now: giving Lydia the absolute best life she could. That left no room in her life for a tall, gorgeous naval helicopter pilot who lived a thousand miles away.
Not that he wanted a relationship with her anyway. Why would he be interested in a divorced, perpetually stressed single mom trying to juggle a business, a home and a child?
Still, as the clock ticked down, she was aware that the anticipation seemed to be building inside her like the crackle of a firework before it explodes.
She was tying up her usual end-of-day routine when the door opened. Expecting Ryan, she looked up and was startled to see her mother and her sister come in, stamping off boots and shaking off snow.
She had been so busy, she hadn’t noticed the winter storm forecasters had been predicting had arrived in full force.
“Oh wow. Looks like you just hiked through a blizzard. I didn’t even realize it was snowing.”
“It started as we left the market,” Hannah said. “It’s a fast-moving storm, though. I don’t think we’re supposed to get more than a few inches.”
“Did you find anything good at the market? We’re heading over as soon as the store closes.”
“Oh, I wish we had known.” Her mother’s face dropped. “We would have coordinated with you so we could go together.”
Hannah frowned. “Sorry. I thought you said you probably weren’t going to make it to the market until Monday.”
“My plans changed unexpectedly,” she answered. Even as she spoke, the chimes on the door rang out again and Ryan walked in, snow dusting his dark hair.
He stopped when he spotted the other women. She could feel her face heat and hoped her too-observant mother and sister didn’t notice.
“Am I too early? I thought you were closing the store at six.”
“I am closing right now.”
She moved to the door and flipped the sign.
“You two are going to the market together?” Hannah asked.
“With Audrey and Lydia,” Holly said quickly. “Audrey has a friend performing tonight and I owe Ryan dinner for helping me with deliveries today when I was in a bind.”
Her mother studied him with interest. “I don’t think we’ve met.”
“Sorry, Mom. This is Ryan Caldwell. Kim’s brother. This is my mother, Paula Goodwin. And you already know Hannah.”
Her mother’s features lit up. “Lieutenant Commander Caldwell! The one who is taking Holly to Kristine Moore’s wedding.”
Holly could feel her face heat even more, if possible. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer had nothing on her. As bright as she was sure her features were, they wouldn’t even need a streetlight to find their way to the Christmas market.
Ryan looked amused. “Yes. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Oh, Hannah is absolutely right. You’re perfect!”
“Okay,” he said slowly.
“Did you stop in for any particular reason?” Holly asked, unable to keep the note of desperation from her voice.
Her mother ignored her. “Seriously. Troy is going to freak out when he sees you moving on with your life. Serves him right!”
“I’m not moving on with my life. I mean, I am moving on with my life, of course. But not with Ryan. He’s only doing me a favor by taking me to the wedding.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m not still looking forward to it,” he said again with that same devastating smile.
She narrowed her gaze, wanting to tell him again that he didn’t need to use that seductive smile on her or on her family and friends. They all knew the truth. Hannah had been the one to persuade him to go along with the whole scheme in the first place.
Before she could say anything, Lydia and Audrey came out of the break room, Lydia’s hair messed from sleep.
Her daughter gasped with delight.
“Grandma!” she exclaimed, racing over to Paula, who scooped her up with a laugh.
“There’s my girl. What have you been up to?”
Lydia delivered a long treatise on the many activities of her day.
“And your mom told me you’re going to the market,” Paula said when Lydia stopped to catch her breath. “Do you know who’s there? Santa Claus!”
Lydia’s mouth fell open. “He is?”
“Yes. And maybe your mom will even let you sit on his lap so you can tell him what you want him to bring you.”
“Can I?” She looked at Holly with so much pleading in her expression that Holly had to keep from rolling her eyes at her mother for backing her into this particular corner.
“We’ll have to see. We might not have time, after we eat dinner and listen to Audrey’s friend’s concert and look through the shops a little.”
“Let’s go now!” Lydia exclaimed.
“Come on. I’ll help you get your coat on,” Paula told her.
“It’s back in the break room,” Audrey said.
All three of them headed in that direction while Holly went through the final steps to close the store for the night.
“So why did you guys stop by?” Holly asked.
“Do we need an excuse to say hello?”
“I suppose not.”
She went to grab her own coat off the hook by the back door, where she liked to keep it in case she had to help any customers load a large purchase into their vehicle from the back.
Hannah followed her, keeping an eye on Ryan, who was checking something on his phone across the store.
“I actually did have a reason for stopping by.”
“No,” she said in mock surprise. Her sister was as transparent as a snow globe.
Hannah made a face but spoke in a low voice. “I wanted to give you the heads-up. McKenna Dodd told me Troy and his new family are back in town. Apparently they arrived last night. She bumped into Brittany at that cute gift store over in Haven Point.”
She froze, one arm snagging inside her coat sleeve. Seriously? She wasn’t upset that they were here. The wedding was in two days, so she knew they would be arriving soon.
No, she was angry that Troy apparently had been in the area nearly twenty-four hours and hadn’t tried to connect with the daughter he hadn’t seen in two months.
“Has he reached out to let you know he’s back?” Hannah asked.
“Not yet. I’m sure he will as soon as he gets the chance.”
She tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. Troy paid child support every month exactly on the first and he did call every few weeks to talk to Lydia. He would reach out soon, she was certain.
“Are you okay?”
She took her sister’s hands. “Hannah. I’m fine. I wish everyone would stop treating me like I’m a victim in this situation. I’m not. I’m perfectly happy with my life right now. I am certainly not pining for my ex-husband.”
No. She was pining for the man out front on his phone right now.
“Good. Because he’s a sleaze bucket who was never good enough for you anyway.”
“He’s not a sleaze bucket. You know he’s not.”
Hannah narrowed her gaze. “I disagree. What else would you call a man who walks out on his amazing wife and his beautiful daughter to hook up with someone who is nearly a decade younger than he is, with fake boobs and a spray tan?”
“I don’t want to talk about Troy or Brittany tonight, okay?”
“Neither do I,” Hannah growled. “If I had my way, we would never talk about him again.”
“Unfortunately, he will always be Lydia’s father.”
“Don’t remind me,” Hannah muttered.
She hugged her loyal sister, so very grateful for her support. “Thanks for letting me know he’s in town.”
“You’re welcome.”
Hannah looked as if she wanted to say more but their mother came out of the break room with a now adequately bundled-up Lydia.
“We do need to go. Your father is making dinner tonight and I don’t want to miss his amazing lasagna.”
“Is he?” Hannah said with interest. “Maybe I’ll swing by for dinner.”
“You’re always welcome. All of you are.”
Holly hugged her mother and sister one more time. When they left, Holly drew in a deep breath and faced Ryan, who was watching her with an unreadable look in his eyes.
How much of her exchange with Hannah had he heard?
“I think we’re ready. I only have to arm the alarm.”
“What about my backpack?” Audrey asked. “Should I take it to the market?”
“My truck is parked out front,” Ryan said. “We can leave it in there on the way to the market.”
She set the alarm and opened the front door for them all, then locked it behind her.
Together their little group headed toward the convention center a block away, a large, graceful building that had once been a grand hotel catering to the long-ago tourists who used to visit the area to partake of the healing waters of its namesake springs.
Audrey and Lydia walked ahead of them, holding hands.
“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Ryan asked her as they approached his truck. “You’ve been on your feet all day and probably want to go home and collapse. I can take Audrey on my own. You and Lydia don’t have to go with us, if it’s too much for you.”
Her day had been long and exhausting and right then she wanted to lean against him and soak up his strength.
As tempting as she found that, it wasn’t necessary. Since her divorce, she had found hidden strength inside herself.
“Lydia is looking forward to it. I don’t want to disappoint her.”
“What about you? Everything doesn’t have to be about Lydia, Holly.”
She needed that reminder. “I’m looking forward to it, too,” she said with honesty.
He smiled down at her and in that moment, she couldn’t imagine anywhere else she would rather be.
When they walked into the convention center a few moments later, they were immediately hit from all sides by noise that echoed in the big hall.
Music, laughter, conversation. It all created a wild cacophony.
Holly glanced at Lydia and found her daughter looking around with shining eyes. Fortunately, she didn’t get overstimulated easily. Lydia seemed to thrive on noise and chaos.