Chapter Eighteen
Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.
—James Baldwin
As Hollis finished cleaning and closing up the barn, he headed outside, where Savannah was still waiting for Evan, who’d stayed around to help Hollis with a few things.
“You made my best friend happy this afternoon, and for that, I owe you,” Savannah called out from where she was seated on Hollis’s tailgate.
As he grew closer, Hollis noticed Savannah’s slightly pink cheeks. After finding out about Savannah’s autoimmune disease last year, he wondered if she was in another lupus flare. Stress could induce one, and the holidays were nothing if not stressful.
She seemed happy though, and he knew Evan would take good care of her if that were the case.
Savannah and Mallory were best friends but complete opposites from his point of view.
Savannah had kept her lupus diagnosis hidden when she’d first returned to Bloom, but she hadn’t shunned help.
In fact, allowing Evan to help her with her aunt Eleanor’s library after a summer storm was what had brought them together.
Opposites often attracted when it came to friends and lovers.
Stop right there, Hollis Franklin. His mind was already feeding him the ways that he and Mallory were different. Good girl, bad boy—at least once upon a time.
Savannah narrowed her eyes as she seemed to be reading his mind. Leaning in, she said, “You can deny it if you want, but I can tell when a man has a crush on a woman.”
“Any man with two eyes, or even one, would have a crush on Mallory.” He held up a finger and clarified.
“Any man that’s not already married, of course.
And any nonmarried man with a single working brain cell.
Because it’s not about her looks. Although she’s gorgeous.
” He cleared his throat. “But she’s smart too. She’s great.”
Savannah grinned, her blue eyes sparkling in a knowing way. “If you’re trying to convince me that you don’t have a thing for my best friend, you’re failing.”
Hollis looked away momentarily.
“So, Evan and I are considering getting a puppy,” Savannah offered, changing the subject. “Did he tell you that?”
“No. He didn’t.” Hollis was surprised, because Evan had just gotten a new puppy last year for his teen daughter, June. “Another dog?”
Savannah shrugged. “Well, maybe it’s more me than Evan. I’m trying to convince him that Monday needs a friend.” Monday was the name of Evan’s daughter’s puppy—a nod to the dog in the Anne of Green Gables series.
Savannah folded her arms in front of her.
“It would also be a service dog for me. Not that I really require a service dog at this point, but I might one day. I’ve read that dogs can be helpful with different health issues, such as mine.
And my husband tells me you’re the best dog trainer in town.
In fact, anytime that anyone mentions a dog in this town, the very next words out of their mouths are Hollis Franklin.
Maybe I can be one of your first clients at the new business. ”
Hollis hesitated, which told him just as much as it told Savannah.
Was this going to be another year where he put his dream on the back burner?
He knew exactly where he was going to set up his business.
He had a list of potential clients already on his waiting list, and he had enough money in his bank saved up to cushion him as he let his new business take root.
Some part of him still doubted his ability to make it happen though.
It was the part that listened to the voices from the past. The voices of former teachers, former coaches, and foster parents.
Even former parole officers who’d followed him after being put in juvie for trespassing and getting into a few fights that he never started but always ended.
“Yeah,” he finally said, realizing that Savannah was still waiting for an answer.
“I think so.” His lips curved upward as he let himself speak his dream into existence.
For most of his childhood, he had ignored dreams. Wants.
Even needs. “I’d love to help with training a service dog for you.
” And that was still the dream, even if it was suddenly on shaky ground.
He didn’t want to hurt Matt or insult him by turning down his offer to take over the construction company.
That was a worry for another night though. Hollis wanted to stay in this warm feeling he was coated in after helping Mallory with her predicament. He wasn’t a knight in shining armor, and he didn’t think Mal needed one. She needed a friend though, and maybe more one day.
The next day, Hollis sensed a different vibe in the air as he visited Pop at Memory Oaks.
“Hol, I know Matt doesn’t want to take over the tree business. Now that I’m in here,” he said, “the tree business is going to go to some other guy. To the competition.” The skin between Pop’s brows pinched softly, and there was a nervous twitch to the muscles in his hollowed-out cheeks.
Hollis wasn’t sure how to respond. Since Hollis wasn’t a blood relative, he was only a foster son and grandson, he had never felt like it was his place to take over anything that belonged to Pop or Matt.
He would be glad to care of the tree farm every Christmas for the rest of his life, but the farm didn’t belong to him.
It was Pop’s, and after Pop passed away, it would legally belong to Matt.
Hollis knew good and well that Matt didn’t want the Popadine Tree Farm.
He’d made that clear so many times. In fact, Hollis had heard Matt ramble on about how they should cut down all the trees, at some point, and expand the construction company.
Hollis didn’t have the heart to tell that to Pop, even though he suspected Pop knew.
“The sales good?” Pop looked at Hollis, hanging on every detail that Hollis could give him about the farm.
“I’d say it’s been one of our best seasons in recent years,” Hollis said.
Pop’s eyes were bright and clear. “That’s great, son.”
“Yes, it is. Do you remember how I asked you if Nan’s play could take place in the barn at the farm?” Hollis asked.
Pop’s forehead wrinkled as he seemed to search his thoughts. Then he chuckled softly. “I can’t believe Nan would allow one of her plays to be performed in a barn.”
“Actually, her granddaughter, Mallory, is the one directing the play this year. And, considering that the theater didn’t pass inspection, the family is grateful to have a place for the production.”
“Right. Right. The show must go on,” Pop said dramatically, sounding like Nan herself. “I know Nan is a little… forgetful these days, but I think she’d be happy about the way things are turning out this year.”
Hollis eased back into the chair, sprawling his long legs out in front of him and getting comfortable. He was in no hurry to leave. Instead, he stayed for a good thirty minutes, chatting with Pop before straightening back into an upright position and preparing to leave.
“How’s the grand ideas and plans for the farm going?
” In contrast to Matt, when Pop asked Hollis about his aspirations, he looked excited.
Not that Matt hadn’t supported Hollis throughout his adult life.
Hollis certainly owed a lot to the man he thought of as a foster dad.
“I’m, uh, not sure.” Hollis ran a hand through his hair. “Matt’s not thrilled, of course.”
“You’ve always taken great care of my farm, Hollis.
” Pop leaned toward him. “I don’t want my farm to go to the competition.
I don’t want my farm turned into something it’s not.
I wasn’t humoring you when I listened to your suggestions for Popadine Farms. I like your vision.
I want you to take over for me,” Pop said.
“I know you have a heart for the land and for the trees. You’ll do a good job. ”
It was possible that this was Pop’s dementia speaking, but Hollis didn’t think so.
“I appreciate the offer but I don’t think Matt would be too thrilled if I accepted the farm.” Hollis exhaled a long breath. “In fact, Matt told me that he wants to retire and leave the construction company to me.”
Pop’s thin lips dropped into a deep frown. He pointed a finger in Hollis’s direction. “You hate construction. I could always tell. You were just happy to have a job and food to eat. It was about survival, but you’re not hand-to-mouth anymore. It’s time for you to thrive.”
Hollis wanted to grab hold of this idea.
This offer. It felt like a gift, whereas Matt’s offer had felt like a death sentence.
Turning down Matt’s offer would be spitting in the face of the only person who had ever helped him though.
And taking Pop’s farm would only add insult to injury.
Matt was the one who should inherit Pop’s property.
Pop seemed to understand the ethical dilemma and sighed miserably. “My brain isn’t so far gone that I can’t see every thought playing through your mind.”
“Then you know I can’t accept.”
Pop exhaled quietly. “I think of you the way I would a grandson. Heck, I think of you the way I think of Matt.” Pop seemed to think quietly. “What if I talk to Matt? I can explain my reasons.”
Hollis shook his head. Matt was a reasonable guy, but Hollis could predict exactly how that conversation would go.
“It’s okay, Pop. I’m honored just to work this Christmas season at the farm for you. Although I sure do wish you were there with me. It’s a lot more fun with you.”
Pop laughed, the sound rolling on the way it always did, like a truck with brakes that didn’t quite work. Pop had a laugh that seemed to stretch out longer than most. It was something unique about him and something Hollis was already missing, even though Pop was still very much alive and kicking.
“I just want to see you happy… I saw you talking to Nan’s granddaughter the other day.” Pop raised his brows. “She’s a pretty young woman. If I was your age, I’d have my eye on her for myself. I might even try to marry her before some other chump swept her off her feet.”
“Marry, huh? You can look at a woman and tell if she’s the marrying kind just with one look?”
“Of course,” Pop said. “The kind of woman you marry is more than beautiful. She carries herself well. With confidence and a smile that shows up in her eyes. Her focus is on others. She’s kind.
Considerate. There’s a quietness about her.
A subtleness that keeps most heads from turning because, if you blink, you’ll miss her. ”
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience, Pop.”
The older man in front of him chuckled. “Every man experiences that woman once in their lifetime, but only a few are smart enough to know it when they do. The other chumps marry the wrong woman. The one who turns heads and then demands the world, and when you’re young, you think you can give her that.
” Pop nodded more to himself than to Hollis.
“When you get older, wiser, the young man who thought he was invincible realizes he’s only human and he doesn’t have the world to give.
Just his beat-up, broken-down heart. That’s not really enough for the wrong woman.
For the right woman, though, it’s everything.
” Pop blew out a breath and chuckled some more.
“You never realized your old grandpa here was so deep and romantic, huh?”
Hollis grinned. “Any guy who builds his life around a Christmas tree farm can’t be anything less than deep and romantic.” Pop had been married for nearly two decades before his late wife passed away a couple of years back. “Alice was a lucky woman to have a romantic for a husband.”
Pop looked out the window in his room where there was a birdfeeder set up. “I was the lucky one. Alice gave me our son, Matt. I could have been a better husband. She deserved more.”
Hollis found this interesting. “What more could she have possibly wanted?”
Pop looked at him, sadness reflecting in his eyes. “My whole heart. I gave my heart to someone else before I met Matt’s mother.”
Hollis didn’t think Pop was confused. Pop’s eyes were clear. “Who was she?”
Pop pulled in a deep breath. “I’m afraid some things should be kept quiet.
For Matt’s sake, if nothing else. I loved his mother very much, but the woman I was in love with was another woman.
It’s not something I’m proud of nor something I could help.
Once you give your heart to someone, it’s hard to get it back. ”