CHAPTER SIXTEEN
HOLLY
Christmas is six days away, and the shop is winding down for the day, there are no customers. It's just past five, the sky that dismal gray of December evenings, the streetlights flickering to life one by one along State Street. I'm counting the register drawer when the bell over the door jingles.
“I'll be right with you!” I call out, not bothering to look up.
“Take your time,” a familiar voice says, and my whole body goes still.
I look up to find James standing just inside the door, and he looks so handsome and familiar that a part of me gets excited like it always did at the sight of him.
But the smarter part, the area that is still hurting so much that it steals my breath some days, doesn’t let me race around the counter like I want to.
That part is throwing up huge caution flags and waving a red flag in panic.
It’s urging me to run into the backroom and hide because I’m not sure I can face him again.
But I’m an adult so I don’t do either.
“James.” I slowly close the register drawer. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you.” It's the same thing he said the very first time he walked into this shop, and I wonder if he remembers that.
“That's not usually how breakups go.” I cross my arms and force myself to meet his gaze.
“Five minutes,” he says quietly. “That’s all I’m asking for.”
I wanted to spend my life with him. So even though it hurts, I can give him five minutes to say whatever it is he feels he needs to. “Okay.”
“Thank you, Holly. I'll be quick, I promise.” He glances toward the door, and I notice he hasn't fully closed it, and whirls of snow are drifting across the threshold. “Can you come outside with me? I want to show you something.”
Hesitating, I glance toward Natalie, who's restocking a shelf of ornaments near the front window and making shooing motions with her hands.
Biting my lower lip, I step around the counter, all my attention on James as my heart pounds like the little drummer boy is going to town on it.
He opens the door fully for me and motions for me to go first. The street outside is dusted with fresh snow, the light fading fast now and I doubt we’ll see another customer tonight as the street looks pretty deserted of cars.
Except for standing on the sidewalk, in a loose semicircle, are about a dozen people in brilliant red scarves and matching red knit hats, holding sheet music and smiling widely as they all stare at us.
“James.” My hand flies to my mouth and my eyes start to sting before anything has even happened yet because I have a feeling he’s behind this. “What’s going on?”
He doesn't answer. He just nods toward the group, and they begin to sing one of the most overplayed and widely debated upon Christmas songs. It also is my personal favorite, which I don’t think I ever mentioned to James.
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” rises up, voices harmonizing in the way they are supposed to, and my chest goes tight as emotions swirl through me. A few people from the nearby stores come out to see what’s going on, and phones start coming out.
And James drops to one knee on the cold sidewalk, right there in front of my shop, and pulls a small, bright red box from his coat pocket.
For one long second, I can't breathe at all. This is it; this is everything I ever wanted with the man kneeling in front of me, and I wasn’t prepared. Then again I don’t think anything could have prepared me for this moment.
“Holly Winters.” His voice is steady, but I can see his normally steady hand isn't as he holds the ring box up toward me. “I love you. I think I've loved you from that very first night, but it took my brain longer to catch up with what my heart already knew.”
A startled laugh escapes me as the tears spill over my lower eyelashes, falling warmly against my chilled cheeks. Hope and love and a dash of disbelief are the emotions currently overtaking me and making me feel positively dizzy.
“I told you I wasn't sure I could give you what you wanted fast enough,” he continues, the carolers still humming softly behind him, somehow making the whole street feel like I’m in the middle of my own personal Hallmark Christmas movie.
James’ blue eyes are bright, and for a man that is usually so in control of his emotions to give in to them in front of half my street undoes me a little further.
“I spent far too much time convinced I was the wrong man for you. Too old, too cautious, too late for a life you deserved. But I was wrong about being wrong.” A chuckle rumbles out of him as his blue eyes gleam.
“I'm done mistaking caution for wisdom. I want the house full of noise you talked about on that train.
I want the chaos and however many kids you decide we should have, even if I'm in my fifties by the time the first one starts kindergarten.”
“James.” It comes out as barely more than a whisper. My hands are pressed against my chest, and I can feel the hammering of my heart.
“I want all of it, with you, starting now. I’m not the wrong man at the wrong time in his life.
I’m exactly where I’ve always been meant to be, with you.
” He opens the box, and the ring is large and dazzling, but I barely spare it a glance.
My eyes are for James alone. “Holly Winters, will you marry me?”
The street has gone quiet except for the soft hum of the carolers and the murmur of the small crowd that's gathered, but all of it feels like distant, background noise to the only thing that actually matters right now, which is the man down on one knee in the snow outside my shop, with his whole heart openly shining on his face, asking me the question I'd given up letting myself hope for.
Every part of me already knows the answer. There is no hesitation or delay.
“Yes.” Tears drip down my face as I nod. “Yes, James, yes!”
He's up and pulling me into his arms almost before I finish saying it, lifting me half off my feet, and the kiss that follows tastes like relief mixed with the sweetest love I’ve ever known. I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him back with everything I got.
The crowd erupts into applause around us, and the carolers begin the song all over again, and it’s perfect. Utterly perfect. Not because it really is perfect, but because it’s our moment, the first of what will hopefully be many.
When James finally sets me back on my feet, he slides the ring onto my finger, and I look down at it through happy tears.
“How long have you been planning this?” I ask pulling my gaze from the gorgeous ring to my now-fiancé.
“Not nearly long enough,” he says softly, dropping his forehead to rest against mine. “I'm sorry it took me so long to get here.”
“You're here now and that’s what matters.” I pull back just enough to look at him properly and feel compelled to ask, “James, are you sure? This is fast. We've known each other for less than a month.”
“I'm sure,” he says without a single beat of hesitation, and the joy on his face tells me he really is absolutely certain. “When you know it's right, why wait? We don’t have to get married tomorrow or even six months from now, but I want to marry you, and I needed you to know that.”
Somehow, he knows exactly what I needed to hear.
The carolers finish the song to wild applause from the growing crowd of people, and James and I join in.
Then, with his hand gripping mine tightly, as if he’s afraid I’m going to slip away, he brings me over to carolers.
We both thank them warmly as they congratulate us, and then James presses something into the head caroler’s hand that, judging by her smile, is a very generous tip.
The small crowd disperses slowly, a few more people offering congratulations on their way past and one woman grabs my free hand and tells us to have a blessed Christmas and New Year.
Natalie is standing in the shop doorway with the biggest grin ever on her face, and I know I’m not going to hear the end of this. When I told her about breaking up with James, she called me a fool and said we’d be back together before Christmas. Guess she knew something I didn’t.
I look down at the engagement ring on my finger, then up at James. His cheeks are flushed from the cold, and the smile on his face is the largest one I’ve ever seen, and my heart feels like it could burst from sheer happiness.
It was fast. I know that. A month ago he was a stranger in a hotel bar two stools down from me, and tonight he's standing beside me with his ring on my finger and a promise of forever.
I always dreamed of a fairy tale romance, and with James, I got it. Part of me was afraid I might be spending Christmas with the wrong man or alone, but it turns out that sometimes what you think is wrong is absolutely right for you. And now I get to spend Christmas with my forever love.