Chapter 15
Fifteen
DECLAN
Mistletoe Strategy
Holly was avoiding me.
Not obviously. She still answered my texts about vendor confirmations and showed up to planning meetings on time with her perfectly organized clipboard and color-coded schedules.
But there was a new distance in her interactions, a careful politeness that hadn’t been there before our boundaries conversation.
It was driving me absolutely insane.
“So,” I said, consulting the festival checklist while trying not to notice how Holly’s top clung to her tits in ways that made concentration difficult, “Mrs. Peterson wants to discuss mistletoe placement for maximum community interaction.”
“Mistletoe placement,” Holly repeated, not looking up from her vendor contact list. “Right. That’s definitely a safe topic.”
The slight edge in her voice suggested she was thinking the same thing I was—that discussing strategic mistletoe placement with someone you were trying not to kiss was like discussing fire safety while holding a lit match.
“Very appropriate,” I agreed. “Nothing says mature festival coordination like planning where to hang romantic vegetation for optimal effectiveness.”
“Romantic vegetation,” Holly said with a snort of laughter that sounded more genuine than anything she’d said to me in two days. “That’s going on my business cards. Holly Winters: Expert in Romantic Vegetation Placement.”
“It’s a specialized skill,” I said solemnly. “Not everyone can handle the responsibility of strategic mistletoe deployment.”
“The power could easily go to my head,” Holly agreed, and for a moment her smile was warm and unguarded, like the woman who’d solved electrical problems with me instead of politely distant like she’d been since yesterday.
Then she seemed to catch herself and returned her attention to her paperwork with renewed focus.
“Anyway,” she said briskly, “Mrs. Hall sent specific recommendations about traditional locations plus suggested new placements. I’ve marked them on the floor plan.”
She handed me a sheet of paper covered with her neat handwriting and small drawings which somehow made the community center layout look both professional and slightly whimsical.
Even her organizational systems were attractive, which was probably not something a normal person would notice about a woman he was trying to keep things strictly business with.
“Above the hot chocolate station,” I read aloud. “Near the vendor booth entrance. By the Christmas tree. And...” I paused, squinting at her handwriting. “What does this say? ‘Storage room door’?”
Holly’s cheeks went pink. “Mrs. Hall was very thorough in her suggestions.”
“The storage room where we were looking for extension cords?”
“The very one.”
Mrs. Hall was apparently either remarkably perceptive about romantic tension or coincidentally excellent at identifying locations where two people might find themselves in kissing proximity.
“Mrs. Hall is diabolical,” I said with genuine admiration.
“Mrs. Hall is trying to create a romantic Christmas atmosphere for the entire community,” Holly corrected, though she was fighting a smile. “Any personal applications of her mistletoe strategy are purely coincidental.”
“Purely coincidental,” I repeated. “Like the way she suggested we do a practice walkthrough to test the placement effectiveness.”
“She’s very thorough.”
“She’s very transparent.”
My phone buzzed with an incoming call, and I glanced at the screen to see Matt’s name. Which was either perfect timing or terrible timing, depending on how much I wanted to continue flirting with his sister while pretending to discuss community festival logistics.
“I should take this,” I said apologetically. “It’s Matt.”
“Tell him I said hi,” Holly said, returning to her vendor list with the kind of focused attention that suggested she was grateful for the interruption.
“Hey,” I answered, stepping outside the coffee shop where we’d been working. “How’s the work crisis?”
“Ongoing,” Matt said with the weary tone of someone who’d been pulling eighteen-hour days for a week. “But I wanted to check in about the festival. How’s everything going?”
“Good. Holly’s amazing at this, by the way. You should see her organizational systems—she’s got everything color-coded and cross-referenced like some kind of event planning genius.”
“She always was good at that stuff,” Matt said with obvious pride. “Even as a kid, she could organize anything. Remember how she used to plan elaborate scavenger hunts for birthday parties?”
“I remember you complaining that her planning was too detailed and took all the fun out of it.”
“I was twelve and impatient,” Matt said with amusement. “I didn’t appreciate systematic excellence back then.”
There was something in his tone that suggested this conversation had a purpose beyond festival updates and nostalgic reminiscing about Holly’s childhood organizational skills.
“Is there something specific you wanted to know about the festival?” I asked.
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Holly,” Matt said, his voice taking on the particular tone that meant he was about to deliver Important Information. “About her situation.”
“Her situation?”
“The reason she’s back home. Declan, do you know what happened with Derek?”
Derek. The ex-boyfriend who’d apparently been responsible for Holly’s current life circumstances. I knew the basics—that he’d hurt her, that the relationship had ended badly, that it was connected to her moving back home. But Matt’s question suggested there were details I was missing.
“I know he was an asshole,” I said carefully. “And that whatever he did, it’s why she’s rebuilding her life right now.”
“He didn’t just break up with her,” Matt said quietly.
“Derek systematically drained her bank accounts over months. Cleaned out her savings, maxed out credit cards in her name, even took money from her emergency fund. When she got fired, she couldn’t make rent because this piece of shit had stolen everything she had. ”
The words hit me hard. I’d known Derek had hurt Holly, but I’d assumed it was emotional damage from a bad breakup.
I hadn’t realized he’d committed actual theft, hadn’t understood that her financial devastation was the result of someone she trusted betraying her in the most comprehensive way possible.
“Jesus Christ,” I breathed.
“It gets worse,” Matt continued. “She found out about the money the same day she discovered he was cheating on her. Guy had been planning his exit strategy for months—stole her savings to finance his new life with his assistant, then disappeared.”
I felt something dark and furious rise in my chest at the thought of someone doing that to Holly.
Sweet, generous Holly, who organized festivals for her community and solved electrical problems with handmade diagrams and worried about disappointing people.
Someone had taken advantage of her trust and left her broke and homeless, and I wanted to find this Derek asshole and make him regret every decision he’d ever made.
“That’s why she’s so guarded right now,” Matt continued. “It’s not just heartbreak, Declan. It’s complete financial devastation by someone she thought she could trust. She’s questioning her judgment about everything.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, though I suspected I already knew the answer.
“Because I can hear it in your voice when you talk about her,” Matt said simply. “And because I saw how you looked at her when we were teenagers. And because she deserves someone who understands what she’s been through.”
“Matt—”
“I’m not giving you permission to date my sister,” he said quickly. “That’s between you and her. I’m just saying, if you’re interested, be aware that she’s going to need time to trust again. And be aware that she might not believe someone could want her for the right reasons.”
The idea that Holly might doubt her own worth, might question whether someone could be genuinely interested in her rather than just taking advantage of her situation, made my chest tight with protective fury.
“She’s incredible,” I said quietly. “Anyone who can’t see that is an idiot.”
“I know that, and you know that, but Derek spent months making her feel like she was lucky he was putting up with her,” Matt said with disgust. “Guys like that—they tear you down so gradually you don’t realize it’s happening until they’re gone, and you’re left wondering if maybe they were right about you. ”
I thought about Holly’s defensive comments about her competence, her worry about disappointing people, the way she seemed surprised when I complimented her skills. All signs of someone whose confidence had been systematically undermined by someone she’d trusted.
“Thanks for telling me,” I said finally.
“Just... be careful with her, okay? She’s been through enough.”
After we hung up, I stood outside the coffee shop for several minutes, processing what Matt had told me and trying to understand how it changed things between Holly and me. Because it changed everything, even if I wasn’t sure exactly how.
I understood now why Holly was pulling back, why our conversation about professional boundaries had made her more distant rather than more comfortable. She wasn’t just being cautious about romance—she was protecting herself from someone who might hurt her again.
And I understood why every compliment I gave her seemed to surprise her, why she questioned her own competence despite being obviously gifted at everything she attempted. Derek hadn’t just stolen her money—he’d stolen her confidence in her own judgment.
When I returned to the coffee shop, Holly was on her phone, and from her tone, it was clearly a festival-related call.
“Yes, I understand that’s short notice,” she was saying with admirable patience, “but we confirmed this arrangement two weeks ago. The festival is in nine days—we can’t just find a replacement vendor at this point.”