Chapter 20 Holly
HOLLY
Holly was in the house when she looked up and saw Sheriff Farrell’s cruiser go past and turn toward the tree farm.
“What on Earth?” Holly muttered. She dropped the roll of tape.
Noelle and Dad had taken Kaden up to the tree farm to show him the trees, while Holly volunteered to wrap the remaining gifts for Kaden that Noelle had brought in her luggage. She was just finishing the last one.
Leaping to her feet, she ran to grab a coat and shove her feet into a pair of boots.
Cupcake, lying on Rocket’s bed, looked up from his bacon (SQUEAKA?) and Holly told him firmly, “Stay!” He probably didn’t know the command, but he didn’t seem inclined to abandon his warm bed and squeaky toy, either.
Why would the sheriff be here? Sheriff Farrell was a man who generally didn’t like rocking the boat or shaking things up, which made him perfect for small town law enforcement in a town where the biggest crimes were usually teenage vandalism and drivers skipping out on paying at the pump.
This had led to the sheriff being reelected repeatedly since Holly was a teenager.
She couldn’t help thinking about Rob’s threat to turn the sheriff on to them.
But there was nothing he could have called the sheriff about, at least that she could think of.
Her dad was well respected and friends with all the local farmers and every veteran in town.
They didn’t even have property disputes with the neighbors. Everyone liked them.
When Holly arrived at a run, still trying to jam her arm into her coat, Sheriff Farrell was out of the cruiser and talking quietly with her dad.
Noelle was sitting on a bale of hay, holding a snowsuit-encased Kaden, and Rocket was at her feet with pricked ears.
No one looked too upset, just cautious and worried.
And Jace was there, to Holly’s surprise and secret gratitude, wearing his old town coat and breathing hard as if he had been running, too.
As she approached, she heard her dad say, “Well, now, that’s so, but I didn’t think it would be too much of a problem.”
“I am truly sorry, Colonel. Technically it is a violation of the county’s business regulations, and now that it’s been brought to my attention—”
“What’s going on?” Holly demanded, gasping out puffs of breath that smoked in the chilly air. “What’s this about?”
The sheriff nodded to her politely. Her dad pulled off his knit cap and scratched his scalp. “Honey, see, we’re in arrears on our loan payments. A few months, see.”
“What?” Holly said. She divided a glare between the sheriff and her dad. She’d seen a few bills arrive in the mail, and she knew the farm was barely scraping along this year, but surely it wasn’t that bad. “We paid everything!”
“And this requires a personal visit from the sheriff?” Jace asked, muscling up beside Holly. “Don’t you have real crimes to investigate?”
“Who are you, exactly?” the sheriff inquired.
“I’m working on their tree farm this year. And I’m a family friend.”
“In that case, let me just tell all of you that I’m not here in my official capacity, I’m here to give you folks a polite heads up,” the sheriff said.
“Colonel Porter and I have been friends for a lot of years. I found out today from Robby Ingram about the bank situation and the insurance, and I’m letting you know. ”
Robby—that would be Robert Ingram Sr., Rob’s dad. Holly’s heart jumped into her throat. Rob hadn’t gone to the sheriff directly; he’d gone to his dad.
His dad, who ran the bank, which apparently they owed a bunch of money to.
“What insurance?” Holly said.
“Insurance lapsed too,” her dad said, not looking at her.
More bills they hadn’t paid. How much had he been hiding from her? Holly felt Jace’s nearness with a mix of guilty relief and anger. Right now she could easily have pushed every single adult male on this farm into a pile of snow.
Headfirst.
Except you, Cupcake. You’re perfect and have done nothing wrong.
“I’m sorry, Colonel,” the sheriff said, “but you’re going to have to close the farm for the season, or deal with a heap of fines and possible lawsuits.”
“We can’t shut down now!” Noelle protested. “The last days before Christmas are when we make most of our money.”
The Colonel cleared his throat and addressed the sheriff.
“Rich, just between you and me, what if we go ahead and get it taken care of, even afterwards, let’s say?
If we have it all done Christmas, the loan caught up and the insurance reinstated, what do you think about us staying open through the holiday? ”
The sheriff eyed him. “You’re giving me your solemn word you’ll have it done and won’t make a liar out of me?”
“We will,” Holly spoke up. “You can count on it.”
The Colonel held out a hand, and the sheriff shook it.
“I’ll let Robby know it’s a mistake and he’ll have the check in hand by Christmas Eve—but it had better be there.”
The sheriff tipped his hat and got back in his cruiser.
Noelle and Holly both turned to look at their dad. “Okay, what’s going on?” Noelle asked, jiggling Kaden in her lap. “I feel like that internet meme where the guy walks in and everything is on fire. What’s been happening on this farm since I left?”
“Yeah, Dad.” As the sheriff’s cruiser bumped slowly down the driveway away from the tree farm, Holly turned her frown on him. “I know money’s been tight, but I didn’t know it was that tight.”
Her dad didn’t meet either of their eyes. “It’s very tight,” he said softly. “We’re on the edge of foreclosure, girls. I didn’t want you to know. I hoped to make up the payments, and it was a looking like a good season.”
Holly’s stomach fell to her knees. “Having to pay for me can’t have helped. Dad, I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have gone on a holiday shopping spree if I knew we were in a financial hole.”
“No!” her father snapped. “The last thing I want to do is ruin Christmas for you girls.”
“We’re not ten anymore!” Holly shot back. “We can stand to have you tell us the truth. How much trouble is the farm in, exactly?”
“Not too bad if we can get through the holiday season without going into the red. We can pay back part of the loan right now. We just don’t have the whole thing.”
“Dad, why in the world didn’t you tell us?” Noelle asked.
The Colonel dodged her stare awkwardly. “I didn’t want to worry you. You girls are grown with your own lives. It’s my problem.”
“No, it’s not, it’s all of our problem!” Mine too, she thought guiltily.
“And I know you well enough to know that this isn’t financial mismanagement or even any difficulty selling trees and farm produce.
It’s because you never sell things for full price if you can give someone a break.
I’ve seen how often you cut people deals you can’t afford, or give them half off or even this year’s tree for free because they’re in financial trouble. ”
She hesitated.
“What is it?” Jace asked her quietly.
“If we need to make payments we can’t afford, maybe we can let some of the people you’ve helped over the years help us back,” Holly mused.
The Colonel was already shaking his head. “No. Not a chance. I’m not taking charity. Not for any reason.”
“It’s not charity, you stubborn old ape. It’s letting people who we’ve helped get to help us in return. We wouldn’t be asking for much. Just a little, from people who can afford it. I bet they’d give it gladly, especially at this time of year.”
She began to pace, aware of Jace watching her.
“I know that look,” Noelle said, grinning at her sister over the top of Kaden’s head. “That’s Holly on a mission.”
“Okay, the first thing we do is keep the tree farm open longer hours for the days we do still have,” Holly said.
“We don’t have to close at four. Remember when we used to have it open late into the evening, with the Christmas lights strung up everywhere?
We can do that again. We have enough people now, with me and Noelle and Jace, as well as you, Dad.
” Her dad opened his mouth at the mention of Jace’s name, then closed it again.
“That’s the first thing, just making sure we can sell more trees, and getting the word out that we’re open all the time, even late on Christmas Eve. ”
“I have some old high school friends I can get in touch with,” Noelle said. “I’ll send out word on our reunion Facebook group to tell everyone.”
Of course Noelle was still in touch with her high school friends. Holly could barely remember the names of most of hers.
“I’ll make a donation box,” she said. “Dad, I know you won’t like that idea. But I think they’ll want to help, if they know we’re facing foreclosure. We’re all neighbors here, and whoever turned us in, I think most people will step up to help us just like we’ve helped them over the years.”
She had a pretty good guess about who was responsible.
Rob’s dad ran the town bank, and probably still sat on most of the town and county business committees.
But she didn’t think chasing down blame at the moment was going to do anything.
Once they had the tree farm back on solid footing, she could deal with Rob and his dad.
Somehow.
She hadn’t stopped to grab a hat, and her ears were freezing. With her head full of ideas, she strode down toward the house. Jace fell into step with her.
“I see you’re still here,” Holly said. It came out more argumentative than she intended.
“Yes,” Jace said quietly. “I’m not going anywhere. Not unless you tell me to go. Not your dad. You.”
Holly glanced at him.
“Let me help,” he added. “I want to help.”
“All right.” She wasn’t prepared to soften yet.
Not entirely. Not toward either of them.
But she really did need his help—and deep down, she was grateful beyond measure that he hadn’t just walked away after that confrontation with her dad.
It took a strong man to stand up to Douglas Porter, and it seemed she was looking at one right in front of her.
“We need a nice-looking donation box. I bet you can help me make one.”