I hope you’re ready for this, Holly,Ash thought.Your first New Year’s Eve in Emerald Hollow might be more than you bargained for.
Chapter Five
SOFIA
Sofia drove straight to her house from the hospital and parked haphazardly. The snowplow had created a large berm where she normally parked, so she felt justified in placing her car wherever she could find room. All rules went out the window when snow blanketed their town.
She quickly scaled the porch steps and stepped inside then peeled off her hiking clothes as soon as she reached the bathroom. She let herself linger in the hot shower, the adrenaline crash from the day’s events coming on in a wave. Once she’d erased all the cold from her bones, she settled down on the couch in front of the electric fireplace.
Her emotions were spiraling, and she reached for her tub of jewelry-making supplies in order to busy her hands.Should I have gone back out to the trail and finished the hike? Would my mom be upset that I didn’t?
Sofia shook her head and brushed a tear from the corner of her eye. Her mom had been one of the most understanding people she had ever known. Sofia believed that she would have understood the situation and been glad that Sofia had chosen to help someone rather than complete their tradition. Still, uneasetugged at the center of her sternum, and she wasn’t sure if it was from leaving the hike early or for another reason.
Over the next hour, Sofia lost herself in the process of designing and making earrings. She smiled in delight as she held up the beaded champagne-glass earrings she’d made for herself then paused to contemplate what she should make for Holly.
Holly didn’t usually wear jewelry, but she had worn the sparkly Santa hat pair Sofia created for her on Christmas Eve, and they’d made her look even more beautiful. Sofia would turn her friend into a jewelry wearer in no time. She thought for another moment, looking at her own champagne glass pair. Holly didn’t drink alcohol. Sofia could say the glasses represented sparkling cider, but that didn’t feel right.
An idea came to her, and she smiled as she resumed her work, humming to the music streaming from her phone. Jewelry making was her happy place—her escape. She’d just gotten into the rhythm of the music, most thoughts of the morning forgotten, when she was interrupted by her phone ringing.
“Hey, Ash,” she answered, putting the call on speaker and continuing her beadwork. “What’s up?”
“How’d everything go at the hospital?” Ash asked.
Oh, right. Isaiah, the man you found in the woods this morning.Reality snapped back into place.
“Dr. Margo says he has symptoms of amnesia. They sent some deputies to look for a phone or wallet on the trail to see if they can determine his identity. What a weird situation.”
“Huh. Amnesia? I thought that kind of thing only happened in movies.”
Sofia dropped the half-beaded earrings onto her lap. “Exactly! I think there’s some other agenda going on.”Oops.The words had just slipped out. She’d decided she wanted to be trusting of Isaiah to a degree, for her mom’s sake, but if shecouldn’t voice her suspicions to her best friend, there was no one else she would be able to work through the situation with.
“What? You think he’s faking it?” Ash always gave people the benefit of the doubt. It was one of the things the people of Emerald Hollow loved about him—one of the thingssheloved about him.
“Even Dr. Margo said amnesia doesn’t normally present like that. It’s not so complete. Especially when he had no signs of a head injury.”
“He didn’t?”
“They’re running a scan, but on the surface, no.”
The other side of the line was quiet for a moment, and Sofia wondered what Ash was thinking.
“Well, I hope they find out who he is and that the scans come back clean.”
Sofia tried not to let out a sigh of exasperation. Ash was sogood. He didn’t have a hard time seeing the best in people. Sofia tried to remember whether she had been like that before everything had happened, but that felt like a lifetime ago.
“We’ll see,” she mumbled, eager to change the subject. “Is Holly back yet?”
“No. Anytime, though.” Sofia could practically hear the smile in his voice. She didn’t know what all had gone down on Christmas Eve, but those two were over the moon for each other. She smiled too. She couldn’t think of anyone better for Ash than Holly, the woman who had mysteriously rolled into town the previous fall. It hadn’t taken long for the entire town to fall in love with her.
“So, what exactly is the plan with you two now? Are you doing a long-distance-relationship thing? Or is she going to move to Emerald Hollow eventually?” Sofia’s heart momentarily froze as another option occurred to her.There isn’t any chance Ash would move to Canada to be with Holly, is there?
“We’re still figuring it out, but she’s decided to make Emerald Hollow her base camp for all her traveling.”
Sofia sagged with relief. It seemed that, for the moment, at least, Ash wasn’t entertaining the idea of moving away from their little town in Oregon. “But what about her home in Canada? Is she going to sell it? Rent it out?”
“She’s keeping her place so that she can stay there when she needs to go home for work.”
Sofia frowned, feeling like there was more to the situation than he was telling her. But she decided to let it go. Their relationship was their business, and as long as they were planning to stay together and spend most of their time in Emerald Hollow, she was happy with whatever arrangement they came up with. Things were still somewhat new between them, and if anyone was going to make a permanent move, there didn’t need to be a rush to make that decision.
