I hesitated. Was he joking?
No. That tone wasn’t anywhere near teasing. My heart stopped and then restarted with an anxious thud in my chest. Nick mightnot know the full story behind my gesture, but this seemed a little extreme.
I repositioned the snow globe in my hands and carefully extended it toward him, keeping a tighter grip than before. Just in case. “I think you’re confused.” I drew a breath. From overhead, the music switched to “Blue Christmas.” “I just wanted to—”
“I have no idea what you want, but whatever this is—it’s too much. All of it.” Nick scrubbed his palm down his face, as if trying to reset.
Ah. He thought this was another Operation: Naughty List assault. Totally understandable.
I stepped toward him and chuckled as Elvis continued crooning. “No, listen. You don’t understand.”
Nick started to protest again, but his phone chirped from his pocket, and he paused. Glanced down at the screen.
I waited, searching his expression for clarity, an explanation.Somethingto explain why my gift had backfired so horrifically. But the tight planes of his face offered nothing.
With a sigh, he pocketed his phone and held up both hands in surrender. “Just stop.” Defeated creases etched his face. “You win, okay?”
Before I could even shut my gaping mouth, he turned and blended into the crowd.
Nick had officially figured out the most effective way to guarantee an awkward car ride.
He unbuckled his seatbelt as they coasted up the driveway of the Sinclair farm, casting a look at Holly’s glazed-over face. They hadn’t said a word in the back seat of Ryan’s car the whole way home, which was understandable. After all, he had left her standing alone by a lit tree while he’d gone to find Ryan andLydia, who were buying out the majority of a nearby candle booth. Now the Subaru smelled like every fruit imaginable.
Somehow he had to find a way to get Holly alone to talk without the others noticing.
But Holly slipped out of the back seat before Ryan shifted the car into Park, and managed to cover half the distance between the SUV and the house by the time Nick opened his door.
He watched her walk away. She wasn’t going to make this easy, which wasn’t entirely unfair. He’d figured out about three candle sniffs in that Holly hadn’t meant for the gift to be obnoxious. She didn’t know. How could she know? Now he was the idiot who, after confessing how much it hurt to have his gifts rejected, rejected hers. But he hadn’t dared to offer the much-needed apology within earshot of Ryan and Lydia, and now he feared she wouldn’t let him try.
“Holly?” Lydia frowned as she climbed out of the car and adjusted her scarf. “You okay?”
But Holly didn’t respond as she rushed past Frosty, finally set in his proper place in the front yard, and up the steps, shopping bags slapping against her leg.
Nick shut the car door. Did she still have the snow globe in one of those bags, or had she left it on the pavement?
Not that he wanted it back.
“She’s fine.” Nick answered for Holly, which earned him a confused look from Ryan. “She, uh…” Well, dang. He didn’t want to lie and say her stomach hurt, but he also didn’t need anyone else to know he’d freaked out over a snow globe.
“Ah.” Understanding lit Lydia’s face as she began walking toward the porch. “I hate the porta potties downtown too.”
Close enough.
Ryan lingered in the driveway as his wife hurried inside the house. “I thought it was quiet back there on the way home, butwith Lydia’s chattiness, I never can tell for sure.” He chuckled as he fell into step beside Nick. “Guess we Christmas’d you guys out tonight, huh?”
That was one way to put it. Nick forced a smile. “Something like that.”
Ryan gestured for Nick to take the stairs first. “Sorry, man. I know it’s been a lot the last few days.”
Too much. But that wasn’t Ryan’s fault. Holly had been the one to flip the script on him and suddenly start accosting him with Christmas when she was supposed to be his partner against all things Yuletide. He’d been able to laugh off some of her antics over the past few days, roll his eyes at others…
Until tonight.
Nick opened the screen door. “It’s fine, man. I’m just tired. Been a long day.” Maybe he’d explain everything to Ryan later—as much as he could, anyway, without giving away his parents’ secret.
But first, he needed to talk to Holly and apologize for his overreaction. Maybe he’d have held it together better if his father’s text hadn’t come through a few minutes before…
The house buzzed with activity—Ryan, Lydia, and Holly shedding their coats, Mason and Janie arguing over which movie to watch despite the fact that Thomas pointed out he’d clearly beat Olivia home. Grace set a tray laden with hot cocoa onto the coffee table, while Axel and Chloe snuggled into a corner of the couch with leftover cookies.
