Page 22 of A Christmas For Holly

I didn’t have the resources to download the highlights, but I didn’t need to. I could imagine how it had played out. A weak defensive zone, turnovers leading to odd-man rushes, and a power play that might as well have been a penalty kill with how it’d been going this season. The team was struggling, and it wasn’t only the losses—it was everything. The rebuild the new management had promised in the summer had brought hope, sure, but it wasn’t enough. Not yet.

I’d seen something in the new group, though. Jonah Merritt, the new captain—a six-foot-four Canadian center from Seattle—had the kind of quiet leadership to hold a team together. His linemates, the Redmond twins, two fresh faces reunited after spending time apart in Florida and Dallas, were quick and intelligent, bringing speed and grit to the offense. There was camaraderie there, something I hadn’t seen in years since I’d begun to destroy them. They were starting to act like a team again, but building chemistry took time. And patience. And more than a couple of trades and a shiny press release.

A sudden movement caught my eye, and I saw a small bird land on a branch above me. A chickadee, black-capped and tiny, its feathers puffed up against the cold. As it shifted, snow loosened from the branch and drifted softly to the ground, catching the light as it fell. It was peaceful, almost hypnotic, theway it scattered into the air before settling into the untouched white below.

I watched it, tilting my head. “After what I did to them, it’s what the team needs, you know,” I said, my voice breaking the stillness. “Time. Trust. A chance to grow together.”

The bird blinked at me, its tiny head jerking to one side as if considering my words. I let out a soft laugh, shaking my head at myself. “Am Ireallytalking to a bird?” Then I muttered. “I’m talking to a bird, for fuck’s sake.”

It just stayed there, watching me as I kept going.

“They’ve got something good starting,” I continued. “Merritt’s got the right instincts, the forwards on his wing have speed, and the back end’s young, but there’s promise. It won’t happen overnight, and they have a lot to put right. I know that. I just… I wish they could see it. And I wish the fans could give them a break.”

I pressed a gloved hand to my chest, feeling the thrum of my heartbeat beneath the layers. “I know what I did to them. I had my shot and missed.”

It stared at me as though it understood, and for a moment, we stared at each other, the world around us holding still. Then reality settled back in, and I realized I hadn’t moved in ages. My fingers had started to numb where they gripped the phone, the cold seeping into every part of me. I tried to find the email from the owner, but the attachment was huge, and my phone didn’t even begin to download it.

Jesus.

“All right, that’s enough freezing my ass off for one day,” I muttered, breaking the moment. I gave my new feathered friend a slight nod, as if we’d come to some understanding, and turned back toward the cabin. My boots crunched in the snow as I headed inside, leaving nature and her silence behind.

“Talking to a damn bird,” I muttered to myself. “Idiot.”

Chapter 10

Lucas

I brewedcoffee in my tiny kitchen, the machine sputtering as it filled the silence. My apartment took up the top floor of an old house my family had owned for years, split into two for me and Callum. He used to live downstairs when it was him alone, but when he and his wife had their first baby, they needed more space, and when they moved out, the ground floor was rented out for the season. It was empty for now, but in a week, it’d be booked solid through March when the snow started to thaw and tourism eased.

Sometimes it’s too quiet here.

The coffee smelled rich and warm, and I was comfortable as I leaned against the counter, my thoughts drifting to yesterday. I couldn’t get Holly out of my mind from when he’d stumbled, and I caught him. I’d thought he looked vulnerable and broken and that maybe he needed me.

Or maybe I’d seen what Iwantedto see.

I shook the thought off, taking my coffee to the bathroom and letting the shower steam clear my head. Today was a work day, and I was opening the shop alone. It was quiet this time of year, the calm before the Thanksgiving storm when we’d get our usual flood of visitors. Right now, most of our sales come fromfilling online orders, which was fine, but it left me with extra time to mull things over, including whether I should add more of Bailey’s art to the website. His latest work was inspired by snow, and he’d spent all summer creating pieces of jewelry with this beautiful, wintery feel—his work was perfect for the season, and I knew it would sell. But part of me held back, not wanting to push him too much when we sold out. He already had to think about the stock he needed for his place in the winter market, and he wasn’t a machine—case in point, he now had flu.

An hour later, I was at the shop, setting up, when Callum walked in, bundled up against the morning chill. He went straight past me to the small kitchen, returning with two coffees.

“We sold out of Bailey’s stuff on the website already,” I said, and he glanced to where Bailey’s display looked sparse next to painted ornaments and small prints.

“We need to clone our little brother with his insane talent,” Callum deadpanned.

The bell above the door chimed. A woman in a thick scarf stepped in, her cheeks flushed from the cold. Glancing around, her eyes lit up at the displays.

“Your store is so beautiful,” she said, heading to a shelf filled with Christmas decorations and Wishing Tree ornaments.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Callum said as I headed to help. “We love it.”

I smiled, guiding her through our local crafts, ornaments, and holiday pieces. She chose a handful of things: a few Wishing Tree items popular this time of year, a hand-painted candle holder, and one of Bailey’s remaining ornaments, a glass piece with snowy trees and a shimmering night sky. I rang her up, bagged her items, and she thanked me before returning to the snowy morning.

The door closed, and I stared at the display, wondering how to make the ornaments left seem as if we had a lot more. Withoutchoosing to, my thoughts returned to Holly and yesterday’s weird chat. When I turned back to Callum, he watched me with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s wrong, freak?” he asked.

After checking that the store was empty, I shot him a middle finger. “Nothing.”

“You were standing in the same place for ten minutes, staring.”

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