Page 85 of Love Me Boldly

Once I got inside the rental, though, nerves hit, and I spent the night far too restless. If there was a rink open, I would have spent the time burning off all the nervous energy collecting inside me. It was hours later, after ten, when I finally found my courage and sent the text.

Holly was a wild card and had her own set of rules for living. She opened up to very few and kept the others out with a ring of barbed wire at the top of a cement wall. But there were moments where she forgot to be angry and scared.

Moments where she laughed freely. Where eyes shone with true joy and where her body wasn’t always tense and ready to flee. Where she actually relaxed and allowed herself to be in the moment.

All I wanted to do was give her more of those, without taking away or ignoring the trials she had to reach to get there.

I scrubbed my hands over my face and groaned. She could ghost me tomorrow, although it wasn’t like I couldn’t find her. And this town was small. It’d be easier to find her.

But I wanted her towantit. I needed her to open the door a crack, peer at me through something more than a peephole and a chained door.

To most it wouldn’t be much, but to Holly, it’d be terrifying.

My phone buzzed on the couch, and I practically dove for it.

“Smooth,” I muttered to myself and flipped it over so I could see the screen.

Holly:Five-thirty, okay? I’ll come to you and bring pizza.

Like I’d let her pay for my food.

I shot her my address and then?—

Me:I’ll order pizza. Send me your and Jonah’s Scalecki’s order.

Thank goodness for the earlier conversation with Billy.

Holly:Jonah will be at a friend’s.

I’d have her to myself for a few hours. Perfect.

My phone buzzed again with her pizza order, simple pepperoni and mushroom, like she’d eaten before. I should have known she wouldn’t have changed it.

Me:Thanks, Holly. I promise you won’t regret it.

A thumb appeared on the text, and my heart squeezed. A thumbs-up? Really?

Then…

Holly:We’ll see ;-)

Ahh…there was her sass.

I grinned, and to be a smart aleck, I gave her post a thumbs-up and tossed my phone onto the coffee table. Let her stew on that stupid thumbs-up emoji like I thought she was going to make me do. Served the stubborn girl right.

Shoving off the couch, now that at least plans were set, I headed to the kitchen and grabbed a beer. Holly hadn’t drank in college, and I doubted that had changed, but I still wanted to have drinks on hand. Maybe after-dinner snacks if I could get her to stay for a bit longer. There wasn’t much in the rental as far as things to do, and I hadn’t seen so much as a deck of cards for entertainment.

I’d go get those things in the morning, heading to Boone if I had to. It might be safer. I highly doubted Holly wanted people knowing about me, and spending too much time in town would make the whispers start.

I vividly remembered how she handled them before—with shame and fear and hiding in an office so she didn’t have to deal with it.

Never again. Now, I understood, even if people’s reactions were despicable, but the last thing I wanted was to make things harder for her.

Flipping open my laptop, I got to work. First a grocery order, and then I got nosy.

Surprisingly, there were a lot of school districts nearby. A lot of struggling districts.

It was probablyfartoo soon. I was probably bordering on losing my mind.

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