Page 69 of Hashtag Holidate
My stomach dropped. “Stood you up?”
“Yeah, we were supposed to get started on the Christmascookie dough for the open house here at the store. I guess hefound someone better to do.”
She’d coughed a little bit on the “someone” part, but all of us had heard it. My face ignited.
“Um, well…” I shuffled backward toward the door until I remembered I still hadn’t gotten my keys from her. “If you’ll, ah, point me to those car keys, I’ll get out of your hair.”
After finishing Mrs. Hoffman’s transaction and thanking her, Maya reached under the counter for my keys. As soon as she reached out to hand them to me, she pulled them back again.
“Did I mention Maddox only ran up to Meyers Creek this morning to deliver a very large online order? Four snowblowers and a generator. Apparently, the customer heard about us on social media.” She raised an eyebrow. “In a video about menswear, if you can believe it. The influencer in the video made a casual mention of Sullivan’s Hardware store being in business for four generations. Something about that spoke to the guy, so he canceled his big-box order and ordered from us instead.”
My embarrassment from earlier turned into a flush of satisfaction. “Great.”
“Adrian. The profit on that order alone covers our overhead for a month. Even if my brother will never say it outright…thank you.”
I wasn’t sure what to say, so I nodded awkwardly. “Yeah, good. No problem. Okay.”
Maya finally handed over my keys, but her expression had grown serious. “You know, before you came here, Maddox was just… existing. Going through the motions. But with you? He’s actually living again.Feelingsomething.”
The weight of her words settled in my chest. “Maya?—”
“I’m not asking you to save him or anything cheesy like that. I’m just saying… maybe think about what it would feel like to stop running toward the next perfect thing and start building something real.”
I stared at her, this wise-beyond-her-years kid who saw too much and understood even more. “What if I don’t know how?”
“Then maybe it’s time to learn.”
#TownConspiracy #HomeCooked #DieHardSnoopy #WorthTheRisk #OperationMaddrianIsAGo
16
#LYINGSULLIVANS
MADDOX
I’d spent halfthe morning finishing edits on the video of Nate and Adrian, so I was in a shit mood by the time I spent the second half driving a big order up to Meyers Creek. The entire way there, I grumbled under my breath about how perfect Nate and Adrian had looked together on their sleigh ride… and about how Adrian had been right.
The footage was garbage. Because I’d been unprofessional as hell. Which was why it had taken me hours to cobble together decent videos for his social media accounts. Thankfully, there’d been a few shots of the two of us that I knew his fans would love. With any luck, they’d spend more time gossiping about those than noticing my shit composition on the rest.
The entire drive back to Legacy, I brainstormed about what kind of date to plan now that I’d lost the bet. Instead of bitching about it, I’d decided that I’d show him what it meant to date someone, small-town style. No dance clubs, no fancy martini bars, just simple things that showed you truly cared and wanted to make the other person feel seen.
Except… every time I thought of something to do with Adrian, he’d either already planned it as one of his “Twelve Dates of Christmas,” or I began to second-guess myself and worry he’d think I was boring.
No way could I give him the date I truly thought he needed: a simple night at home, eating dinner on the couch. Downtime, where he could stop performing for a little while and simplybe. He’d probably hate every second of it.
Some part of him mustloveperforming, after all, since he’d made a career out of it. And he’d been around the globe experiencing all the excitement the world had to offer. A Friday night on the sofa would put him to sleep. It also wouldn’t provide any footage he could turn into shiny content.
But then I’d remember Adrian’s hollow smile when he’d said:Social media tells a story, Maddox. Paints a pretty picture. A fantasy. Isn’t that what you keep trying to tell me?
He’d implied he was lonely. That his life wasn’t the whirlwind party it appeared. Of course it wasn’t; no one’s would or could be. But was he truly lonely? Did he crave connection and companionship?
He’d begged me to stay.
And I’d still fucking left.
By the time I got back to the hardware store from my delivery to Meyers Creek, I’d twisted my thoughts into knots and was cursing him, myself, and anyone else I could think of. Why couldn’t the man have picked someone else’s charming small town for his winter fashion spread? Why’d he have to come here and interrupt my perfectly fine?—
“Hey there, Maddox,” Lennon Marian said as he came out of the store carrying a strap wrench and a pot of plumber’s epoxy.
