Page 72 of Christmas at Cozy Holly Inn
Pressing her lips together, Gram shook her head. “Julie has a great opportunity in Boston. I’m so proud of her. She’s leaving tomorrow night, and then we’ll have to close up the place for good.”
Before Julie knew what she was saying, she blurted, “I’m not.”
The three of them stopped talking and gaped at her.
Julie swallowed and forced herself to say the words again, to really believe them. “I’m not leaving.”
“Oh my goodness!”
Out of nowhere, Ivy launched herself into the huddle. Julie had no idea where she’d come from, but clearly, she’d overheard. Julie found the life squeezed out of her. She wheezed.
“Ivy…”
Her friend pulled back but didn’t let go of Julie’s arm. Her eyes were bright. “You’re staying? Will you run the inn? This is fantastic! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I hadn’t made up my mind until now,” Julie muttered.
Her words were drowned out by Myrtle’s exclamation. “This is perfect! You stay, Ida will stay, and that sweet little cat will have a home.”
That sweet little cat was probably upstairs in Julie’s room, or worse, the room where they’d laid out all the coats. Everyone would be going home with white cat hair.
Of everyone in their little circle, the only person who was silent was Nolan. Julie glanced at him but couldn’t read his expression. Had his plea for her to stay been nothing more than a drunken impulse?
Or maybe he hadn’t thought it all the way through. If she stayed, if Gram decided not to sell the inn, then Klaus would be out the deal he and Gram had put together. A deal that, by Nolan’s silence, might be more important to him than Julie staying in town. And why wouldn’t it be? They’d only reconnected for ten days. Although she’d thought there had been a connection there, what if she was wrong? That connection might not be strong enough.
Was she making a mistake?
She turned back to the others and blurted, “But I can’t run the inn. We’re selling to Klaus.”
The look in Gram’s eye turned mercenary. “You let me handle that.”
Ivy wrapped her arm around Julie’s shoulders and squeezed. “See? It’ll all work out. This is the best Christmas gift ever!”
Julie laughed, though she felt breathless. “Good. Because I didn’t get you anything else.”
If she’d thought gossip traveled fast around the town before, while they were all gathered at the party, it was lightning-quick. Ivy stepped away to tell her husband the good news, and suddenly, Julie was swarmed with well-wishers isolating her from the rest of her friends.
Ned came up to give her a hearty handshake and promise to make room in his schedule if the Cozy Holly Inn needed any more repairs to the plumbing. Julie shook his hand, fingers limp, and wondered,Am I making a mistake?
Lucy exclaimed over the good news and promised free coffee while Julie was still getting the inn up and running. The offer of coffee was almost enough to center Julie, but her thoughts still ran wild.My entire life is in Boston. Apartment, friends, job opportunities.
Then again, what was she really leaving? An apartment along a traffic-filled route that didn’t allow cats. Her closest friend, Cheryl, who would never have shown up time and time again to help her out like Ivy had this past week. If she was running the family inn, she could still write freelance or even start that book. She’d finally have the time and not have to spend all her creativity writing what someone else wanted. Then there was Nolan… but as much as she liked him, she couldn’t uproot her life and move just for him. If she did this, it had to be forher.
An older woman who Julie knew by sight but couldn’t quite name came up and asked after room availability for New Year’s. “My daughter and her family are coming down, and I’m just not as young as I used to be. I can’t be cleaning up after them. But if they can stay here…”
Julie stumbled out an answer.Wouldthe inn be ready to run by New Year’s? She just didn’t know. She had never done anything as ambitious as running an inn.
What if I move here and try and fail and we have to close up anyway?
Myrtle elbowed her way back into the throng at the front of the group of well-wishers. “Where is Ida?”
“I… I don’t know.” Julie scanned the room. Where was Gram?
Myrtle simply nodded and disappeared from the room, leaving Julie adrift among near strangers peppering her with questions. But Myrtle’s question had grounded her, had reminded her of one important thing:I’m not doing this alone.No, she had Gram. Gram, who Julie had considered her personal superwoman growing up. Gram, who knew this inn like the back of her hand but just couldn’t do it herself. And if Julie stayed with Gram, she would be able to capitalize on the time Gram had left. She was eighty, after all.
“Didn’t Ida tell me you had a hot-shot interview back in Boston soon?”
At this point, Julie’s head was spinning so much she couldn’t even pinpoint who had asked the question. She needed air. She needed a minute to herself. As if from a distance, she heard herself answer, “I’ve decided not to take the job.”
