Page 11 of A Holly Brown Christmas
As if on cue, Holly yawned. “I guess you’re right. Would it be okay if I came back again tomorrow?”
It was the obvious thing to ask—especially since they hadn’t found everything—but it still felt weird to be planning dinner together again.
“I was planning on making a pot beef stew for dinner tomorrow. I could bring it over after work if you’d like,” she suggested. “And maybe I’ll ask if my parents can take care of Shmoop. I feel bad that he’s been out in the yard. Even though that is a rather deluxe doggie area.”
“Tomorrow we can explore in the basement, so maybe that won’t be so bad? You know, he can hang out with us. I just honestly had no idea what everything was going to be like up here in the attic.”
“This is neater and cleaner than some houses I’ve been in.” She laughed. “And I wish I was only joking.”
Again, he wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“Okay, so Shmoop and I will be back with dinner tomorrow. I’m going to make more calls while we’re at work, but I won’t bother you with any of the details until after hours. Is that okay?”
“Holly, I feel incredibly guilty that you’re spending so much of your time on this. Wouldn’t it just be easier to…you know…let it go? It’s okay if we skip one year of this particular party. And from my dad’s email, it’s not like there isn’t going to be a party. It just won’t be here.”
Her soft sigh was her first response. Then she surprised him by reaching out and taking his hand in hers.
“Lucas, there are so many reasons why this party is important. For starters, it’s a wonderful way for everyone to get together, and it’s tradition. Your parents need to see how vital it is for morale. Plus, I think it’s important for you to see that as well. To you, this was just another party your parents threw, but to the rest of us, it was something we all looked forward to.”
He never thought of it like that.
“And then there’s the whole you being depressed and needing involvement. I can’t let you just back out of this because I’d feel terrible knowing you’re just sitting home feeling miserable with no holiday spirit. I’ll bet you weren’t even going to decorate the guesthouse either.”
It hadn’t been on his to-do list, but…
“Don’t you see? This party brings people together! It can even bring your parents back together! We need to make this happen. Even if it’s not identical to the way your mother always made it, that doesn’t mean it’s bad. I’ll bet we can even make it better!”
That made him chuckle. “Holly, my mother is the epitome of a hostess and party planner. All of her friends come to her to help with their parties. I think we can put together a decent party, but in no way do I think we can do any better.”
She gave him a sassy grin as she leaned in close. “Challenge accepted.”
Challenge? What challenge? Did she mean…
“Holly, seriously. We need to just stick to the plan and try to make this like every other Brooks family holiday party. Please don’t take it upon yourself to try to outdo the previous ones. Please.”
That plan had disaster written all over it.
Slowly, she pulled her hand from his. “Okay. Fine. I’ll stick to the plan. But if the opportunity arises for something spectacular, I’m not going to say no.”
“Holly…” he began wearily.
“But I promise to run it by you first.”
He supposed that was better than nothing.
Letting out a long breath, he looked around one last time. There were probably a few more places up here that they hadn’t looked. And if they wanted to keep on track and start in the basement tomorrow, he supposed they should finish looking at all the boxes in the attic first.
“What do you say you run down and check on the dog, and I’ll finish looking around to make sure we didn’t miss anything? There’s that whole back corner over there that we haven’t looked at.”
“Ooh! Yes, that sounds great. Give me five minutes and I’ll be back up!” She turned to leave and tripped over the box of bows. Lucas caught her before she fell. His arms banded around her and she looked up at him with wide, green eyes. “Oh my goodness! Thank you! I would have totally face-planted!”
He steadied her and didn’t quite let go until he felt like she was okay. “Maybe I should go down and check on the dog and you stay up here,” he teased.
“That might be safer,” she said with just a hint of amusement. “With my luck, I’ll fall down the stairs—and there are a lot of them.”
Giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze, he nodded. “Okay. You stay up here, and I’ll be back in five minutes. Would you like me to bring you something to drink?”
Her smile was full of gratitude. “That would be wonderful. Thank you.”
