Page 30 of A Holly Brown Christmas
She felt herself blush from head to toe. “I’d like that.”
Walking him to the door, she hated to see him leave, but just knowing it was only for a few hours made it a little more tolerable.
He gave her one last searing kiss before he left, and it was definitely going to hold her over until tomorrow.
“What the hell?”
Lucas had just pulled into the massive driveway after dropping his nana off, and spotted Holly standing on a two-story ladder, hugging it like her life depended on it, and looking positively petrified. He skidded to a stop and was out of the car instantly.
“Holly!”
She didn’t turn to look at him, but shakily called out, “Oh, hey, Lucas! I’m glad you’re back. How was pickleball?”
He looked around frantically. “What on earth are you doing up there? Where’s Henry?”
“He got called away for a family emergency and he left the lights on this window just dangling and it was making me crazy. I hate heights, but I thought I could finish it. Unfortunately, I’ve been up here for over an hour, too afraid to move!”
“Okay, okay…I’m coming. Don’t worry. I’ll get you down.”
“And then you’ll finish fixing these lights, right?”
The woman was insane. “Forget about the lights, Holly, and focus on climbing down!”
“I can’t! It’s too scary! Maybe you can just open the window and I can climb in that way? Please?”
“I’m not leaving you out here by yourself!”
“I’ve been up here by myself for over an hour!” she argued. “Please, Lucas! Please, just open the window and pull me through!”
He was completely torn. Leaving her alone and pulling her through an open window both seemed dangerous, but the window seemed less dangerous than the two of them trying to climb down the ladder.
“Okay, just…hang on tight! I’m going to go inside and run upstairs!”
“I’m holding on so tight that I’m losing feeling in my arms!” she called down, and that was his cue to haul ass up to his old bedroom.
Barging through the front door, he raced across the entryway and took the stairs two at a time, with Shmoop hot on his heels, barking up a storm. Quickly, he ran into his room and immediately swiped everything that was on top of the dresser in front of the window onto the floor before hopping on top of it to get to the window. He could see the top of Holly’s head and prayed he wasn’t going to startle her when he shoved the window open.
Opening the latch, he slid the window up and then wrestled a bit with the screen.
“Lucas?” she asked shakily. “Please hurry. I…I seriously can’t feel my hands and I think I’m going to pass out.”
Her voice sounded weak, and that spurred him into action. He kicked the screen out and let it fall to the ground outside before leaning out the window and getting his hands on her, careful not to hurt her more than she already was. She had a white-knuckled grip on the ladder, her ponytail was coming loose, and he could tell that her feet were starting to slip.
Gently, he grasped her arms. “Okay, I want you to carefully let go of the ladder one hand at a time and hold on to me. Can you do that?”
“I…I don’t know. I’m afraid to let go!”
“I know you are,” he told her, calmly but firmly. “But we need to get you inside.” She wasn’t all the way at the top of the ladder, and if he could get her to climb up just another rung or two, it would make things so much easier.
Tightening his grip, Lucas tried to nudge her up the ladder without telling her to climb. He wished he could move the dresser out of the way to make things a little easier, but it was too late for that.
“I can’t climb any higher, Lucas!” she cried.
"Okay, okay—don’t move! Just… give me your hand. Just one. I know you’re scared, but you can do it."
Holly slowly craned her neck to look at him and spoke to him through gritted teeth. "I can’t move, Lucas. If I move, I die."
Now was definitely not the time to laugh, but it was hard not to. Then he realized that maybe he needed to lighten the mood a little to help her relax.
