Page 50 of A Holly Brown Christmas
Lucas rolled his eyes because it made her sound weird.
Kat: Oh, right! Yes! She’s adorable! I always liked her!
Kat: But do you like her? Like…a lot? Do you see this getting serious?
Anna: What did he just say?
Anna: And leave him alone. He’s going on a date! Don’t be the reason she gets mad at him.
Kat: Why would I be the reason?
Anna: Because you’re making him late for their date!
Kat: Oh. Right. Sorry! Have fun, but I’m going to need more details tomorrow.
Kat: Not like…intimate details. Just details about how it’s going between the two of you.
Lucas: I’m turning off my phone now!
Lucas: Talk to you both tomorrow!
He didn’t actually turn off his phone just in case Holly needed to reach him, but he did go back to setting things up for the big surprise.
Five minutes later, he heard a car door slam and then a dog bark, so he knew she was there. He went and opened the door and smiled as she clumsily tried to hold on to Shmoop’s leash while also carrying her purse and overnight bag.
“Hey!” he called out as he jogged over to greet her. Taking the leash from her hands, Lucas gave her a quick kiss. “Dinner should be here any minute.”
“Oh good. I felt like I was taking forever to get here and I was afraid the food was going to get cold. And there’s nothing good about cold barbecue.”
“That is true,” he agreed. “So it’s a good thing you got here first. I ordered from the place you recommended.”
“They’re very good and they package everything so it travels well.”
When they got to the door, Lucas let her go in first and grinned when she stopped short.
“What…oh my goodness! What did you do?”
Stepping in beside her, he kept a tight hold on Shmoop’s leash because the dog was wildly curious and trying to sniff all the boxes scattered around the living room.
“I thought the tree should be here,” he said with a small shrug. “I wanted to be able to look at it and remember how we did that together.”
Yes, the scrappy little tree from the office was now standing in the corner of his living room.
“I found a box of ornaments that I made when I was a kid, plus bought a few boxes of new ones when I was out with Lennon earlier. I thought we could really decorate the little guy properly.”
Her eyes lit up. “I love that idea!” He thought she was going to lean in and kiss him, but instead, she dropped her overnight bag on the floor and immediately began looking through all the boxes. “I thought you were going to use the artificial tree that was in the storage room over at the main house?”
“That’s what I thought too, but after today, I felt it was better. I have a connection to this tree. The other one? Not so much.”
Their food order arrived and he took the dog out with him to meet the driver. “Hey, Holly?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m not sure what to do with the dog,” he said as he came back inside. “Between all the tree stuff being out and him being a little squirrely, I don’t know what’s the best thing to do.”
“Oh, he’ll be fine. He won’t try to eat the ornaments. You can let him off the leash.”
“Um…”
