Page 64 of A Holly Brown Christmas
“I’m pretty sure your mother does.”
“Yeah, well…she’s not too fond of her own children right now, so you’re in good company,” he said with a wink. “My dad’s going to get here tomorrow, and he seemed pretty stoked about the party. Of course, you can’t always tell with a text, but…” He pulled his phone out and let her read the message.
“He seems pretty happy about it,” she commented.
“That’s what I thought. And I think if my mother would just calm down and think about the things my sisters and I told her today, she’ll see how we did all of this out of love.”
That didn’t completely make her feel better, but it was a start.
“Judging by this encounter, I think she’s going to be even more upset when your father shows up.”
“I know. I wish we could just lock them in a room without their phones and force them to talk. It’s not going to happen, but I almost feel like that’s the only way they’re going to do it. With me and my sisters watching, it’s going to just give them the audience they crave and make them more focused on convincing us why the other one is wrong.”
Holly had no idea how to respond to that because her parents had never done anything like that and it just made her heart ache more for him.
“What if you asked the two of them to go and talk here while everyone else is over in the main house? Or to go up to their bedroom and talk?”
But he was already shaking his head. “Trust me, with the way things are going, we’d have to lock them in someplace and be the ones responsible for letting them out.”
“What if we got them to use the elevator in your house?”
“There’s no way we could do that. Plus, there’s an emergency phone in there so they could call for help. Plus, they never use it. It’s more for when my grandparents stay over.”
“Oh.” She’d never had to be this devious before and knew she wasn’t good at it. That’s why her original plan was vetoed. “Is there anywhere in the house where you could convince them to go without the other knowing and somehow lead them both down there and lock them in?” Shaking her head, she let out a low laugh. “I can’t even believe this is what it’s coming to.”
“Well, it doesn’t have to and probably won’t, but I can dream.” He kissed her softly. “Thanks for indulging in it with me.” And then he just held her for several long moments.
As much as she was enjoying the peacefulness of being alone with him, she knew they had a lot to do.
“Come on. I’m sure your sisters have questions, and I’m the only one who can answer them.” She slowly got to her feet and smiled as he took her hand and they leisurely strolled back over to the main house.
Right before they went inside, he said, “Promise you won’t hold my family’s insanity against me and that you’ll still want to be my girlfriend when the party’s over.”
Her heart melted.
“Lucas Brooks, it would take a lot more than your crazy family to make me not want to be your girlfriend, so don’t worry.”
“I’m going to hold you to that. And later…”
He never got to finish because Kat yanked the door open. “Finally! It looks like you haven’t picked the champagne that we’re using tomorrow. My mother is very picky about…”
Smiling serenely, she stepped inside. “I have the invoices of all the beverages your mother has ordered in the past, and I stuck to them. I didn’t think to put the brands on the itinerary, but they should be around here somewhere.” She looked at Lucas.
“It’s all down in the wine cellar,” he said. “I oversaw the delivery of it myself.”
Then he nudged Holly. “What? What’s the matter?”
“The wine cellar.”
She frowned. “The wine cellar?”
He looked more pointedly at her. “Yeah. The wine cellar. Remember what we were just talking about?”
It took her a moment before it hit her. “Oh my goodness!” But she immediately shook her head. “Lucas, you can’t do that. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Um…hello?” Kat interrupted. “What is going on? What are you two talking about?”
“Is that Holly I hear?” Anna called out. “I have a question about the placement of the tables downstairs!”
