Page 68 of A Holly Brown Christmas
“Hey, Mel! Everything okay up here?”
Her cousin smiled. “Like clockwork! We’ve got another hour with the appetizers and entrees, and then the staff will clear them away and set out coffee and dessert. Everything look okay downstairs? Do I need to refresh any of the trays?”
“No, your staff has been right on top of it, and it’s all been delicious. Thank you so much for all your hard work.”
“Are you kidding? This has been amazing! And I had so much fun cooking with you to get all the dishes just right!”
“People are raving about all of it. You outdid yourself. Seriously. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you stepping in on such short notice.”
“It worked out great because I originally didn’t want to take on a catering job this close to Christmas, but all my other parties were much smaller and…well…this job will go a long way to keeping me in business, so I should really thank you!”
Holly walked over and hugged her.
“We have a code red, Holly! A code red!” someone called out and she turned to see Kat waving to her from the stairs.
“Oh my goodness!” She ran over. “What’s going on?”
“I thought everyone was getting along and okay, but Mom started making snarky remarks about the food. Lucas overheard and went over to say something and then him and Dad sort of ganged up on her.”
“Uh-oh…”
“Yeah, so then that turned into a loud exchange, and Anna tried to get everyone to calm down and then her and my mom got into it.”
“How did all this happen without me noticing? I’ve only been up here for five minutes!” she wondered with a nervous laugh. “What do you need me to do?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. Anna stormed off and is in the media room with the kids and most of the guests sort of moved outside. I know there are heat lamps out there, but I’m sure they’d rather be inside where all the food and drinks are.”
“Good point.”
For a moment, she was at a total loss. She knew Mrs. Brooks would not hesitate for a moment to say something nasty to her if Holly went down to help, but she was going to have to deal with it.
“Okay, see if you can stall them—or at least get them to stop yelling—for five minutes.”
“Five minutes?” Kat asked with wide eyes. “They could kill each other by then!”
“But they won’t. I hope. Just…go. I’ll be down as fast as I can.”
“Um…”
“I promise, Kat. I’m on it.”
“Alright.”
Holly watched as she slowly made her way down the stairs before she ran back to the kitchen.
“Is everything okay?” Melissa asked, but Holly ran around gathering supplies and luckily her cousin didn’t stop or even ask questions after that.
“Wish me luck!”
Carefully, she made her way down the stairs just in time to hear:
“I have worked my Brazilian-lifted butt off for you for almost forty years, Spencer! And our son let some little nobody in payroll come and play house in my home! I’m upset! I’m offended! And I’m not going to pretend for one damn minute that it’s okay!”
Okay, that’s a bit harsher than I was expecting…
Doing her best to blend into the background, she put all her supplies in place, took a fortifying breath, and prepared herself for battle.
With her head held high, she stormed over to where Lucas and Kat were standing with his parents, and Mrs. Brooks glared at her hard.
