“His socks must be soaked already,” Holly muttered, making me snort out a laugh.
“Declan!” he called out when he spotted me, waving with relief. “There you are. We need to talk.”
The conversations around us began to quiet as people noticed the outsider in their midst, and I was suddenly aware that whatever Richard was planning to say was going to have an audience of approximately half the town.
“Richard,” I said, moving toward him with Holly beside me, “what are you doing here?”
“Saving your career,” Richard said with smug satisfaction, apparently unaware that his dramatic rescue mission was being observed by dozens of curious townspeople. “When you didn’t call yesterday, I knew you were having some kind of crisis of confidence. Perfectly normal for someone facing a big promotion opportunity.”
Crisis of confidence. The way he said it made it clear that he’d completely misinterpreted my silence as indecision rather than a definitive choice.
“It’s not a crisis of confidence,” I said carefully, trying to figure out how to handle this conversation without causing ascene in front of the entire festival. “I made my decision. I’m staying in Vermont.”
“Vermont,” Richard repeated, looking around the town square like this was the first time he’d ever heard of it. “Declan, this is... quaint. But you can’t seriously be considering giving up partnership track at one of Manhattan’s most prestigious firms to live in... this.”
This.The dismissive way he said it, encompassing the festival, the town, the people who were now openly staring at our conversation, made something angry flare in my chest.
“This is my home,” I said firmly. “These are my people. And this—” I gestured to Holly, who was standing beside me with tension flowing off her in waves “—is the woman I love.”
“The woman you love,” Richard said with the kind of patronizing tone usually reserved for children who’d announced their intention to become astronauts. “Declan, you’ve been here a few weeks. You’re having a vacation romance. That’s not a reason to destroy your career.”
I felt Holly stiffen beside me, and I knew that Richard’s casual dismissal of our relationship was about to become a much bigger problem than his career intervention.
“It’s not a vacation romance,” I said, my voice getting harder. “And even if it was, that would be my choice to make.”
“Your choice,” Richard said with impatience, apparently oblivious to the fact that we now had an audience of at least twenty people who were pretending to be engaged in festival activities while listening to every word. “Declan, you’re not thinking clearly. You’ve been away from the city too long. You’ve forgotten what you’re walking away from.”
“I haven’t forgotten anything,” I said, stepping closer to Holly in a gesture that I hoped conveyed protection and solidarity. “I know exactly what I’m walking away from, and I know exactly what I’m choosing instead.”
“A small-town legal practice?” Richard said with obvious disdain. “Helping farmers with property disputes and writing wills for elderly couples? Declan, you’re meant for bigger things than this.”
The phrase that had motivated me for years suddenly sounded empty and pretentious, especially when delivered by someone who was standing in the middle of a community Christmas festival wearing inappropriate shoes and looking at my neighbors like they were quaint local wildlife.
“In case it wasn’t obvious from my lack of bothering to inform you, I’m not coming back. You have no right to come here and act like a total and complete fucking asshole. You are in the wrong place, Richard. No one here cares about you or your money or your success. All they see is a motherfucking dickhead insulting them.”
The gasps from the crowd at my foul language did nothing to stop me. I was on a roll. Even when Lucinda Heron clapped her hands over her daughter’s ears, it didn’t stop me from saying everything I’d wanted to say to this asshole for years.
“You have lost your goddamn mind,” Richard spat, his voice shaking with a rage I knew well from our board meetings. “This place… these people… they’ve infected you.”
Holly’s hand found mine, her fingers lacing through my own with a firm, steady pressure that felt like an anchor. “I think you should leave,” she said, her voice low but carrying with unshakable authority.
Richard ignored her, his eyes locked on me. “This is career suicide, Declan. You’ll be a joke. A footnote. The guy who threw it all away for some Christmas-themed delusion.”
“I’d rather be a footnote in your world than the main character in a life I hate,” I said, the words feeling truer than anything I’d ever argued in a courtroom. “You aren’t welcomehere, Richard, so fuck off back to your rat race. I’ll stay here and actually live my life with no regrets.”
Richard glared at me so hard, I thought his brain was going to explode. But then something flickered across his face. His gaze shot over my shoulder, and I turned to see that the town was rallying behind me, supporting me. In New York, I would have been hung out to dry, even by those I called my friends.
This was… everything.
The entire festival had paused, a collective breath held in the crisp winter air, not in judgment of me, but in solidarity against the intruder who dared to insult one of their own.
Richard’s face, already pale from the cold, lost any remaining color. He looked from face to determined face, his lawyerly composure finally cracking under the weight of a hundred silent condemnations. This wasn’t a boardroom he could control or a negotiation he could win. This was a community, and he was the outsider.
Without another word, he spun around, his expensive shoes slipping precariously on a patch of ice. He didn’t look back. He just trudged through the snow toward his ridiculous car, leaving a trail of defeated footprints and the lingering stench of condescension.
The moment his car door slammed shut, the town square exhaled. A smattering of applause broke out, led by my parents. Holly squeezed my hand, her eyes shining with pride.
“Well,” Matt said, clapping me on the shoulder. “That was a hell of a resignation speech.”
