“Hi, Holly,” he said in his low baritone voice.
Well, what the hell was I supposed to say to that?
Something, though. I should saysomethingto that.
But at the sight of Sam Autry, the verbal highway in my brain had suffered a thirty-car pileup, and I was unable to sift through the bloody wreckage for something coherent to say. Smoke was billowing. Helicopters were circling. Sirens were blaring.
Oh, my gosh, was I having a stroke?Say something, Holly.
But my mind wouldn’t cooperate with my mouth. After having spent the last six years hating this guy and wishing I’d never wasted so much of my life pining after those piercing green eyes or drooling over the perfect structure of his face. And hair. And hands. And—I was getting off track—I couldn’t manage to recall any of the angry, revenge speeches I’d prepared in the shower over the years.
Instead, I randomly felt like crying.
“My kids are all home!” Linda squealed, breaking the voiceless spell that had everyone holding their breath—even Tom—and saving me. “What luck?”
I took that opportunity to flee the country. Er, at least move over to the stove to help Teagan with the gravy.
“Need help?” I asked, hoping she didn’t notice the existential crisis flaring to life inside me. Medical teams had arrived for the car crash in my head. I couldn’t hear anything over the whooshing in my ears or make sense of my racing thoughts.
Several minutes later, dinnerfinallyready fifteen minutes after I arrived, we took our seats around the table after we’d plated everything on Linda’s nice China. It was her tradition for holiday meals—to serve everything on the fancy plates with gold edges she’d been slowly collecting since before I was born.
As a little girl, I’d felt like royalty whenever I got to be a guest during one of her “Fine China Dinners.” Today, I had the urge to throw the gravy boat at Sam Autry’s head.
We settled around the long dining room table. It had grown since I was last here. Added leaves made room for Alex and his newlywed wife, Parker, and for Riley’s new-ish girlfriend, Kami. Thankfully, Sam sat at the other end of the table, on the opposite side.
“You could have warned me,” I whisper-yelled at Teagan behind my napkin.
“You wouldn’t have come,” she hissed back.
“For good reason.”
She rolled her eyes and kicked my shin under the table. “For dumb reasons. Where would you be without me?”
“Safe,” I told her matter-of-factly, not worrying about my snappy tone. “Happy. Erm, probably. At the very least not considering living out of my car as I move from town to town like a hobo just trying to find my place in the world.”
She snorted into her wine glass. “You’re not living out of your car. You’re moving in with me.” Her big smile was dazzling.
I rolled my eyes in response.
“Holly, are you excited to be back?” Tom asked as he glopped a huge serving of mashed potatoes on his plate before passing them on.
My cheeks heated at the attention of the table getting turned on me. “Excited?” Was it exciting when your entire life fell apart and you had no choice but to beg your bestie to let you crash on her couch until you were financially solvent again? “That is aword.” I cleared my throat. “But, um, I am not unexcited to be back.”
“The kids are going to love you,” Linda cooed, eyes glistening with unshed tears as she looked between Teagan and me. “We’re so lucky to have the both of you at the elementary school. I predict the best future citizens of Mistletoe yet.”
Teagan snorted again. “Mom, that’s sweet. But most of the kids I teach can barely draw a circle.”
“I forget you teach art,” Riley said conversationally to his sister. “I always imagine you like that weird science teacher who used to drive through people’s blood.”
The table was silent for a few beats while all of us collectively tried to figure out what the hell he was talking about.
“Ms. Frizzle,” I blurted when it hit me. “Magic School Bus.” The table let out a collective “Oooh yeah.”
“I would be so lucky,” Teagan said emphatically. “The woman knew how to dress.”
“And inspire children,” I added. “You can’t even teach yours how to draw circles.”
We started laughing so hard, Teagan snorted an additional two times.
