“Yeah. Yeah, everything’s fine. I’ll call you back.”
“No worries. Talk soon,” I replied, every single one of my spidey senses on alert. Something was definitely up. I had no idea what it was, and it was bugging the crap out of me. I expected her to be having the time of her life up there. Skiing and relaxing by the fire, drinking hot chocolate or brandy, whatever those rich folks do, but Holly sounded downright miserable and that wasn’t like her. Those girls made the best of any situation, so hearing her sound so flat, didn’t really sit well with me.
I charged my phone, not wanting to miss her call.
First an hour went by. Then two. But still, my phone stayed silent. Then three and four and still no call. I’d picked up my phone half a dozen times to check I hadn’t missed her call, and the sound was at full volume, but it remained lifeless. All sorts of terrible scenarios were playing in my mind. Had they had an accident? Had there been another blizzard? Was Noelle sick?
I was reaching for the keys to the tow truck, unable to sit still another minute and having decided to head up the mountain to check for myself, when there was a knock at my door.
twenty-three
HOLLY
I stoodoutside the door to Chris’s apartment, second-guessing myself. No, that wasn’t quite right. By now, I was debating this for the tenth or maybe it was the eleventh time.
“Aren't you going to knock, Mom?” Noelle asked, staring up at me.
She was a good kid. She hadn’t even blinked when I announced over lunch that we were leaving the ski resort. My father, on the other hand, let’s just say I was glad we were in a public place and he was obsessed with what people thought. Had we been in private, I’m sure I’d still be listening to his tirade as he blew a gasket and told me how disappointed he was with me and all the mistakes I was making with my life.
After I’d dropped my bombshell, Noelle and I finished our lunch, packed up our things, and stopped in the lobby to buy a ridiculous amount of overpriced candy before climbing into Chris’s truck and heading back down the mountain.
It had only been a few days and I missed him. I didn’t want to because I had no idea how this could work or even if he wanted it to, but I didn’t want to be at the resort. I didn’t belong there. It was full of rich, pretentious assholes whose mission inlife was to make others feel inferior. I wanted no part of it, and I certainly didn’t want my daughter to be exposed to such an ugly side of life.
“Yeah, I’m just …” Stalling? Chickening out? Debating whether it was too late to run away.
Noelle took the decision out of my hands. I watched as she lifted her hand and knocked hard on the door before taking my hand.
The door was yanked open, and I took a breath. Chris looked good. Better than good. His hair was damp and messy like he’d been running his fingers through it. He wore a pair of faded jeans that sat low on his hips and a navy pullover.
“Are you going out?” I blurted out embarrassingly.
Chris looked confused. “Ah, no?”
“You look like you’re going out. We can get out of your hair. I’ve parked your truck out the front. If you just want to give me the keys and let me know how much I owe you.”
I was babbling and freaking out. I don’t know what it was about Chris that made me turn into a silly schoolgirl, but I couldn’t help it.
After he’d called earlier, I hadn’t been able to forget Chris. No, that wasn’t really true either. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him from the moment we’d pulled out of his drive a few days ago, and Noelle had been no better. Yesterday, she was out playing in the snow with my dad when she told him that Chris was better at making a snowman and that Dad was doing it all wrong. Noelle’s innocent comment quickly turned into my interrogation and my father demanding to know who Chris was and what he meant to us.
I didn’t know what he meant to us. What he meant to me. It was something. I just didn’t know what.
“Holly,” Chris said my name so softly I felt my whole bodydeflate. “Come inside,” Chris invited, ushering us into his apartment.
I looked around. This place felt more like home, more like me than that resort ever could. The Christmas tree by the window wasn’t perfect. Its branches dropped under the weight of mismatched ornaments, but I didn’t care. It was the perfect tree. One decorated with love.
“How was the resort?” Chris asked as he helped Noelle out of her coat.
“Boring,” she replied, and I snorted.
“Excuse me,” I apologized, covering my face. Nothing like a kid's honesty to tell it how it is.
“I’m sure it wasn’t,” Chris tried, but Noelle wasn’t budging.
“It was sooo boring. We had to get dressed fancy for dinner, and they didn’t even have mac and cheese!” Noelle declared like it was a travesty.
“But did you have fun in the snow?” Chris tried a different tact.
“No. Poppy wouldn’t let me throw snowballs, and Nikkie yelled at me for making a snow angel.”
