Joy nodded and took her hand. As she reached for Malcolm’s hand, she found him deep in thought. “Are you ready?”
He jerked to attention before clasping her hand. “Aye.”
She floated them through the wall into the shop next door. It was open, but no customers filled the space. There weren’t as many decorations and the ones that were there were full of dust.
At the front counter satHolly. She wore no Santa cap and her black sweater had no Christmas design. She stared out the front window, a frown on her face as people bustled past.
“I don’t look so good.” Holly moved closer to her older self, before glancing around the shop. “Where is everyone?”
“You don’t get many customers anymore.”
“Of course not. Look at the dust on everything. Most of this inventory I recognize fromthis year. It should have sold by now. What happened?” She floated by, inspecting the shelves before stopping at the fifteen-foot Christmas tree. “This is unacceptable.” She scowled at a pinecone ornament whose glitter was so coated in dust, it didn’t shine at all.
Joy joined her. “No one wants to shop here anymore. You get the occasional tourist, but all your local customers avoid it.”
Hollysnorted. “I can see why. What I want to know is why did I let it get so run down?”
Joy couldn’t think of a nice way to explain, so she took a page from Malcolm’s playbook. After all, Cameron said not to be subtle. “Because you have no life. People still like you, but you have no substance. You attend events and chat as you shop. But you don’t have any close relationships and the ones you had,you didn’t keep up. You don’t do anything new.”
Holly crossed her arms. “Are you saying I’m not fun to be around?”
Malcolm came over to stand next to Joy. “No, you smile at the right times and engage in conversation. You do make a suggestion on occasion, but your life is only what you know of others. You in particular don’t do anything besides visit and work here.”
“But I do still have theshop?” The hope in Holly’s eyes was frustrating to see.
Joy looked at Malcolm and he nodded for her to answer. “Not for long. The only reason it’s still here is because you sold the house next door to keep it open. You sleep in the office.”
“What?” Holly flew across the room and disappeared behind a closed door.
Joy’s stomach tightened. “Should I follow her?” Holly’s disappearance at the lastvisit still had her rattled.
Malcolm shook his head. “I think she’ll return shortly.
He was right. Holly floated out to them, her eyes already filling with tears. “I can’t believe I sold Cam’s and my home for this place.”
“You had a choice to make.” Malcolm’s voice wasn’t as hard as it had been on the other visits. “You couldn’t keep both. And when your mom and John offered to help, you wouldn’thear of it. Probably because except for an occasional phone call, you didn’t have a relationship with them anymore either.”
Holly frowned, a tear finally falling on her cheek. “But why? I don’t understand what happened.”
Joy tried to think of a way to phrase it without pushing Holly toward one decision or the other. “It was a slow progression into not caring and a focused obsession. It’s notany one single event exactly. It’s simply what’s the most probable outcome of you holding on to Cameron’s memory as the priority of your life.”
Holly threw her hands up. “In other words, I’m either supposed to forget Cam existed and marry someone else or keep our love alive and live a miserable existence.” Holly’s tears started to fall, but they were caused by a mix of hurt and anger and purefrustration. “That’s my choice?”
“Except for the twenty percent probability that you beat the odds.” She gave her a half-hearted smile.
As Holly squinted her eyes in anger, Malcolm stepped in. “None of this would even be shown to you if you hadn’t been Cameron’s wife. He’s pulled strings to help you.”
Holly snapped her gaze to him. “Wait a minute. I didn’t ask him to come visit me two yearsago. That washischoice.”
Malcolm opened his mouth to answer, but Joy interrupted. “True, but who asked him to come back again and again?”
Once again, Holly crossed her arms. “I wouldn’t have even known that was possible if he didn’t visit me in the first place.”
Malcolm pounced on that. “And he wouldn’t need to visit you from the grave if he’d appreciated what you had to begin with.”
Hollynodded before she stopped, her eyes wide. She shook her head and turned away. “This isn’t Cam’s fault. It was an accident.”
Joy flew around her before Malcolm did. “But he knew the risks of rock climbing on such a cold day. He did leave you on Christmas day despite the icy conditions. He may not have known that he would fall, but he knew it was a possibility.”
