“That’s what I’ve heard.”
“And I don’t want him climbing up on that silly ladder to measure it. The last thing we need this Christmas is a trip to the E.R. I was hoping you might configure something. A pole or piece of wood. Something he can prop up next to the tree to measure its height.”
“I’ll see what I’ve got around the shop,” Holden said. “I’m sure I can come up with something.”
“Thanks, sweetheart.” His mother paused, and he knew exactly what was coming next. “Can I make up an extra place setting at the dinner table tonight?”
“Sure, you can. But I’ve told you before, Scout isn’t good with utensils and she’s perfectly content eating on the floor.”
He could feel the eye roll, even through the phone.
“One of these days, you’re going to bring home a nice young woman, Holden. And when you do, we’ll be here waiting with open arms.”
“Your arms are going to get tired.”
Another eye roll. He’d bet money on it.
They finished the call with their ‘I love you’s’ and goodbyes, and Holden replayed his mother’s words while rummaging through their storage area in the back of the building. He knew his mother only wanted his happiness. But hewashappy, wasn’t he?
He had his business, a loyal companion, and the best mountain views the Sierra could offer.
So why did his heart catch at the thought of finding someone to share it all with? And why in Saint Nick’s name did the woman from the coffee shop suddenly come to mind?
CHAPTER5
“Don’t you think you should turn that down just a touch?” Paula Joy cast a look over her wire-rimmed reading glasses toward her husband busily fiddling with the volume on his phone.
Even with good insulation and double-paned windows, the jingling of bells and soundtrack of holiday tunes carried into the cabin like it was playing on the bookshelf speaker.
“Oh, don’t you worry about that, Paula. Our nearest neighbor is ten acres away. I doubt they can even hear it.”
Rachel wasn’t so sure. Her dad had loved the Christmas playlist idea and spent all afternoon constructing a little shelter for the outdoor speaker so it wouldn’t become damaged by the wintery elements. It would have been comical had her father not been so serious about it all.
“I’m sure they can hear that blaring music all the way to the North Pole,” Paula remarked before lifting her book back up and tugging the heirloom Christmas quilt around her middle.
“Even better,” Stewart rallied.
Rachel snickered. Her parents weren’t the lovey-dovey sort, but they got on just fine. In fact, she’d never really known them to fight, only bicker in the way older couples often did, the many years together shedding their filters and loosening their manners.
But she knew they loved one another. It was clear even now in the way her mother smirked at her father, half-annoyed by his antics and half-amused all the same. Her eyes twinkled playfully and Rachel read that as affection.
Blinking back to her laptop, Rachel tried to focus on the business plan, but the strain from hours spent staring at the screen had her rubbing her fists into her eye sockets.
“Why don’t you take a break, Rach?” Paula shut her book this time and lowered it to her lap. “How about I make a batch of hot chocolate and we pull down the ornaments from the closet and get them organized for the tree?”
Rachel’s stomach rolled. “Any chance we could have apple cider instead?”
“Sure.” Her mother rose from the loveseat. “I think I can arrange that.”
Snapping her laptop closed, Rachel moved the computer to the coffee table and sat forward on the couch. “You got that playlist figured out yet, Dad?”
“I’ve added enough carols that we can get a solid twenty-four hours of unique songs before ever rotating back through.”
“I had no clue there were that many Christmas carols.”
“There are nearly ten-thousand,” Stewart clarified. “But I only have a small sampling of that on the list. Only the very best for our noble.”
From the outside, her father’s odd enthusiasm could be evidence to check him into the looney bin, but there was always more than what was seen on the surface. Always more to the story.
