“Is it?” She directed her eyes to the trio and his followed. Holden’s sister stared adoringly at her baby while Lance wore a matching expression. Only his was directed at Sarah.
“There’s no way Lance likes my sister.” Holden snapped the floret between his front teeth. “Right?”
“You can tell yourself that all you like, but it won’t suddenly make it true,” she replied with a knowing smirk.
He picked up another veggie from the platter, still scrutinizing the scene unfolding in the family room. “You know? I’m beginning to think I’m not as perceptive as I once believed. I mean, I didn’t even realize that the woman I’d been pining over all of those adolescent years was sittingrightnext to me. How’s that for clueless?”
Rachel could say the same. But the confession that he’d had feelings for her other than bitterness still took her by surprise. She laughed at the thought. “Given our history, it’s almost comical that we were reunited at a place called Bitter Cold.”
“It sure is,” he agreed, his eyes sparking with something that made her belly dip. “I definitely don’t feel cold toward you right now. And there’s no bitterness anywhere to be detected.” He snaked an arm around her waist and drew her close. “The opposite.”
Her breath was shallow and her pulse erratic. “And what would the opposite be?”
“Joy,” he said softly before pressing his nose to hers and then lifting his lips to her forehead in a chaste kiss. “Rachel Joy, that’s all you bring me now.”
CHAPTER34
He knew it wasn’t, but everything about the evening felt like a familiar family get together. Rachel wove herself into the evening seamlessly. She’d offered to help Holden’s mother with the tasks in the kitchen, chatted with Zeke about a football game Holden didn’t even know anything about, and read a stack of board books to Laney—once all the way through and then again when the baby cried with glee for more.
It was everything Holden had hoped for in bringing a date home to introduce to his family. Or in this instance,reintroduce.
So the ache that tightened his chest felt unpleasantly out of place. And yet, it had every right to be there.
It was like unwrapping the most precious present, only to have to return it the next day. Holden tried his best to appreciate the evening for what it was, but all it did was make him want more nights exactly like this.
Minus the part where Lance flirted with Sarah at every turn, trying to engage her in conversation. That part Holden could do without. What he could do without even more was his sister’s flirtatious reciprocation. It set Holden so far off-kilter he nearly toppled over each time he spied them exchanging coquettish grins and longing glances.
How had he not picked up on this before? And why hadn’t Lance said anything?
Maybe for the same reason Holden had said nothing about his feelings for Rachel. It was risky to expose yourself when your heart was on the line. Riskier when the person it beat for might not even want it.
After they cleared dinner, Holden and Lance set up the ingredients and prepared the kitchen table for gingerbread house making. Sarah and Rachel entertained a sleepy Laney with block toys, while Zeke and Jill stole a sweet moment together on the couch with two glasses of tawny port.
Holden poured a package of peppermint candies into a glass dish and caught Lance’s attention. “How come you’ve never said anything to me?”
“’Bout what, buddy?” In true Lance fashion, he funneled more candies into his mouth than into their designated bowls.
“That you like my sister.”
Lance’s eyes rounded as wide as holiday wreaths. “Listen, man, if it’s too weird or if it makes you uncomfortable—”
Holden fiddled with the cellophane wrapper on a candy cane. He twisted it in his grip. “Does she like you back?”
The typically overconfident friend Holden was so used to suddenly vanished, replaced by the likes of a nervous schoolboy. “I think so.” Lance gave a guarded shrug. “At least, I hope so.”
Hauling his buddy into a bear hug that transformed into a playful headlock, Holden rubbed a fist over Lance’s hair and said, “Then I couldn’t be happier.”
Lance went rigid with surprise. “Really?” He stepped out from Holden’s grasp.
“Why wouldn’t I want the two people most important to me to find happiness with one another? Heaven knows you both deserve it.”
Usually readied with a quick comeback or witty remark, Lance stood there wordlessly. But his relief about Holden’s approval was easily interpreted in the relaxed smile that transformed his entire posture.
“But,” Holden had to add on, “if you break her heart, I’ll break your other leg.”
Lance chuckled and dumped a bag of gumdrops into a dish. “Fair enough.”
Once the ingredients were all organized, the two men called the rest of the crew into the kitchen. They split into three teams: Rachel and Holden, Zeke and Jill, and Lance and Sarah with Laney.
