“Come here, sweetie.” Jill drew Holden into an embrace, and Lance followed suit. Sarah wrapped her arms around them all, and even Scout jumped up to get in on the massive sandwich hug.
“There, there.” Lance ran a hand over Holden’s hair. “It’ll be okay, buddy.”
“You’re suffocating me, guys.”
One by one, they peeled away from Holden, finally giving him room to breathe.
“It’ll get easier,” Sarah confessed as they moved from the entryway into the cabin. “The pain of breaking up. It won’t always be this bad.”
That was just it, though. Could it even be considered a breakup if they were never really together to begin with? Compared to the pain Sarah had gone through, it felt selfish to wallow. Because that’s exactly what he was doing, right? Wallowing in his pitiful misery?
This was the season of joy. Hope. If he’d learned anything, it was that what-ifs only broke your heart, never healed it.
But family. That had always been Holden’s place of healing. And he let them be that for him that night through the carols they sang around the piano, to the holiday fudge they made in the kitchen, to the wreath they hung on the door, constructed from their very own noble tree scraps.
The love and laughter was almost enough to distract him from his situation. If only each activity didn’t make him long for the one person who wasn’t there. The one person he wanted to share it all with. The one person he wanted his family to fall in love with just as much as he already had.
Of all the gifts he could possibly get that Christmas, having Rachel by his side was the only one he wanted.
And his heart shattered all over again, knowing it would never be his.
CHAPTER37
“Turns out, you don’t even need mistletoe.”
Holden’s words from a few days back rang in Rachel’s ears throughout the elevator ride up to the offices of December Décor. Of course, you didn’t need mistletoe to initiate a Christmas kiss. But sometimes that sweet sprig was a nudge of encouragement. A bold prompt to muster up bravery and just go for it.
In a way, it was fair to say mistletoe actually brought Rachel and Holden together. Had he not teased her about her failed product back at Bitter Cold Coffee Bar, and then taken her down the mountain to scout for some of their own, she wasn’t sure where they would be.
But he was right. The magic wasn’t in the mistletoe. The magic was in the person you wanted to meet beneath it.
She pulled her shoulder bag close to her body as the elevator doors yawned open and she slid her way through the workers continuing on to higher floors.
The December Décor level buzzed with palpable energy and it wasn’t even eight o’clock.
“Morning, Rachel.” Teddy, the coffee cart intern, bowed his head as he scooted his cart past.
Rachel made sure to give him a wide berth today. She already had enough nerves jumbling through her; she didn’t need the addition of caffeine and she certainly didn’t need the anxiety that accompanied being doused in hot coffee. She’d learned that lesson weeks ago.
“Good morning, Teddy.”
On her way to her office, she smiled at several coworkers. Throughout the weeks leading up to Christmas, most everyone at the company donned silly holiday hats or wore necklaces made of bright lights that flashed on and off with a little switch. It was fitting, after all, since they specialized in holiday decorations. It made sense to decorate oneself too.
While not over the top with festiveness, Rachel had decked herself in a fitted red blazer, paired with a charcoal pencil skirt that fell just above her knees, and a pair of black kitten heels. And in a last-minute wardrobe decision, she’d fastened the crocheted mistletoe sprig she’d made with her mother at In Stitches directly to her lapel. The perfect finishing touch.
She slipped into her office. A half an hour until go-time. Pulling in a breath, she felt her phone rattle within her purse on the exhale.
Her father’s image blipped across the screen.
“Dad,” she answered with a swipe of her finger. She placed the phone on speaker and settled it on her desk.
“Good morning, Sugar Plum. I promise I’m not calling for a song request this time.”
She laughed at that. Even if he had been, Rachel probably would have obliged. For some reason, it all didn’t seem so silly now.
“Do you have a few minutes to chat?” he asked. “I know your big meeting is this morning.”
“I do have some time.” She lowered to the swivel chair at her desk. Based on her father’s tone, she had an odd hunch she should be sitting down for this conversation. “What’s going on, Dad?”
