“Sorry, Mom. This is Ryan Caldwell. Kim’s brother. This is my mother, Paula Goodwin. And you already know Hannah.”
Her mother’s features lit up. “Lieutenant Commander Caldwell! The one who is taking Holly to Kristine Moore’s wedding.”
Holly could feel her face heat even more, if possible. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer had nothing on her. As bright as she was sure her features were, they wouldn’t even need a streetlight to find their way to the Christmas market.
Ryan looked amused. “Yes. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Oh, Hannah is absolutely right. You’re perfect!”
“Okay,” he said slowly.
“Did you stop in for any particular reason?” Holly asked, unable to keep the note of desperation from her voice.
Her mother ignored her. “Seriously. Troy is going tofreak outwhen he sees you moving on with your life. Serves him right!”
“I’m not moving on with my life. I mean, Iammoving on with my life, of course. But not with Ryan. He’s only doing me a favor by taking me to the wedding.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m not still looking forward to it,” he said again with that same devastating smile.
She narrowed her gaze, wanting to tell him again that he didn’t need to use that seductive smile on her or on her family and friends. They all knew the truth. Hannah had been the one to persuade him to go along with the whole scheme in the first place.
Before she could say anything, Lydia and Audrey came out of the break room, Lydia’s hair messed from sleep.
Her daughter gasped with delight.
“Grandma!” she exclaimed, racing over to Paula, who scooped her up with a laugh.
“There’s my girl. What have you been up to?”
Lydia delivered a long treatise on the many activities of her day.
“And your mom told me you’re going to the market,” Paula said when Lydia stopped to catch her breath. “Do you know who’s there? Santa Claus!”
Lydia’s mouth fell open. “He is?”
“Yes. And maybe your mom will even let you sit on his lap so you can tell him what you want him to bring you.”
“Can I?” She looked at Holly with so much pleading in herexpression that Holly had to keep from rolling her eyes at her mother for backing her into this particular corner.
“We’ll have to see. We might not have time, after we eat dinner and listen to Audrey’s friend’s concert and look through the shops a little.”
“Let’s go now!” Lydia exclaimed.
“Come on. I’ll help you get your coat on,” Paula told her.
“It’s back in the break room,” Audrey said.
All three of them headed in that direction while Holly went through the final steps to close the store for the night.
“So why did you guys stop by?” Holly asked.
“Do we need an excuse to say hello?”
“I suppose not.”
She went to grab her own coat off the hook by the back door, where she liked to keep it in case she had to help any customers load a large purchase into their vehicle from the back.
Hannah followed her, keeping an eye on Ryan, who was checking something on his phone across the store.
