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“And permanently too! It’s going to make your stay here at the inn even better knowing you won’t be leaving town when it’s over.”
Jack nodded in agreement, then looked around, taking in the meticulously arranged Christmas decorations. They were in the foyer, both on the walls and on the banister of their fancy staircase. They were all over the sitting room on his right, which was where their massive tree sat in the corner, and a row of stockings hung on the fireplace. In the dining room on his left, it essentially looked like Christmas had exploded all over the tablecloth and the long buffet tables that framed the room on both sides.
Permanently residing in a town where they valued Christmas over most other things in life would mean needing to get used to all the décor, whether he liked it or not. With a final nod of thanks to Joan, he made for the garland-and-holly-covered staircase to the second level, dropped his bag in his room, then headed back down to the kitchen for some of his sister’s famous cookies.
Holly had been an actress—earning fame on both the small screen and the big one—before she fell for Nick Patterson while filming a movie in Snow Hill and then settling down here. Since she couldn’t very well continue her acting career from Pennsylvania, she’d switched gears and now starred in a cooking show filmed here in town.
The studio space had been constructed in an old warehouse, and the set was fashioned after Joan’s kitchen at the inn because Holly’s director deemed the aesthetic too good to ignore.
Jack couldn’t be happier for his sister. She needed more than what she’d been doing in LA, and he would know that better than anyone. He’d been her bodyguard instead of following through with his plan to become a civilian police officer once he got out of the Marines. So when the opportunity presented itself for her to be able to put her real passion to use—cooking—while still being able to benefit from her talent of being in front of the camera, she jumped on it without hesitation.
Jack peered through the porthole-style window on the door between the formal dining room and the kitchen, grinning when he caught sight of Holly tapping a dab of icing on her daughter’s nose while they both giggled.
It brought him a ridiculous amount of joy to see his sister living her dream life after they’d lost their parents and been on their own for so long, but at the same time, something deep in his chest cracked at the sight before him.
He’d casually dated while he was a young Marine, and tried to do the same after he got out—despite his limited time for socializing while working as Holly’s bodyguard in LA. But he wanted what she had now too. A family of his own, a partner to build it with, and a home for them to share.
So, as soon as Holly decided to stay in Snow Hill, and he realized he was more alone than he’d ever been, he started searching for the right woman. Unfortunately, the only woman who managed to catch his eye—and make his pulse spike whenever she was near—wanted nothing to do with him.
Eager for a distraction from that depressing line of thought, Jack pushed through the kitchen door and went right for the spread of cookies on the nearest cooling rack.
“Hey! Noelle told me you were here! Hug me or no cookies,” Holly demanded, swatting his hand away from the chocolatey pieces of heaven before him.
Jack huffed and mockingly rolled his eyes, hugging his sister like it was the last thing he wanted to do.
In truth, it was great to see her. They’d always been best friends thanks to how close in age they were, and yes, that often came with a massive amount of bickering and other annoying sibling things. But at the end of the day, Holly was it for him as far as family, and since his life in the Marines and now as a police officer had shown him more than enough darkness, he never took her for granted.
When she pulled back and squeezed his shoulders, her eyes were misty. “I’m so happy you’re moving here.”
“Me too.” Jack reached over and snagged one of the tiny chocolate cake cookies she’d learned to make from their mom, popping the whole thing in his mouth. “But you know, you didn’t have to get pregnant again to make that happen. I would’ve moved here just for Noelle if you’d asked me to.”
Noelle smiled back at him with chocolate in her tiny square teeth, but then Holly pushed him playfully in the chest. “Oh, yeah? So you don’t remember me asking you to move here when I decided to stay in Snow Hill?”
Jack grabbed a handful of the mini-cookies and sat next to Noelle at the counter. “Noelle didn’t exist back then.”
Holly rolled her eyes and went back to icing the sugar cookies she’d also made today. “Fair. But I also seem to remember asking you to come back here several more times since then.”
Jack’s throat went dry. He told himself it was because of the cookies and not the beautiful blonde he tried and failed to ignore every time he came to town, but since the cookies were warm and gooey, he knew it was a lie.
“True,” he said, trying to force the now-sandpaper-like cookies down, “but when I decided to go to the police academy and do the thing I didn’t do because I chose to be your bodyguard, you didn’t really think I’d ditch all the big-city action to patrol the perfect little Hallmark Christmas town, did you?”
“No, I guess not.” She snorted. “But I can’t say I was happy when you told me you were moving to Philly. I was constantly worried about you.”
Jack swallowed the bite of cookie he’d just taken and got up to pour himself a glass of milk. “Ah, come on. Philly is the city of brotherly love. It wasn’t that bad. Besides, living there meant I could be within day-trip distance of you and my favorite niece over here. Right, Noelley?”
She nodded, but since she was staring down at her cookie like it was the most precious thing in her possession, Jack had a feeling she hadn’t even heard his question. Though, to be fair, she was a few weeks away from turning two, so he doubted she was following their conversation either way.
“Do you think you’ll be okay giving up all that excitement to be a small-town cop?”
He shrugged and sipped his milk. “I think so. I’m finally ready to settle down, Holls. I’ve been striking out with the women in Philly, so maybe Snow Hill is the place to be if I want to have the stuff you have. Which I do.”
Holly stared at him for a long moment, the bag of icing she’d been using to pipe an outline around a cookie shaped like a Christmas tree suspended in the air. “You’re really serious about that, aren’t you?”
“Why is that such a shocker?”
“I don’t know, maybe because I’ve never heard you talk like this before. It’s a little… well, it’s adorable, but it’s also weird.”
Jack tilted his head as he chewed his final bite of chocolatey goodness. “I can’t tell if I should be more annoyed about theadorablepart or theweirdpart.”
