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Like the previous evenings, they ate, shared the happenings of their day, cleared the table, filled the dishwasher, and restored the kitchen and breakfast nook to order before everyone settled in the family room.
“Can we watch a Christmas movie?” Wren asked.
“I want to watchPrancer,” Emme shouted her vote.
“But I wanted to watchElf.” Wren pouted. “And it was my idea.”
Both pairs of little girl eyes swung toward Holly and Chace. “Which do you want to watch?” Emme posed the question neither of them wanted to answer.
“I think we should decide what we’re doing tomorrow,” Holly replied to keep the peace for a few minutes longer.
“I want to go back to Morningstar Farm.” Wren pinned Chace with her gaze. “You said we would.”
“You also said we could go ice skating,” Emme quickly pointed out.
So much for keeping the peace, Holly silently berated herself.
“I’ve got an even better idea,” Chace declared, a gleam in his clear blue eyes. “How about we go ice skating at Morningstar Farm?”
Both Emme and Wren’s mouths dropped open. “I didn’t see an ice skating rink when we were there on Sunday,” Emme stated.
Holly hadn’t either.
“That’s because they were still putting the finishing touches on it. And since there was no guarantee it would be completed by this weekend, they didn’t want to advertise the possibility and risk disappointing everyone if it wasn’t ready. But because I happened to run into Cindy Lou Who at the grocery store this morning, I asked her about it, and she assured me everything was a go.”
“Yay!” Emme and Wren shouted in unison. “So we’re going?”
“As long as it’s okay with Aunt Holly.”
All eyes shifted in her direction. “Well?” Wren prompted.
Holly raised her hands, palms out, in the universal sign of surrender. “Far be it for me to stand in the way of participating in the inaugural ice skating event at Morningstar Farm.”
Emme scrunched up her face. “What does that even mean?”
“It means yes,” Chace answered, grabbing each twin around the waist and tossing them on the sofa. “And since I saved the day, I get to pick the movie.”
Snatching the remote off the coffee table, Chace pressed the microphone button, activating the voice option, and winked at Holly as he spoke into the device. “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
Yeah, he really did have a good memory where she was concerned, since it was one of her all-time favorites. Well, both of theirs, really.
Since asking her to give them three weeks, everything Chace did, he did for them, proving how much he still cared about her and showing her that they still belonged together. And always would.
Holly wanted that. She really did. She just wasn’t sure if it was possible for the long haul. Because despite how spectacular the last few days had been with Chace, their circumstances were contrived. They may be in Hickory Ridge, but they weren’t in their own homes or living their regularly scheduled lives.
No, everything was occurring in Lyss’s world with Lyss’s children in Lyss’s house. Hell, even in Lyss’s freaking bed. Here, she and Chace were insulated from the real world. Protected from outside forces that could drive an irrevocable wedge between them, severing their connection for the second time in a decade.
And that would be it.
The end of them for good.
Holly doubted her heart could survive the devastation of losing him again, especially since it had never completely healed from the first time.
Which was probably why she was having such difficulty following Taylor’s request not to borrow trouble. Because regardless of how hard she tried, it always felt like she was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Or for something or someone to swoop in and snatch him away from her all over again.
“Hey, you okay?” Chace asked as the credits began to roll.
