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That was a feeling Holden could relate to. Suddenly, he wanted to provide for the woman he loved. He wanted to give her everything—a beautiful house, maybe a pool out back where their kids could swim when they got older… J.J. could even babysit someday.
He saw it all clearly now, and there was only one person he wanted that life with—the woman who’d just turned and followed her sister inside without even glancing in Holden’s direction. It hurt. Especially now that he’d known with just one look that there was no getting over this woman.
He’d been a complete idiot, sticking to some rule he’d set long before he’d even met her. Yes, before they started a serious relationship, he’d have to clear it with J.J., but she seemed to adore Faith. He couldn’t imagine she’d be anything but over-the-moon happy if they started dating. And if she wasn’t, he’d make decisions from there.
“Are you okay, man?” Nic, who’d stopped just outside of the doorway, turned to look at him.
When Holden didn’t answer immediately, Nic seemed to realize something was up. He looked back over his shoulder, then shut the door, coming toward him.
“Is it all this talk about the wedding?” Nic asked. “You getting cold feet?”
That was said in a teasing tone. Nic even added a big smile to the end of it. But Holden shook his head. It couldn’t be further from the truth. His feet were warmer than they’d ever been. For the purposes of this analogy, anyway.
“I’m just realizing Faith doesn’t really deserve me,” Holden said. “I’m a moron.”
Nic laughed. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. We all feel that way at times. It’s the women who keep us sane. We need them in our lives, right?”
“How did you do it?” Holden asked him, glancing over at the window. From here, he could see the group gathered inside, laughing and talking. Nobody seemed to have noticed the two of them hadn’t come in yet. He was betting Charity and Faith had noticed. “You uprooted your entire life and moved back to Misty Mountain. That was a huge leap of faith.”
“Well…” Nic laughed. “Charity was my first love. I broke up with her because I was a complete idiot. It just took me a decade and a kiss under the mistletoe to finally admit to myself she was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“You broke up with her, and she took you back?” Holden asked.
“Not easily. It took some convincing on my part. When you finally wake up and realize what a fool you’ve been, the best thing you can do is fix the issue before you waste even more time.”
That was deep, but it didn’t really get to the heart of the issue bugging Holden. How did he let himself fall in love again?
“My first wife died,” Holden said. “I guess you knew that. But it’s not that. I’ve just had a tough time believing that anyone will come into my life and stay. And I don’t only have myself to look out for now. It’s also about J.J.”
He didn’t want to go into his entire history of loss. Really, when he thought about it, one person had been there for him. His grandmother. She died eventually, but for most of his young life, she’d been his person—the one who had his back, no matter what.
There was someone else who had always been there for him. His daughter. She wasn’t going anywhere. Well, not until she turned eighteen and left for college.
“None of us is going to be here a hundred years from now,” Nic said. “But there’s no guarantee we’ll even have tomorrow. All we can do is make the best of today. Listen to me. I sound like a poet. Charity would be proud.”
At the very mention of her name, Nic lit up a little. There was a sparkle in his eye that wasn’t there a second before.
Nic loved Charity. He had someone to walk through life with. A partner.
“Let’s go get our women,” Nic said.
Without waiting for Holden, he turned and walked back inside. Holden’s mind was spinning as he followed, though. Had he blown things with Faith? He certainly hoped not. With a little sweet talking, hopefully they’d get things on track. Because no matter what, he was not going to lose this woman.
26
Every time Faith glanced in Holden’s direction, he was looking at her, and the warmth in his eyes sent a sharp pain straight through her. At some point, she’d fallen in love with Holden Pryce. She’d done everything she could to avoid it, but it had been inevitable.
Charity, being the awesome sister she was, had stuck close to her side all night. They were squished onto the sofa with Noelle and Jordan, playing a New Year’s Eve edition of Pictionary. It was women against men—or girlfriends against boyfriends. Jordan had felt the need to correct the latter of those two titles to girlfriends, boyfriends, and fiancés, pointing out that two of their participants were engaged.
The hits just kept on coming. That’s what it felt like, anyway. They weren’t engaged. They were faking, and they’d lied to their family and friends—the entire town, actually.
Most of all, she’d lied to herself. She told herself she could keep her heart out of this, knowing eventually she’d fall for this man. She’d set herself up to be hurt.
“Mistletoe!” Jordan called out, correctly naming the item Noelle had just drawn.
“Could Noelle have made it any easier for them?” Nic asked.
That was a good point. After all the talk of mistletoe lately, it was an easy guess for everyone on Noelle’s team.
