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“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU talking about?” I asked.
Holly froze, her facial expression a mask of confusion and anger. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and she cocked her head sideways, like she couldn’t believe I would ask that.
The eggnog must have been especially strong. Whatever ratio Nancy demanded for her alcohol to eggnog must have been enough to put down an entire battalion, because Holly only had a couple of them, and I couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was talking about.
“I heard you,” she said, her words slurring as she pointed with one finger and held herself upright on the arm of the couch with the other hand. Her most recent eggnog sloshed in the pointing hand, but she didn’t seem to notice. “I heard what you said when you thought I wasn’t listening. I heard you on the phone. You were so excited to get back to her. I just want to know why?”
“Why what?” I asked, still confused. She overheard me on the phone? I didn’t even remember talking on the phone in front of her. And what could I have possibly said that would have upset her so badly?
“Why did you even tell me about having a crush on me? Huh? Was this some... some... some twisted way of fulfilling your teenage fantasy? Is that it?” she said. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was loud enough. Even though everyone else had long gone to bed, it wouldn’t be strange if someone overheard them. Voices carry.
“Wait,” I said, things clicking together finally and realization dawning on me. “Are you talking about when I was on the phone at the festival?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice low and gravelly. “I heard you talk about your Monica.”
It was like she spat the words out, especially the name. I sighed.
“Actually,” I said, shifting my weight as I leaned against the doorframe, “you couldn’t be further from the truth. Monica is one of my business partners. She invested quite a bit of money in very early and as such owns a percentage of the profits we make every year.”
“What profits? What do you mean ‘we’ make?” she asked.
There was no use now. The cat was out of the bag. I had to tell her the truth, all of it, and in as much detail as she needed in order to get it all out.
“The company I work for... I own it,” I said. “Monica was a childhood friend of mine, and she invested a large amount of cash—cash she got from her wealthy father—to help me start a business. Through busting my ass and spending more waking hours than I should have, I have built it into somewhat of an empire. When I told my assistant to tell Monica to pick somewhere to eat in celebration, it was because we just secured an acquisition that will take us from the biggest company in our industry in the Midwest to one of the largest companies in the country.”
“So...” she began, the words processing in her mind so individually that I could almost see them sink in and her eyes widen, then darken again. “You and Monica aren’t together?”
Despite myself, I laughed, walking back into the room and sitting on the couch next to her.
“It’s not funny,” Holly said, her bottom lip sticking out a little like she was pouting. It was a completely involuntary facial tic, and one I was sure she was aware of and put a stop to when she was sober. But she clearly was holding on to sobriety with a fingertip at this point.
“Monica and I have been friends since we were twelve,” I said. “I was the first person she came out to.”
“Came... out... to?”
“She’s gay, Holly,” I said. “Has a wife. They live happily, and very wealthily, together with their two kids, a dog, and a mansion that could fit all of Snowflake Hollow in the acreage of.”
“Oh,” she said, her voice falling faint. She sat back onto the armrest a bit as she turned completely toward me, pulling her legs up and crossing them in front of her.
“Yeah. So, I’m not exactly her type.”
“But you never said anything about owning a company,” she said. “Why would you lie to me?”
“I’m sorry about that.” I could have argued the semantics of what a lie was and how I didn’t necessarily lie to her outright, but a lie of omission was still a lie. I intentionally misled her into believing I was just some normal schmuck. Not a multimillionaire, and soon, most likely a billionaire.
“Sorry? You’re some bigwig, and you pretended to be... normal. Like me.”
“I am normal,” I said. “I grew up just like you. I lived just like you until I was out of college. Monica never flashed her money around, and her dad was the one with all of it. He lived in another state, and all I knew was she went to visit him, and he was wealthy. I didn’t put it together that meant she was wealthy too. She lived just like I did. When she offered to invest in my company, it wasn’t some huge amount either. It was everything I needed to get going, but it wasn’t more than I could have gotten from a bank if I had perfect credit and been in business for ten years already. She just moved me ahead a few steps.”
“But you are rich now,” she said, almost like a question. I hung my head.
“Yes.”
“So, I’m just some girl you’re having fun with while you’re on vacation,” she said. “Rich guys like you, ones who hide who they are and stay at a bed-and-breakfast in Snowflake Hollow...”
I didn’t even want her to finish that thought.
“No. This is more. So much more. Everything I said about you before, it’s true. One hundred percent. I have feelings for you, and they are stronger than I have ever felt.” I scooted closer to her and picked up her hands, pulling them toward me. She didn’t resist. “Holly, I’m falling for you. None of this changes how I feel.”
“Really?” she asked, her eyes swimming with tears. I could almost see the tension and relief flood from her as her shoulders sagged and her body leaned closer.
“Really,” I said.
“Oh, Lawson.” She threw her arms around me and stood on her knees on the couch.
Quickly, she lost her balance, and we tumbled, me going backward and pulling her on top of me to protect her. As soon as my head hit the couch cushion, her lips crushed into mine, and I sank into the kiss.
Holly ran her hands down my side and shuffled her body so she was straddling me. I could feel the heat coming off her body, her chest rising and falling rapidly and her breasts brushing my stomach. I wanted her. I wanted her bad, and my cock pressed against the zipper of my pants, dying for me to unleash him.
But the smell of the rum was strong on her breath. She was drunk. It wasn’t right.
“Hang on,” I said, pulling her up and stopping her. “Not right now. You’ve had too much to drink.”
“No...” she began, but I shook my head.
“Not until you’re sober,” I said. “Come on. Let’s go outside and look at the decorations.”
“It’s cold out there.”
“Good,” I responded, sitting up. “You might sober up faster. As it is, you are going to have a hell of a headache in the morning.”
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes, but for once, it didn’t have the venom or dismissal that it had the last couple of days. “But I am bringing this.”
She held up her eggnog, and I swiped it from her easily.
“Hey,” she began.
“This is mine now,” I said. “You drink water. You’re going to need it.” I walked over to the coatrack and grabbed her coat and scarf. “Here, put this on.”
“Okay,” she said, stomping over in mock childishness.
I helped her get her coat on, which wasn’t without its adventures, and got a large, bottled water out of the refrigerator for her. We went outside, and she stumbled as she walked, but I kept her upright. We admired the decorations for a little while before I noticed she was starting to sober up a bit. I, on the other hand, was headed the other way, having brought a much larger glass of eggnog with me. It was mostly rum.
“I’m really tired,” she said after a little while, her head resting on my shoulder as we watched the twinkling lights.
“I bet. Come on. Let’s get you to bed,” I said.
I could feel the tension between us as we made our way up the stairs, the unspoken question of if I would join her in the room. She was sobering up, and I had probably had enough rum to knock out a moose, but I was still pretty levelheaded about her. I didn’t want to do anything that could put me back in the dark place we had been in the last few days. That included anything that could be felt like taking advantage of her.
Instead, as we reached her door, I pulled her in for a kiss and then turned on my heel. I could hear her behind me moan sadly, but I held up my hand above my head for a tiny wave.
“Good night, Holly. Finish your water before you go to sleep,” I said.
“Good night,” she said.
Before I reached my own door, I heard hers clicking shut behind me and smiled.
