AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They really loved her.” Ves hates feeling defensive. “It’s just a small gesture. If you wanted to come.” But even as he says it, he knows that his dad’s offer is as superficial and meaningless as this phone call.
“I think it’s unnecessary. In any case, your stepmother has a lot of charity gala commitments and then we promised your sister another trip to Aspen. You might be looking at a future Olympian skier.” A pause. “Might be hard to swing right now. It’s a time for family and truth be told, Maeve wasn’t too fond of me.”
But I’m your family, too is what Ves doesn’t say. Come for me.
Ves looks at the chaos around him, and it suddenly looks manageable. At least compared to what’s going on in his head. “Yeah. I need to get back to it, so...”
“Sure, son. Call me if you need anything.”
The empty offer almost makes Ves laugh. Karl hangs up first, a reminder that the Hollinses don’t really do goodbyes. They spring in and out of Ves’s life when it suits them, and it’s never about him. Not really. Despite the divorce two decades ago, the family fallout has been stretching out ever since. He’s not sure which is worse: the fighting or the game playing. Either way, he loses.
At least with his new arrangement with Elisha, he’s going to come out a winner. He didn’t love his dad dissing Maeve and Piney Peaks, but that doesn’t mean he wants to linger here any longer than necessary. Once the house is in order, he’s out of here, and will only need to return for the valuation the first week of the new year.
Elisha promised that filming would start in mid-January and wrap by the end of February, with no need for him to be on the premises. As long as she takes care of everything, there’s no reason why he can’t help her out, and hopefully the house will sell by early spring.
The thought comforts him as he abandons the living room and retreats to the kitchen, where he’s cleared enough space on the table to sit down with a well-loved Moleskine notebook and his favorite Montblanc pen, a college graduation gift from Maeve. Now that the rest of his schedule is worked out, he just needs to figure out what book concept is going to wow Dominique and prove he knows what a happy family looks like.
Even if it’s one hundred percent pure fiction.
Chapter Fifteen
Ves
Three pages of scribbles, crossed-out words, and defeated sighs later, the knock at the door takes him by surprise. Ves glances at his watch: four p.m.
Elisha’s enthusiastic, but surely not so much as to take off from work early? Warily, he approaches the door like it’s a snake about to strike. One look through the peephole and he jerks back in shock.
Crowded on the front porch, looking inordinately cheerful, is a group of what he can only assume are carolers. Five adults all wearing red, whether that’s stockings or coats or huge, hideous poinsettia brooches, and clutching sheets of paper in mittened hands.
Can he pretend he’s not at home? Who just drops by without warning and an actual invitation? Another knock, this one more insistent. What on earth could these people possibly want?
Braced for the very real possibility they’re about to sing at him, Ves opens the door. He’s sure he looks like a man awaiting his doom, but they’re all smiles. “Isn’t it too early for caroling?” he asks suspiciously.
A man with black hair and a stubbled jawline laughs. It takes a moment for Ves to place him: the bartender from the Old Stoat. His quarter-zip pullover and puffy jacket hide his impressive tattoo sleeve. In fact, the whole arm has been claimed by an impish-looking old woman with a shock of bubblegum-pink hair. “I’m Adam Lawson,” says the man. “And this is my grams, Bibi, and her friends Marcy and Dave.”
Ves nods, hovering in the open doorway. “Hello.”
“Hi there, son. I’m Jamie. Dave’s my dad,” says a handsome man with blond hair and twinkling blue eyes, pushing forward to stand beside an older gentleman to whom he bears a strong resemblance. “We just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood. I believe you’ve met my daughter already.”
Ves blinks. “I have?” Then it hits him, seeing traces of her pert nose and full, bow lips in both her father and grandfather. “Elisha,” he realizes out loud.
Dave laughs, a hearty guffaw that almost makes Ves jump. “Bingo! Our girl is pretty memorable.”
“We’re sorry to meet you under these circumstances,” says Bibi. “We all loved Maeve so much. Now, I don’t know if anyone’s told you yet, but next year is the fiftieth anniversary of Sleighbells under Starlight.”
“As well as what would have been Maeve’s eightieth birthday,” says Dave.
“Two pretty big milestones,” Adam chimes in. Marcy and Jamie nod emphatically.
“And you see, well, even before all this movie business started, we wanted to celebrate our dear Maeve.” Bibi’s eyes grow misty. “There’s no reason we can’t still do it in her memory.”
It’s a sweet, thoughtful gesture, made worse by the conversation he just had with Karl. Guilt stabs at his chest. The people of Piney Peaks going to this much effort really reinforces what a valued member of the community Maeve truly was. Meanwhile, he can’t even remember the last conversation they had. He just saw her name while scrolling his recent call log, but if he picks that thread he’s a little afraid that he’ll discover it wasn’t so recent, after all.
Maybe Marcy reads something in his face, because she quickly pounces. “We’re dedicating our Winter Festival to her. As her only family in town, of course you’ll want to be there.”
Ves finds himself nodding along. It’s probably only one day. It won’t be any hardship to show his face and appreciate everything they’ve done—it’s the least he can do.
“We’re putting together a little sleigh ride through the forest,” explains Dave. “Following the same route they did in the movie. We also have cookie decorating at the Chocolate Mouse, ice skating, caroling, a wonderful Christmas Market next to the church, fresh cider stalls, the works! We’d love it if you joined us.” His voice becomes extra jovial, as though he’s about to impart something wonderful. “I know Maeve would have loved to know you were spending the month enjoying the season in Piney Peaks with us.”
