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Holly took a step closer. “Declan Gallagher, I think you’d miss me.”
“Maybe I would.”
The front door opened, shattering the moment, and Declan took the escape like a coward. Stepping away from Holly, he cleared his throat and greeted Maureen Johnson.
“What can I do for you?”
“Hi, Declan. I just bought this new entertainment center and it’s missing a bolt like this,” she said, holding up some small metal hardware. “I was hoping you might have something that would work. Hi, Holly!”
“Hi, Maureen.” Holly backtracked from behind the counter. “I’d better pick up lunch and get back to my shop. Good to see you.”
“You too.”
Declan’s gaze followed Holly to the door, where she stopped and smiled at him. “See you later.”
No snark or sass-laced tone, just a cheerful goodbye before Holly disappeared outside. Something had shifted between them and while he couldn’t exactly pinpoint what, his head was screaming to be afraid.
Every other part of him couldn’t wait to see her again.
CHAPTER 9
After she locked the doors, Holly headed down the sidewalk towards her car, which was parked in the opposite direction of the hardware store. She was tempted to backtrack and say good night to Declan, but the super-charged moment between them combined with his concerns left an anxious flutter in her stomach for hours. She’d ended up removing Declan’s prank call video, although she still found little Gunner’s mom in the comments and sent them a gift card, along with four others who were longtime followers. Holly posted a video announcing the winners and left it at that.
It wasn’t that Holly didn’t consider possible dangers of living in the spotlight. She’d blocked numerous creeps over the years, but never had anyone shown up here looking for her. She wanted to think Declan was paranoid, but his concerns got her thinking and she couldn’t seem to stop.
Holly opened up her car door and as she climbed in noticed a baseball bat lying on the passenger seat with several loops of barbed wire wrapped around the head. She picked up the white sheet of paper next to the bat and read the short note.
Made for your protection. —D
Holly punched the number he’d written at the bottom of the paper into her phone and sent a text.
Is there a zombie horde in Mistletoe I don’t know about?
Several seconds passed before her phone beeped.
Huh? Who is this?
She tapped out another message, smiling as she responded. It’s Holly. Unless you go around leaving Negan’s bat on other people’s seats.
What’s a Negan?
Holly sighed in disbelief and texted: Are you for real? The Walking Dead’s Negan? Anti-hero who wields a barbed wire-wrapped bat named Lucille?
Never seen it. I don’t like horror. I just made it with some extra stuff I had lying around to inflict maximum damage.
Holly laughed aloud. She could just see herself walking out every night with that bat in hand, waving to people as she passed. They’d think she lost her mind.
She texted: As far as pranks go, breaking into my car for this is a weird one.
It’s not a prank. It’s a gift.
Future reference, I prefer chocolate and caffeine to weapons of arm-length destruction.
Noted. Next time I’ll make you a crossbow out of coffee beans.
That sounds cool, but you might want to include a coffee grinder. I buy k-cups.
You’re missing out. Fresh coffee beats everything.
