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While he absolutely had a temper and a habit of saying whatever popped into his head without thinking about who it might hurt, Holly had heard the upset in his voice. The sliver of guilt that tone created only deepened when she opened his gift and pulled out a beautiful painting of the Winters family farm. She’d noticed the signature right away and yet another puzzle piece of Declan Gallagher she couldn’t quite fit fell into her lap.
Once she’d righted her clothes, Holly turned off the light and headed out front. Tuesdays were usually slow, especially in the middle of the day, and she’d hired Erica, who was taking college courses online, to help out a couple times a week during the holidays.
Erica sat behind the counter, bent over an open textbook. She lifted her head when Holly stopped on the other side, her curly hair pulled back in a ponytail, drawing attention to her dark skin and high cheekbones. She smiled and rubbed her eyes as she leaned away from her book. “How did it go?”
“Got ’em done. Anyone come in?”
“Nope, it was quiet until Wes from Speedy Installations called,” Erica said, handing her a yellow sticky note, her red sparkly nails glittering in the overhead light. “He wants you to get back to him ASAP.”
Holly frowned. Speedy set up her home display every year for the holiday season, and they were supposed to be over at her place tomorrow to work on her house.
“Thanks,” Holly said, grabbing her jacket off the hook behind the counter. “I’ll step out back to call them.”
“No worries, I’m going to finish this chapter and then dust some shelves.”
“I appreciate you.” Holly went through the store and pushed out the back exit, sticking her little door prop in the gap to keep it open. The chilly air circled her immediately, stealing her breath and stinging the end of her nose as she pulled her cell out of her pocket. She couldn’t help smiling when she didn’t see Declan’s truck. He’d parked out front the last few days, probably because there were more witnesses in case she tried anything, but Holly didn’t have the stomach to prank Declan, not with the way they’d left things.
Holly tapped in Wes’s number and hit the call button. He picked up on the second ring with a raspy “Hello?”
“Hi, Wes, it’s Holly Winters. Everything okay?”
“Hey, Holly, it’s actually not. Me and most of my crew are down with a nasty flu, and I’m not sure when we’re going to be back to one hundred percent. I have to cancel some jobs and unfortunately your display is one of them.”
Holly closed her eyes, panic settling into her stomach. “Please don’t cancel. Maybe you’ll feel better tomorrow. Perhaps you could do it in the morning and afternoon between other jobs?”
“I really can’t. We were booked solid through the holidays before and this shi—” He caught himself, clearing his throat. “Garbage hit us all hard. I would squeeze you in if I could, but with most of my guys out, I’m stretched thin.” Explosive coughing burst through the phone and Holly grimaced.
“It’s okay, Wes. I get it. I hope you feel better.”
“I can give you some other company recommendations, if you want.”
“Sure, that would be great,” Holly said.
He rattled off a few names, and she put him on speaker to type them into her notes app. After she told him goodbye, Holly leaned her head back against the building, thinking about her full story display featuring How the Grinch Stole Christmas she’d bought after the holidays last year. Some pieces were two-hundred pounds, much too heavy to carry by herself, and with her sister’s bachelorette party next weekend and the wedding after Christmas, there was no way she could ask her family for help.
She dialed the first guy and got a similar story as Wes. Short-handed and overbooked. After fifteen minutes of phone calls, she’d deleted all the names and numbers he’d recommended and mentally crossed off the several she’d called after a Google search. If she didn’t get that display up this weekend, not only would she get a fine from Theodore and the HOA but she’d be ineligible to enter the display contest. Every other house on the block already had theirs up, but Speedy couldn’t get her in until now because everyone on the circle used Wes.
Holly went back inside the shop, running a hand over her face before remembering she’d put on make-up this morning. She stopped off in the bathroom to clean the smudges and headed up front, frustrated and defeated.
Erica was dusting the shelf of reindeer and glanced over her shoulder as Holly approached. “Hey, everything okay?”
“No, it’s really not, but I’m going to keep smiling until it is,” Holly said, pasting a painful smile on her face.
Eric turned away from the frolicking fawns with a frown. “What’s wrong?”
“The guys who put up my Christmas lights display cancelled on me and it has to be up by Friday. People go to the Parade of Lights downtown, and after they leave they drive over to us, so it has to be finished by then. He gave me a bunch of names, but they’re all booked.”
“Oh, man. I’d offer to help but I’d probably fall off a ladder or electrocute myself.”
Holly chuckled. “This is a huge job. Much bigger than one or two people could finish in a day.”
“Are you sure? Because I think the guy next door does stuff like that. The one who dropped the snakes on you?”
“Declan!” Holly groaned.
“Yeah…why do you say it like that?”
“Because he’s the devil.” Did she mean it? No, but how could she walk next door and ask for his help after Saturday?
