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“Yeah, I do, but I need my wake-up juice first. I was just heating it up when I heard your truck.” She hesitated a fraction of a second before she added, “Are you okay? You seem—out of it.”
“Just a weird morning.”
“I see,” she said. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”
Declan was surprised by the offer, but nodded. “Thanks, I’d love some.”
“It’s not fresh ground and fancy,” she warned.
“I don’t care.”
Holly stepped back, allowing him to pass into the house, and he was thrown once again. He’d assumed Holly’s home would look a lot like her shop, with clutter everywhere for all the holidays, but the front entryway had four hooks on the wall and a light gray bench seat with cubbies for shoes, but nothing else on the walls.
“This isn’t what I was expecting,” he said out loud as she shut the door behind him.
“What do you mean?”
He followed her past a family room with a cream loveseat under the window and a large bookcase against the adjacent wall. No knickknacks or gnomes to be seen, just one layer of neatly placed books on each shelf.
And Declan’s painting on the wall.
A flash of pride rushed through him that after everything they’d done and said to each other, his gift was worthy of hanging on her wall.
Then he noticed the Christmas tree and stepped into the room to get a closer look.
“This was not what I was expecting your tree to look like,” he said, fingering the tool ornament on one of the branches.
“Yeah, well, no one else bid on it this year, so I got it for a steal.”
Declan’s gaze swept over the various ornaments and the star of lighted wrenches on the top, shaking his head. “I guess I assumed you’d have decorations everywhere, with a tree that had bright, glittery ornaments.”
“I don’t usually have time for a tree,” she said, leaving the living room with him trailing behind, several questions rattling around in his mind. They passed through the doorway into a kitchen and dining room area, but there was no kitchen table, just a couple of stools under the bar. Several ring lights of various sizes were standing next to the far wall, ready for Holly to make her next video, and a rush of regret flooded him. Although he’d given a halfhearted apology the night of her party, he’d followed it up with throwing all the blame on her.
“I do have some garland up on the ledge,” she said, pointing above their heads.
“Wow,” he commented, deadpan.
Declan caught her eye roll before Holly turned her back to him and stood up on her tiptoes, retrieving a mug from the cupboard. He watched her set up the single cup coffee maker, afraid she might have taken offense to what he said and throw the hot brew at him when it finished dripping.
“I didn’t mean to offend you. I have this habit of saying exactly what I’m thinking and sometimes it doesn’t work out for me,” he said.
“Only sometimes?” Her light, teasing tone made him relax as she leaned against the counter, continuing, “I don’t decorate much because I spend my holidays with my family at my parents’ house, where we deck the Christmas tree and open presents. It doesn’t make sense to decorate this big house for just me. I put all my energy into my outside display. Maybe after I get married and have kids I’ll do something in here, but I’m so busy, thinking about setting up and taking down a bunch of décor in here every couple of months doesn’t sound like fun.”
“Considering you do it for your shop, it’s strange to hear you say that.”
“The shop is the reason I feel that way. I already do it there and it’s hard enough to get help. I’m the youngest child and my family is busy with their own lives—” Holly stopped herself, as if she realized who she was confiding in, and handed him his coffee. “It’s just not a priority at the moment.”
Declan took a drink of his coffee, contemplating her reasoning. His family’s holiday celebrations consisted of his mom begging him to visit her wherever she was at the time and his dad ordering a ready-made dinner from the grocery store and sitting around watching TV.
How would that change now that they were back together? Or were they just casually hooking up?
Declan gagged on his coffee at the horrifying thought.
“Oh no, did you get some grounds?”
“No, I’m good,” he said and coughed. “You’re going to live here after you have kids?”
“This street? Or Mistletoe?”
