How Nick and Holly Wrecked...Saved Christmas Read online

  Nick is pale, but starting to breathe again. I feel like turning a cartwheel. Granny closes the door behind the policeman, and I’m expecting to eat cake as if nothing has happened.

  We wander into the living room and everyone is staring at us.

  My mom crosses her arms. “What have you two been up to?”

  “We weren’t at a party in the woods,” I say.

  “But you were on that road together,” Jake says.

  “Yes,” Nick admits, “but it’s not what you think.”

  Ivy sits on the edge of a chair. “Honesty, please. Everybody knows something happened. Even Gene knows something went on; he just doesn’t have any idea what it was. Or any proof. If he did think you two committed a felony, believe me, he wouldn’t have left.”

  “It was me,” Nick says.

  I roll my eyes. “No, it wasn’t Nick. Stop taking the blame for this, Nick. I’m pretty sure this cat thing was all me.” I pull out my phone and prepare to show my movie.

  Jake stands and extends his hand to Nick. “Hi, Nick. I’m Jake.”

  “Nice to meet you. How was your trip?”

  “Fantastic.”

  “Anyway,” I interrupt. “I asked Nick to take me to the shelter yesterday because I wanted to look at cats, but they were closed. Someone dumped a box on the porch and we went back to check last night after the dance to make sure someone found it. It was still there. So we took it. It was close to midnight and freezing so we took the box of cats.”

  My mom has that deep crease in her forehead. The one that shows up when she’s super mad or super confused or both. “You took cats from the shelter when they were closed?”

  “They’d been dumped there, Mom. It’s not like we broke in and took them. They were abandoned.”

  “What did you do with them?”

  “They’re here. They’re Granny’s Christmas present.”

  My mom glances around the room. “We talked about this, Holly. We hadn’t made a decision.”

  I grit my teeth. Of course we didn’t. Because you ran off with your boyfriend before we could.

  “Giving pets for Christmas is tricky,” my mom continues to drone on. “You have to be sure the person is ready for them. And seriously. Taking abandoned cats from the shelter? I don’t condone dumping pets—it’s lower than low, but maybe there’s something wrong with them. Sickness, behavioral problems...”

  “Don’t talk about me and my cats as if we’re not here,” Granny says. “Honestly, it’s worked out well for everyone. Especially the cats. They’re adorable. I love them.”

  “I’m helping Granny take them to the vet next week.”

  Jake rubs my mother’s back. “C’mon, babe. No harm, no foul. Yes, there was a better choice here. I don’t know what it was, but I’m sure you’ll explain it to me.”

  She smiles at him and pushes a lock of light brown hair off his forehead. He’s a goofy guy with wire-rimmed glasses and has been known to wear a pair of tube socks with his dress shoes. But he settles and calms my mom like I’ve never seen her settled and calm.

  “And,” he says. “We have other things to talk about.”

  Nick grabs cheese off the table.

  “Oh, yes,” Granny says and pulls a small box off the counter. “Your mom and Jake are back early because they were helping me. It was part of a ruse. Open it.”

  “Now?”

  “Yes.”

  I lift the lid on the square box and pull out a set of keys.

  KEYS!!!!

  “Oh, my gosh. Does this mean...? Wait. This key ring says Camaro. Are these the keys to your Camaro?”

  “Your Camaro.”

  I scream.

  Nick drops his cheese.

  I jump up and down. “Are you serious? Oh, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I hug granny until something creaks and cracks in her back and she has to sit down.

  I think I broke Granny.

  “But it’s your car,” I say while wiggling with excitement. “How will you get around?”

  She waves her hand. “I don’t go out much, but I have the shuttle for when I need something. It’s convenient.”

  “There are some things you need to know,” my mother says. “But you’ll see when you go out to look at it.”

  “It’s here? The car is here and not at Melvin’s? Nick!” I scream again and hug him. “The car is here! Thank you so much, Granny.”

  “My pleasure. I’m downsizing. I don’t need all these things around here. I’m not buying gifts anymore. I’ll simply be passing things along from now on.”

  Jake grabs his jacket. “Get your coat, Holly. Let’s go take a look.”

  Nick moves toward the door like an anxious puppy.

  Jake pats him on the back. “Give us a few minutes before you come down, would you Nick?”

  “Sure,” he says and goes back for a croissant full of Granny’s best chicken salad.

  My mom isn’t moving. “Aren’t you coming?”

  “Go ahead, baby. Jake’s been working on the car, he knows the details. I have food to set out. More guests are on their way.”

  I pause in the hallway. Something’s up. My mother does not miss an opportunity for a lecture, and I know she wants to go all raging maniac on me about the cats and Nick and my crime spree on county road nine. This is her opportunity and she’s passed on it. Merry Christmas to me.

  Jake sprints by the elevator and heads for the stairs. “Quicker this way,” he says. “It’s parked on this side. You have the keys?”

  “Yes. I can’t believe you and mom came back yesterday.”

  “We had to get the snow tires on the car and do some paperwork. We also had to add it to the insurance and make sure it’s ready for the cold. Melvin and I worked on it. Your grandmother hasn’t driven it in the winter for years.”

  “How long has this been going on?”

  “Collette asked your mother about it a month or so ago. I came over and we went to Melvin’s. Now here we are.”

  Jake pushes the door open and lets me walk through. The shiny red car sits under a streetlamp. Beautiful, fluffy snowflakes drift from the sky and land softly on its roof and hood.

  I squeal. I hop around a while. I try to hug it.

  Jake opens the door. “Get in and start it.”

  Like he’d have to ask me twice...

  He climbs in beside me and we listen to the sweet sound of freedom in the hum of a boss engine.

  “There are a few rules,” Jake starts.

  I drop my head back against the seat. “Ug... I knew it was too good to be true.”

  “It’s not that bad, but you should remember this is a classic car. It’s not suited for winter in this climate. The chemicals they treat the roads with cause erosion, and the car has a light rear end which means there’s not much traction on slippery roads.”

  “You said it has snow tires.”

  “Yes, but you have to be careful. And forget driving on ice. You don’t want to slide off into a ditch. Or worse. Your mother thought you should only drive it when the roads are dry until you get used to it.”

  “So no driving unless it’s dry and sunny? I might as well put it back in storage until July.”

  “It’s not that bad, Holly. We want you to be safe.” Jake looks around and motions toward the road. “Let’s try it out.”

  “It’s snowing, Jake. You said—”

  “I know what I said, but it’s not sticking on the road yet. Consider this getting used to it.”

  I put it in gear and hit the gas.

  “Take it easy,” Jake says and laughs. “What is it with the women in this family? You all drive like there’s a fire to get to.”

  I turn onto the deserted highway and head for the intersection at the bottom of the hill. Snowflakes swirl in the headlights and race into the windshield with a slow melting splat. I search for the wiper switch.

  “Take your time,” Jake says. “You’ll figure out where everything is.”

  I conc
entrate and try to forget how weird it is that my mother’s boyfriend is in the car with me. My mother taught me to drive. There was screaming involved, and I’m sure she’d be screaming now as I can’t clear the glass fast enough.

  Jake doesn’t even flinch when I brake too hard.

  Most importantly, I am in a car. My car. And probably the coolest car on the mountain.

  “It has a full tank, but you need to watch it. This isn’t exactly fuel efficient and it takes premium gas to run smoothly. You’re gonna have to pick up more babysitting to keep this thing on the road.”

  I make a turn and drive past Pastor Allen’s small church. Right about now I’m dying to know if my mom’s grilling Nick about what we’ve been up to.

  “I need to ask you something, Holly.”

  I glance at Jake. “Uh... OK.”

  “Don’t look like that,” he says and laughs. “Keep your eye on the road.”

  I knew something was going on.

  “It’s about your mom. I think you know how I feel about her.”

  I squeeze the steering wheel. What am I supposed to say here? I don’t know anything except that he’s taken over our TV and my mom is smiling more than usual. My mom is smiling more than usual...

  “Anyway,” he says, and sounds like he’s choking. “I want to ask her to marry me tomorrow. I mean not to get married tomorrow. I want to ask her tomorrow if she’ll marry me. Like at another time. In the future. But not too far in the future...” He scrubs his hands across his jeans and mumbles something under his breath. He grabs the door handle like he wants to jump out. That could be my driving, but I don’t think so.

  I stare straight ahead. There’s a lump in my throat the size of one of Granny’s precious gems.

  I’ve never been asked this question before, and clearly, Jake has never asked it. What happened to the confident and helpful guy who gave me lunch money and took me to school for a week? Or the guy who sat in the front row and filmed my disastrous holiday show and then kept my mother calm as I bled all over the stage?

  “Relax, Jake. How are you ever going to get through a proposal?”

  He lets out a nervous bark of laughter. “So you think it’s all right? That I ask? Because this involves you too, Holly. This is a big step for all of us, and I don’t want you to feel left out.”

  “Honestly Jake, no one’s ever asked me something like this and I don’t know what to say.” I look in the rearview mirror and prepare to turn left into the complex. “I want my mom to be happy and she seems to be happy when you’re around.”

  I grab the first open space I see and attempt to pull in straight. I put the car in park and Jake and I sit and listen to the deep powerful rumble of my car. My car.

  He hesitates with his hand on the door. “I love her, Holly. I hope she’s happy because she makes me happy. I want to be there for her. And you. I wanted you to know that.”

  No one’s ever said that to me before, either. I am surprised by the bubble of emotion that explodes in my chest.

  I long ago gave up my “daddy” fantasies. Mine left. He never came back. I didn’t do the father-daughter picnic in Girl Scouts, and I didn’t attend the father-daughter dance at the rec center. I act like it’s no big deal when Amanda’s dad treats me like his fourth child and pulls us under each arm at the lake and drags us to the edge of the dock and pushes us in the water. We come up laughing and out of breath and I always tell myself I don’t miss the daddy stuff.

  But I do. I did.

  “I know you’re leaving for school next year,” he says as I struggle to not cry. “I’m not trying to intrude on your life—”

  “It’s OK, Jake. Thanks for telling me. And thanks for working on the car. It’s... It’s amazing.”

  “I enjoyed it. I better get back before your mom starts looking for me.”

  Nick comes around the complex and skids to a stop in front of the car.

  “Guess we should have told him we took a ride and came back to the front of the building,” Jake says. “How many laps do you think he’s made around this place looking for us?”

  I laugh when I think of Nick hopping shrubs in the dark.

  “Cherry,” Nick says as Jake gets out and he hops in.

  “No doubt,” Jake answers. “I’ll see you upstairs.”

  “Thanks Jake,” I call after him.

  Nick rubs his hands across the dash with great reverence. “Aw man, I wish it was a 4-speed.”

  “Not me,” I say

  “Did you check out what’s under the hood?”

  Truthfully? Not that interested in what the engine looks like—as long as it runs. “Not yet. Maybe tomorrow in the daylight. Come to think of it, I don’t know how to pop the hood.”

  “There’s a latch under the front bumper.”

  “Good to know,” I say and smile.

  “This is so sweet. Listen to that engine.”

  “I know. That low roar is my favorite part of this car.”

  Nick pauses to touch my face and brush a piece of hair off my cheek. “Then what’s wrong? You look worried or something.”

  “Is it my face again? I can’t hide anything. My face gives everything away. I’ve got to do something about this!”

  Nick laughs. “No, you don’t.”

  I turn off the car. “Jake wants to marry my mom,” I say and gnaw on my bottom lip. “He’s going to ask her tomorrow. He wanted me to know.”

  “Wow. He seems like a nice guy. Are you OK with it?”

  “Yeah... I don’t know. My mom and I fight a lot, but I want her to be happy. Jake seems to calm her down. Like last week, she screamed at me three days in a row about the dirty clothes on my floor. And I’m like, it’s my laundry. What does she care when I do it? And later, when they thought I was in the basement, Jake was like, she’ll figure it out when she runs out of clean clothes. And I didn’t hear any more about it for two days.”

  Nick twists the knobs on the radio. “My dad’s been with his girlfriend for a while, but I don’t think it’s serious. Or I don’t think he’s serious. It would be a shock if they came home and told me something like this. At least with Jake and your mom it seems like they really care for each other. That’s something.”

  “Maybe that’s everything,” I mumble as I gather my things. “Are you ready to get back? Your Aunt Ivy’s probably looking for you. This must be a hard night for her.”

  I lock my door and head for the steps at the main entrance.

  Nick scrambles to catch up with me. “Wait. I need to talk to you.”

  “I’m sorry. I got distracted with Officer Pinkney and the car and Jake’s news.”

  “Yeah, another crazy night, huh?”

  Yes, but I’ve not forgotten for one second that Nick Zernigan was trying to say something to me two hours ago. What was it he was wondering?

  I stop on the porch and gaze at Nick as a single snowflake melts on his eyelash.

  “What’s up?”

  “I’m going, Holly. I’m joining the Army. As soon as I talk to my dad I can take some tests and go for my physical. I’ll go as soon as I graduate if they’ll let me.”

  “I knew it! Aw, Nick, are you sure? I know you feel that way tonight, but have you talked to anyone else? Have you prayed about this?”

  “That’s the thing, Holly, I did everything you said. Pastor Allen was here earlier, before the service. I did talk to him. He prayed with me. He asked me to come by next week so we could talk and pray about it again. But I’m telling you, I’ve never been more sure.”

  My own tiny issues seem unimportant when I think of Nick far from home, far from the mountain, far from me.

  I jump into his embrace uninvited. I wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze. “I’ll pray for you every day,” I say in his ear. “I know God will protect you. I’ll pray for your dad, your mom, your Aunt Ivy... If this is truly God’s will for your life, it’ll work out.”

  “That’s a lot of praying.”

  He laughs and I step back
.

  “I appreciate your prayers, Holly, and your advice. I wanted you to know I made the decision because we talked about it and I haven’t told anyone else.”

  “Your secret’s safe with me.”

  Another snowflake drifts into his shiny dark hair. “I also wanted to say thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, Nick. What for?”

  But I know what this is. I go home tomorrow and he moves on. Christmas is over and this unexpected five days fades away.

  “For this week,” he says. “I thought you hated me, but I’ve had a blast.

  I try not to shiver. “I never hated you. I barely knew you.”

  He shoves his hands in his pockets. “After that accident you were so upset. And that first day I saw you here I couldn’t believe it was you. Right here. On this porch. You were so ticked.”

  “Yeah. Not real proud of my behavior that day, but the truth is, I’ve had a blast too. I’m glad we talked and got to know each other. And you’re a great cat burglar. So thank you too, Nick. If I had to be dumped on a doorstep at Christmas, I’m glad it was here, and I’m glad it was with you.”

  I rub my hands together for heat and plan my escape. I get it. The brush-off is complete and I can go. “So... I need to get upstairs. Merry Christmas, Nick.”

  “Holly, wait.” He grabs my arm. “Where are you going? What’s wrong?”

  I’m doing it again, I just know it. A tear has escaped. I feel it trickle down my cold cheek as my face betrays me again. “Nothing’s wrong. Or everything’s wrong. I don’t know. You’re confusing me. I thought this was your way of saying see you around or something.”

  “Are you crying?”

  “No! Maybe a little. Never mind. I understand.”

  “C’mon, Holly, can you relax for one minute? What is it you think you understand? What kind of guy do you think I am?”

  “I’m sorry. I’m not very good at... At whatever this is,” I say and manage a tiny laugh. “This night has been over-the-top emotional. Jesus is born, the cops come, I get a car, there’s a wedding to plan. A great guy I just got to know tells me he’s leaving to head straight into danger...”

  Nick takes me in his arms with such force my breath escapes and I can’t get it back. I am happier than I care to admit in his tight embrace.