Page 14 of A Curvy Wonderland (A Curvy Girl Christmas #3)

14

ELDAN

I had been so excited to see Holly walk into the café this morning. So excited that I’d given up on sleeping around six in the morning, gotten up and ready, and worked over in my mind a thousand times what I would say to her. I'd keep it casual, something like, “Hey, you look nice today.”

The statement was easy to practice, because it was always true. Even if she was wearing ridiculous holiday-themed clothes, she was always pretty.

To top off the perfect greeting, I’d gone to the shop early and prepared hot cocoa so we could start our day out with a warm drink.

But when Tatum and Lucy entered the shop, they weren’t with Holly—they were with their mother.

Instantly, a heavy, deflated feeling settled over my chest. Holly had kissed me, and she didn't want to come back. That could only mean that the kiss was bad. That she didn’t like me. Didn’t want to see me again.

Delilah explained that her mail truck was broken down, and since she couldn’t work, she’d given Holly the day off.

Which just put more spiraling thoughts into my mind: Holly had only been coming by for her job. Had our time together meant nothing more than a paycheck to her?

As Delilah, the girls, and I went into town, doing odd jobs for different people who had requested it, a constant diatribe played through my mind about Holly and why she didn't want to spend time with me. How she'd gotten close, just like my mother had, and ran away. Left me.

So when Holly texted around lunchtime and not early in the morning, it was like salt in the wound. I was an afterthought. Her name in my phone sent a fresh coil of self-doubt through my chest. My mind had already formed the connection between her and the feeling of razor blades slicing over my heart one after another with each sad thought that raced through my head.

She hadn't replied after my last message, and I took the blank screen to mean I was right. We were done. We’d never even started.

After spending the morning working on a few projects for the giving tree, Delilah took her girls back home for lunch, leaving me on my own for a couple hours. Since we were already in town, I walked to Scrooge's Diner.

In the past, it had been my favorite place because it offered an escape from all the overdone Christmas traditions in Garland. Lately, it had gotten even better because I got to sit by Holly, our shoulders brushing against each other, smelling her peppermint perfume.

Now, walking inside by myself, it lacked some of its typical luster. Scrooge hardly noticed me as I picked a booth toward the back. But when he came over with his ordering notebook, he said, “Where are the girls?”

“That's over,” I said, barely keeping the bitterness out of my voice.

He grunted. “Well, what would you like?”

I couldn’t bring myself to get a burger and onion rings. So I got a chicken sandwich and fries instead.

“Should I ask?” Scrooge said.

I looked up at him, almost in disbelief that he was talking to me. Scrooge rarely used more words than absolutely required to take my order. But he hadn't left, so I assumed that he was waiting for my response.

I shook my head. “You're right to be alone. It’s easier that way.”

His furry eyebrows drew together, like I just said the stupidest thing in the world. “It's not smart to be alone. It's lonely to be alone.”

“But you’re—” I began.

He shook his head. “If you play it safe, you know what you're going to get. You're going to be by yourself. And there's nothing wrong with being by yourself. If you're satisfied that way. But judging by the sad look on your face, you're not. If you put yourself out there, yeah, you could end up still being alone... But you could also end up with something a heck of a lot better.”

Without waiting for me to reply, he walked away, leaving me in a stunned silence. I’d never heard Scrooge put so many words together. Much less ones that hit so close to home.

But honestly. He was right. Now the big question was... did I have enough courage to do something about it?