Mistletoe Rescue (Mistletoe Kisses)

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

W hen Holly woke the next morning to the bright light, a sense of peace she hadn’t experienced in far too long filled her. Months ago, when she promised Zack to give Canyondale a chance, she had struggled with doubt. Nothing in her experience prepared her for the warm welcome she had received.

At the time, Holly hadn’t met very many people in town and had no idea about the problems simmering beneath the surface. But the shooting had shocked everyone, softening the stances between Newcomers and Oldtimers. Regardless of the promise Holly had made, she knew she would have left if the town hadn’t come together.

Though it was still early morning and there was a chill in the air, it sounded like someone was moving in next door. Her building had a mix of one-bedroom units like hers alongside studio apartments. The adjacent buildings, circling a grassy central gathering area, included two-bedroom apartments and three-bedroom townhomes.

The complex’s clubhouse had already been decorated with a tree and lights, along with items for both Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. It seemed their drive for inclusiveness extended to everything. With a communal space that included amenities like strategically placed pavilions with built-in barbecues, a children’s play area, and a fire pit with benches around it, Holly thought this should be a fun place to live.

“Careful there, Zack,” a male voice called. “Let me help with that.”

Holly leaped from her bed and dashed to her entry window to peek outside. Zack had his truck backed into a stall in front of the apartment next door. Was he helping someone else to move? Since she wanted to give back to these people who had been so welcoming to her, she figured she’d better get dressed and offer to help.

After taking a quick shower, pulling her long hair into a ponytail, and grabbing a heavy sweater, Holly stepped out into the bright sunshine. It was colder than it looked, and she wondered if she should have grabbed her coat instead.

“Hey, Holly.” Zack stepped out of the adjacent door and gave her a hug.

His embrace warmed her, and like it had last night, her body had a mind of its own and snuggled closer. He smelled so good, and she actually sniffed his neck! Embarrassed, her face turning hot, she stepped back, unwilling to look at him.

Instead, she met the gazes of two tall men—one black with a shaved head and the other fair with a blond military cut. They exchanged knowing glances, both trying to bite back smiles. Holly decided she didn’t even want to know what they were thinking.

“You must be Ike and Marc. I’ve seen your helicopter,” she said, extending her hand, and they each shook it.

“Yes, ma’am,” Ike, the black man, said. “Kathy talks about you all the time and says she got you to promise to help set up for the festival.” His phone pinged. “We have to bounce. We’re on tween duty.”

“See ya, Zack.” Marc glanced at Holly and then back at Zack. “Let us know if you need any more help.”

“I got this.” Zack scowled at his friend, his cheeks flushed.

“What’s tween duty?” Holly asked when the two men had driven away.

“Hasn’t Kathy mentioned how McKenzie and her brother Ike are raising their half-brothers?”

“Oh, yeah. Tweens . Duh.” Holly pointed to the open door behind him. “Are you helping someone else move in here?”

Zack’s ears turned red. “ I’m moving in here.”

Why hadn’t he said anything yesterday? Holly took a step back, suspicious. For nearly a year, she had questioned why Brett had said nothing about his doubts about marrying her or his growing feelings for Ivy. He had proposed to Holly, after all, not the other way around.

“Why didn’t you say so last night?” she asked, moving closer to her door.

“You were having so much fun finally moving into your own place that I didn’t want to take away from it.” His expression turned vulnerable. “And I was worried you might not want me as a neighbor. Me getting this particular unit was totally random.”

Holly’s heart ached at the thought that her insecurities might have hurt Zack. He’d done nothing to make her doubt his sincerity, even during those two summers they’d spent as youth camp counselors. The corner of her mouth quirked up.

“I can’t think of anyone who would be a better neighbor. Can I help with anything?”

“I have more stuff than you,” he warned. “Could you organize my kitchen?”

Holly blinked and then narrowed her eyes. “Why, because I’m a girl?”

“Don’t hit me!” Zack held his arms in front of his face.

“What?” Holly sputtered, indignant he would think such a thing.

Then he lowered his hands, the corners of his mouth twitching, though the tone of his voice was serious. “I know you wouldn’t, but you ought to know I’m not a sexist either.” Zack tilted his head, brows arched, and his eyes twinkling. “Kathy says you know your way around a kitchen. And it’s not a skill I’ve needed since my mom is always giving me leftovers. Look, my friends even had to help me put together a seven-layer dip for the Fourth of July barbecue. I really am incompetent.”

“Sorry.” Holly couldn’t believe how she’d overreacted. Nothing Zack had said or done was anything like the misogynistic doctor in Denver and his rants about a woman’s place . “Isn’t your apartment a studio? Do you mind showing it to me?”

Zack turned toward his door, keeping his expression neutral despite the sudden rush of exhilaration. He needed to play this subtly or give away too much of how he felt about her. As hard as the last four months had been, it had given him time to think of ways to woo her. His biggest worry had been that she wouldn’t want him to.

Then Holly had totally sniffed him a few minutes ago. Her spontaneous reaction alone was an enormous step in the right direction. And she liked how he smelled.

“The kitchen’s here.” Zack pointed to the left. “I’ve already put the freezer stuff away.”

“Wow. For a studio apartment, this place has a decent amount of counter space.” Holly went down the short hallway and turned the corner into the bedroom area. “The design is kind of brilliant the way they’ve used the wall of closets to separate the sleeping space from the rest. Put in a door, and they could call this a one-bedroom apartment—and charge more. Dang!” she grumbled with a huff.

“What’s wrong?” Zack asked, fighting back worry that he’d done something wrong.

“I never even looked at the studio apartments here. In Denver, I leased one for a year. It had the worst layout ever . I could have gotten one of these and saved some money.”

“But then we wouldn’t be next-door neighbors.”

Looking at his pleased expression, Holly appeared to fight back a grin. “That’s true.”

So, Zack took a mental breath and braved more. “Doesn’t it feel like serendipity that you ended up here in Canyondale, of all places?”

“Right?” Holly did smile then, her cheeks pinking a little, the flush showing off the sprinkling of freckles on her nose. “Maybe it was meant to be. I’ll get to work in the kitchen.”

Grinning, Zack got busy organizing his small living room. He should have the guys come again later to set up the wall mount for his television.

After a few minutes, Holly poked her head over the counter dividing the kitchen from the dining/living room space. “That didn’t take long. Your kitchen is in order. What there is of it, anyway. If you plan to do any cooking, you need to make a grocery store run.”

“I told you it wouldn’t be hard.”

When she stepped into the living room, she cried, “Oh, what’s this?” and immediately headed to the drop-leaf table Zack had retrieved from his mother’s attic last night.

“That’s the table I made my junior year of high school.”

“I remember you talking about it.” Holly lifted first one rounded leaf and then the other. “Didn’t you win a prize in the state fair with it?”

“I did.” Zack’s heart thrilled that, even after all these years, she hadn’t forgotten how much it meant to him to win.

“Where will you put it?” She scanned the room. “You already have a small dining table, and this would get in the way in your entry.”

“I brought it for you.”

Holly straightened and turned to stare at him. Something flashed in those blue eyes again that made him ache for her.

“My older sister had it in her house until they outgrew it,” Zack quickly explained. “It’s sat in my mom’s attic for a couple of years, and I figured you could get some use out of it. Unless you don’t like it and want to buy something else.”

“No. I love it.” Holly shifted her gaze to the table again. “With the ends raised, I could seat a good half-dozen people around it.”

“Yeah. Or leave one down for just you or another person.” An image of the two of them sharing an intimate dinner came to mind, making his stomach tighten.

Once again, she surprised him with a twitch at the corner of her mouth, but she didn’t disagree and only said, “Thank you.”

“I’m glad it will get some use. My mom made me bring one other thing for you.”

Holly laughed. “I wondered why you needed two bed sets.” She nodded to both headboards leaning against the wall.

“I mentioned you’d been sleeping on only an air mattress, and she insisted I take a bed frame from the attic. No mattress, though. Those got trashed years ago. Their house is one of the oldest in the area, and they’ve accumulated quite a collection of furniture over the generations. She was glad to get rid of something. But you’ll need a couch too. Kathy has talked about coming over here for movie nights.”

“We’ve already had long-distance movie nights where we watched the same thing and chatted with each other online. I think she misses McKenzie since she and Marc got engaged.”

“You’re right. I’m glad you and Kathy have hit it off so well. It’s good for her.”

“What about you? Do you still prefer the air rescue?” Holly’s face remained placid, but curiosity laced her tone.

“Definitely. It’s kind of crazy. Just before I got shot that night, Marc had asked me if I would be interested in working part-time for them as the EMT for an air med helicopter business. You know they started out doing sightseeing flights, but they’ve slowly pulled out of that and will eventually just do rescue.” Zack hesitated but decided to mention his fifteen minutes of fame. “It started when the guys got asked to fly me and Kathy to rescue a couple of climbers last summer before you moved here. It even got videotaped and went viral.”

“What’s this? A rescue video?” Holly asked, pulling out her phone. “I’ve got to see this.”

Zack’s cheeks grew hot, but he flipped through his phone until he found the video and handed it to her to watch.

“Oh, my…” Holly breathed. “Is that Kathy?”

“Yeah. She’s fearless.”

“Excuse me, but I think you’re pretty fearless too.” Holly handed the phone back with a soft laugh. “My hands are shaking from watching that.” Her expression turned serious. “You could have been killed.”

“Yeah.” Zack rubbed the back of his neck. “But it’s dangerous being a deputy too.”

She shot him a dark look. “Have you forgotten I helped treat you that night?” Holly sighed. “But I get it. We’re lucky to have people like you willing to do it.”

Holly’s phone pinged with a text. She checked it and gave a resigned sigh. “It’s from Kathy. She says we’d best get busy, because she and McKenzie need our help. Yesterday, she mentioned something about a bake sale. How did she know we’d be together?”

“Marc or Ike probably mentioned it. I hope you don’t mind helping with the festival.” Zack was counting on them working together on some of the preparations.

“No,” she said, tearing up. “I’m a firm believer in healing, especially after the shooting.”

But even as she spoke the words, a shuttered look came to her eyes, and Zack feared it had to do with the pain she still held inside. Without thinking about it, he gave Holly a quick hug. It was obvious the people of Canyondale weren’t the only ones who needed healing.

He ached for her obvious pain but, dang, she felt good in his arms.