Within an hour she was walking up her front steps, wanting nothing more than to climb into bed and sleep away the day. There on the front porch was a package. Probably the one Lynn said she’d sent.
She dropped it on the couch, too tired to open it. After a hot shower, she crawled into bed. It was late afternoon when she woke up. She’d better get moving and get back to the clinic and check on Louie.
After some coffee.
She climbed out of bed and headed for the kitchen, noticing the package on the couch. She scooped it up and carried it to the kitchen. She made the coffee and sat down to open the package while the coffee was brewing.
She unwrapped the brown mailing paper and saw a note in Lynn’s handwriting taped on the package wrapped in Christmas paper. She opened the note. All it said was I hope I did the right thing. Found this while cleaning out that messy storage room at work.
She unwrapped the crinkled Christmas paper and pulled off the lid to the box. She caught her breath when she saw a note from Dave resting inside the box.
I love you, hon. I believe in you. I love how you let go of fear and follow your dreams.
Always and forever,
Dave
She pulled back the tissue paper to find a silver ornament of a soaring eagle.
Tears flooded her eyes now and rolled down in hot tracks across her cheeks. Dave. He’d always known how to say the right thing at the right time. He must have bought this last year before the accident and hidden it in the storage room at work. He’d always claimed she found all his hiding places. But not last year. She ran her finger over the shiny silver of the ornament. The bird soaring free.
She took it as a sign. A sign from Dave. He’d always been there for her, and he was again. Just when she needed him. Dave was right. She needed to get over her fears. She needed to start living again, even if it meant getting hurt. She’d made such a mess of things with Steve.
That ended now. She grabbed some coffee, placed the ornament carefully on her Christmas tree, and hurried to get ready to go to the clinic and check on Louie. Then she’d find Steve.
* * * * *
Steve saw Holly pull up and park in front of the clinic. He’d brought Josh over to see Louie. The vet tech had let Josh sit in the back for a bit with the dog. He’d been glad to see Cindy at the clinic instead of Holly. He hadn’t wanted to face Holly. He’d clung to the false hope he’d make it through the rest of her temporary stay here in Comfort Crossing without ever seeing her again.
But all those hopes of avoiding her just flew out the window he was looking out right now. With each step she took closer to the front door, he could feel his heart hardening more. He was finished with women rejecting him, rejecting Josh. Finished. He’d learned his lesson well this time.
Her rejection of him stung, he admitted that. He’d fallen for her. Fallen hard, after all these years of going it alone. But he could take the rejection and move on. He knew he could do that. Couldn’t he?
But, by rejecting him, she’d rejected Josh, too. The boy was nuts about her. He couldn’t forgive that. He had to protect his son. His son had had too many losses in his young life. His mother left, his grandmother died, even his aunt had moved away. Now he was going to lose Holly, too. He should have protected his son better than this. What had he been thinking?
Holly pushed through the door. “Steve.”
He just nodded at her and went and slid into one of the hard, uncomfortable, waiting room chairs. You’d think Doc Benson could have better chairs for the room.
“I wanted to talk to you, but let me go check on Louie first.”
“Be nice to Josh.”
Her eyes widen. “Of course I will.”
He ignored her answer and picked up a magazine.
She came back about five minutes later. “Louie is doing well. I think you can take him home tomorrow. You’ll have to keep him quiet, but he’s doing better than I even had hoped for.”
He nodded at her again. Unwilling to speak. Oh, he was grateful she’d saved Louie. He’d always be grateful for that. But it ended there. A man could only take so much rejection.
“Steve, can we talk?”
“There’s not much left to say, is there?”
“I’m sorry.”
“No need to be. Just a misunderstanding on my part. I read more into us than there was.”
“It’s not that. I was afraid. It was all beginning to feel so much like last year. The loss. Working on Louie, just like I had on Tucker last year. I was so afraid wouldn’t be able to save Louie, either. There was so much loss in my life last year.”
“So, instead you just toss me away. Wouldn’t that have been a better decision to make before the other night?”