Holding Holly (Love and Football Series)

by Julie Brannagh

  “No, ma’am. The power is out at the place she works.” Derrick poured Holly’s grandmother a cup of coffee out of the carafe that still sat on a hot mat on the kitchen table. “Would you like me to get you some sugar?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “How about a piece of pizza? I see there’s a piece left, and it just came out of the oven a few minutes ago.”

  “I can get it,” she said.

  “No. You relax.” He got up from his chair, found a plate, and dished up the food. He put the plate down in front of her.

  “Holly’s in the shower.” He gazed into Miss Ruth’s green eyes. “I asked her about the letters. I think she’s upset.”

  “Letters?” Miss Ruth said. Her eyes shifted away from his toward the pile on the table. “What letters?”

  “We’re not going to do this, are we?”

  She took a sip of coffee and stalled for a few seconds. “No. You’re right. You do realize, however, that this has been a secret for thirty years, and there will be a lot of disappointed children if it ever gets out . . .”

  “I’ve heard about that already, and I’m pretty good at keeping a secret.” He reached over the table and patted her upper arm. “So, Miss Ruth, there’s at least one family in these letters that needs some serious help. I’d like to help them, and you can keep my involvement secret. I have a couple of ideas on how to do this.” He stared into her eyes. “I wonder if you’ll help me implement them.”

  She gave him a nod.

  Chapter Seven

  DERRICK REACHED ACROSS the table to give Miss Ruth’s hands a gentle pat. “I’m going to find Michael and his family. I’m also hoping you know enough of these kids to know if someone else might need my help this holiday season too. Let’s work together.”

  “How are we going to explain it to all of these kids?”

  “We don’t have to explain a thing. Holly may have mentioned to me that most of these families will be taking care of the big gifts themselves.”

  “She did, did she?” Ruth said. “I’ll have to talk with her about spilling my secrets.”

  “Don’t be mad at her. It’s not her fault. I fight dirty, Miss Ruth. I wasn’t letting up until she told me.” She tried to look stern, but he saw her smile. “Why don’t we invite the letter writers and their parents to a holiday party here, the local Santa hands out gifts, and I pay for it all?” He leaned back in his chair. “I’ll get some idea of how many boys and girls there are and take care of some fun stuff for them. Stuff like games, jump ropes, that kind of thing. I’ll figure out how to help Michael’s family without their ever knowing who did it, either. How about it?”

  Holly’s grandmother reached across the table to pat his cheek with a bandaged hand. “I don’t know how you’re going to pull this off, Derrick, but if you’re willing to try, I can help.” She got up from the table, walked over to a drawer beneath the counter, and extracted an old-fashioned paper address book. “Here’s where we need to start.” She flipped the book open so he could see. “Let’s talk to Santa Claus first.”

  HOLLY PUT THE final touches on her hair before she went back to the kitchen. She knew she’d overreacted to Derrick’s offer to help, but she knew how much the Santa letters had meant to her grandma over the years. It was a chance for her to give back to Noel, and she looked forward to it each year.

  Holly was more touched than she could ever explain to him that Derrick wanted to help people in her community, but she also didn’t want him to think the only way anyone cared about him was when he pulled out his wallet.

  Maybe she should let everyone else worry about their feelings. She could only be responsible for her own.

  She heard her grandma’s soft voice from the kitchen, and Derrick’s laughter. She peeked around the doorway to see what they were doing. They were bent over the kitchen table with the letters, carefully paper-clipping the envelopes to them while they worked so nothing would get separated. Derrick took notes in her notebook while her grandma read off the items. “So far, we have twenty-five primary letter writers and twelve additional siblings with eighteen more letters to open. Here’s another little girl. She says her brother wants a Sharks jersey.”

  “Did he say which one? I’ll bet I can rustle up at least one of those. It might have an autograph on it too.” She saw the flash of Derrick’s brilliant smile. “Maybe more than one.”

  “That’s nice of you, Derrick,” Holly said as she walked into the kitchen. She tried to conceal her amazement that not only was her grandma allowing Derrick to help her read the letters, they were evidently conspiring together as well.

  “There you are,” he said. He got up from the chair and reached out to hug Holly. “I didn’t mean to crowd you out of the action earlier,” he said into her ear.

  “I’m sorry too.”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I left. It was rude,” she said. “I’m so happy you want to help.”

  “If you’re both done apologizing to each other, we have a lot to do,” her grandma said, but she was chuckling as she said it. “Holly, he told me he fights dirty.”

  Holly let out a sigh. “I collapsed like a house of cards.”

  Holly’s phone rang in Derrick’s pocket. He pulled it out and handed it to her.

  It was her boss again. “Holly, the Merchants’ Association event is postponed too. They just cancelled the mobile espresso cart.”

  “That’s awful. I’m so sorry. I know that’s money out of your pocket.”

  “They’ll reschedule.” Her boss was quiet for a moment. “Listen. I know this is tough on you financially too. I’m paying you for today. We’ll call it a holiday bonus.”

  Holly clapped one hand over her mouth in surprise. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I’m back at school soon, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it—”

  He interrupted her. “We wish we had more to give, but maybe this will help a bit. Do something you’ll enjoy today. Hopefully we’ll be ready to go tomorrow morning, and I’ll see you then.”

  “I’ll be there. Thank you again.”

  “You’re very welcome, Holly.” He disconnected, and she stared at her phone in shock.

  “I’m guessing Gil told you he’s paying you today,” her grandma said as Derrick gave her one more squeeze. Hugging him was like wrapping her arms around a life-sized teddy bear; he was warm, he smelled good, and she felt so protected in his embrace.

  “He did,” Holly said. “It’s really kind of him to do this.”

  “You deserve it, honey. You work hard for him. Now, let’s get busy while you have a little extra time today,” her grandma said.

  WHILE HOLLY AND her grandma nailed down a local hall on the date Derrick specified, made a deal with the local caterer, and hired the local Santa Claus to make a triumphant appearance, Derrick went into Miss Ruth’s family room to call his coach and teammates. He was expecting a monster fine. He would most likely not be playing Sunday afternoon even if he could get back across the pass, which was looking somewhat iffy at this time.

  The snow and wind appeared to be slowing down, but he hadn’t heard a car pass on the street outside all morning. In other words, the snow was deep and probably meant the roads were impassable. He had no idea how he was getting home, but he’d better come up with something. The team would be practicing hard for Sunday’s game.

  No matter how big the fine was, it was worth every penny to spend the past several hours with Holly. They’d spent a lot of time dwelling on the letters, but it gave him a chance to see what kind of woman she was. She was thoughtful, kind, caring, and seemed to be as beautiful on the inside as she was to look at. She was exactly what he hoped she would be. He was going to do whatever he had to do to see her at every opportunity. The other women he’d dated in the past would hint around about the school bills she was struggling so hard to pay or ask him outright for a better phone. Not her. She worked for the things she got. He’d seen her reaction when her boss gave her a da
y off with pay. Despite the fact that she appeared to have little, she was willing to share what she had with him.

  There was a surprise coming for her, too: A brand-new smart phone with a contract he was paying for was on its way to her house. It was a damn good thing he called her cell provider before he called half of Bellevue to tell them what was going on with him. She would have paid a fortune for the old-fashioned minutes he used. He’d tried texting with her “dumb” phone, as she called it. It was so frustrating he wanted to let out a string of obscenities and smash the thing on the floor. Holly would be able to text on a state-of-the-art phone. They could stay in touch even with a mountain range between them.

  He glanced at the digital clock on her phone. Eleven oh one in the morning; his teammates would be in the weight room, and he needed to man up and call the coach. He punched in the number to the team’s front office.

  “Seattle Sharks,” the receptionist said. “How can I direct your call?”

  “Hi, Molly,” he said. “It’s Derrick Collins. May I talk to Coach Stewart?”

  “Of course,” she said. “One moment, please.”

  His coach answered on the third ring. “Collins, where the hell are you?”

  “I’m in Noel,” Derrick said. “I will get out of here as fast as I can. I know there will be fines.”

  His normally calm, collected coach was breathing fire.

  “Damn right there will be fines, and I’m going to yell at you too. What the fuck? You know we’re playing Denver on Sunday. Get your ass back here, son. Would you mind explaining to me exactly why you decided to cross the pass during the season? Did you not watch the weather report? We need you here.” The coach pulled in a huge breath. “I should bench you.”

  “And I would deserve it. I will be back as soon as I can get out of here. I promise.”

  “Did you just say you deserved to be benched for this one? I must be hearing things. You’d better have a damn good reason why you did this.” Maybe it was Derrick’s imagination, but the coach seemed to be running out of steam.

  “I do. While we’re on the phone, Coach, I’m working on a little project for some deserving kids in Noel. I wonder if you’d help me out.”

  “I’ll help you out when you get back here, Collins.”

  “Got it.”

  “Keep me updated,” the coach said.

  “I’ll do that.” Derrick smiled a little. “Thanks, Coach.”

  He heard a burst of laughter before the coach hung up. All he had to do now was figure out how he was getting home, and how he was going to see Holly again.

  THE STORM FINALLY blew itself out a couple of hours later. Holly could hear the TV on low volume in the living room while Grandma and Derrick tried to figure out what the situation was at the pass. So far, almost a foot of snow had fallen in Noel, and plows were still clearing off the passes back to Seattle. At least the avalanches had stopped.

  Holly sat at the kitchen table, handwriting responses to the Santa letters while she added the accounting of girls and boys to Derrick’s shopping list, which was getting pretty long and even more expensive.

  Derrick walked into the kitchen seconds later and put her phone down in front of her on the table. “I didn’t want to forget to give this back,” he said.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “By the way, I paid the unlimited talk and text fee at your cell provider. I didn’t want you to have to pay for all the minutes I racked up this morning.” He let out a sigh. “Lots and lots of talking. I think I’m exhausted now.” He dropped into the chair across from her.

  “Derrick, you didn’t have to do that,” she scolded. “This all is costing you so much money . . .”

  “I have a few dollars in the bank, girl. Don’t worry about it.”

  “But you’re already paying for the big party and food and gifts. Didn’t you say the coach is mad and he’s going to fine you, too? You didn’t come over here to spend thousands.”

  He sat up a bit in his chair and reached out to take her hand. “That’s right. I came over here to have dinner with you, and I want to have dinner with you again. How are we going to work this?”

  “What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

  “It looks like driving across the pass and I don’t quite get along. I found out there’s a municipal airport five miles from here. Would you be willing to fly to my place if they brought you back the same night?”

  “Derrick, that’s . . . I . . . it’s just wintertime. When the road is cleared off and de-iced, it’s not so bad. I promise. That’s not it, though,” she said. “I can drive to see you if that’s what you’re worried about. Mostly, though, it’s figuring out when this will happen.” She let out a sigh. “I work all the time. When I’m not working, I’m at home with Grandma. When she’s better, it’ll be different, but then I’ll be back in school, and I have homework, and”—she couldn’t look into his eyes—“I don’t know how I can make this work.”

  He didn’t let go of her hand. “So, it’s not me. It’s the fact that you’re trying to do it all at once.”

  “I’ll be out of school in June, and then I have to find a job.”

  He moved closer to her. “A job, huh?”

  “I want to stay in Seattle, but nursing jobs can be tough to find. I—”

  He reached up to put gentle fingertips over her lips.

  “I’ll help you work it all out. I promise I will.”

  Chapter Eight

  TWO DAYS LATER, Holly was alone in Caffeine Addiction at eight AM. Business had picked up since the passes reopened, but she wondered why things weren’t jumping as usual. Maybe everyone in Noel had decided they could live without caffeine.

  “Yeah, right,” she muttered to herself.

  She wiped the counter down for the third time in an hour and tried not to stare at the clock. She enjoyed her job, but being busy meant the hours would pass faster. She, Grandma, and Derrick had joined forces to find Michael, and had struck out with every option they had tried. The elementary school principal thought he might be in junior high, but with no siblings’ names to go on, they couldn’t possibly identify his family. The junior high principal cited confidentiality concerns, but told them there were seven Michaels at his school. All seven had siblings.

  Santa Claus told Holly’s grandma he’d do his best to ask around town and see what he could come up with. With the Noel Merchants’ Association’s help, they’d plastered the town with flyers advertising next week’s party. If Michael and his family were in town, they couldn’t miss it.

  Derrick had hired one of the pizza guys to drive Derrick home from Noel in his Escalade when the pass finally opened up the night before last. He’d also paid for a helicopter pilot to fly the pizza guy back to Noel with a bagful of autographed Sharks swag for his trouble.

  He’d called Holly when he got home, he’d called her last night, and he said he’d call her when practice was over for the day. It was a good thing she had unlimited minutes on her phone right now. Besides status reports on next week’s Santa party, they were asking each other the questions they should have asked on their first date. They talked for hours.

  Derrick was quite a storyteller. He made her laugh while he told her anecdotes about growing up with his little brother, Trevon, in a small town in Alabama. Their family wasn’t rich, either, and his grandma and parents worked hard to make sure Derrick and his brother had a roof over their heads, food to eat, and clothes on their backs. He told her how much it meant to him that he could make sure the people he loved were taken care of now.

  During those hours of conversation, Holly forgot her shyness while she talked and laughed with him. Derrick coaxed her life story out of her, too, as well as asking her what she hoped for in the future. It was hard to believe she felt such a bond with a man after just a week. She fought the nagging fear that real life might never measure up to their sweetly blossoming relationship.

  He was the life of the party; she’d rather hide in a corner. She
was careful with expressing her feelings. He wore his heart on his sleeve. She scrimped and saved. He’d never have to worry about money again. His encouragement and his interest in her proved to be contagious, though.

  “You know that song,” he’d said to her last night. “ ‘Started at the bottom, and now we’re here’? The only one that can stop you from helping yourself to the things you want in life is you, boo.”

  “Boo?” she said. She’d heard the nickname before, but she loved hearing it from him.

  “My girl. My sweetie. You,” he said. She dropped the phone when she hugged herself from sheer happiness.

  Derrick also teased her incessantly about their second date, which probably wasn’t happening for at least another couple of weeks. He had a game, which her work schedule didn’t allow her to even watch. They’d both be at the Santa party, but she would be working for the caterer that night instead of visiting with Derrick.

  “I’ll get my happy ass over there,” Derrick said. “When the party’s over, I’ll take you out for a soda and hold your hand a little before I go back home.” His voice dropped. “I might steal a kiss or two. How’s that?”

  “Perfect.” She sighed.

  She was so distracted with daydreaming about Derrick that she didn’t notice a woman walking into the coffee shop until she was standing in front of the counter. Holly jumped a little.

  “Good morning,” Holly said. “What can I get for you?”

  The woman appeared to be in her late thirties or early forties, with dark hair and dark eyes. Her expression was wary. A worn scarf was wrapped around her head to keep out the cold. The sleeves on her oversized coat were frayed slightly. She clasped work-worn hands on the counter in front of her. She licked her lips nervously.

  “Nothing right now,” the woman said. Holly saw her eyes slide to the glass case full of pastries, but she forced herself to look away. “Are you hiring? I’d like to fill out an application, please.”