Chasing Carly (Holiday Cove 3)

Small town at its finest.

6

Carly

* * *

“Wait, wait. The Player was trying to play cupid?” Holly asked in disbelief before dissolving into a fit of giggles. “Oh man, I can’t believe I’m stuck over here and missing all the fun.”

“Yeah, fun.” I rolled my eyes but smiled at her over the Face App call.

Holly leaned forward and propped her chin on the back of her hand. Her long blonde waves fell forward and she tucked them back. “I’m still getting over the shock that he’s engaged.”

I laughed and nodded. “I think everyone is.”

“To be honest, I figured you and him might hook up at some point.”

“Oh, hell no.” I shook my head. “He’s hot as sin, I’ll give you that, but he was never an option.”

“Why not?” Holly asked, cocking her head to the side.

I sighed. “Because up until he met Gemma, he wasn’t exactly the type of guy you could build something with. I had no interest in trying to tame a wild horse. Not my thing.”

“Well, is that what you even want though? To settle down?”

I shrugged. “I suppose eventually.”

Holly smiled and my heart sank. I knew where her next question was going before she even opened her mouth. I held up my hands and cut her off. “Not with Nick either, if that’s what you were about to ask.”

She clamped her mouth shut and shot me a dirty look. “Why not?”

“Because…” I searched the corners of my mind for the right words. The right explanation.

When I hesitated a beat too long, Holly pounced. “Because? Hmm, that’s very convincing.”

Brat.

“I don’t know, Holly. I’m just not ready to go there, ya know. Right now I’m cool with my singleness. An occasional drunken night of fun with an out of towner, and generally being able to do whatever the hell I want without some man breathing down my neck.”

“Sometimes it’s nice when they breathe down your neck,” Holly retorted with a wink.

I laughed. “You’re just love sick. That’s all. I don’t blame you. I blame Jack.”

Holly and I had met the summer before and had become fast friends. Even though she was now thousands of miles away, living with her boyfriend Jack “Boomer” McGuire in Germany while he finished a station at a naval base, we kept in touch and had semi-weekly video chats where we drank wine—well, I drank wine, Holly drank coffee as it was early morning her time—and caught up. She was my only real friend out of a sea of acquaintances and I was dying for her to come back to Holiday Cove again.

“I get that, Carls. I thought the same thing before I met Jack. I mean, I went three years without dating after my divorce and just when I was even starting to think about dipping my toe back into the pool, bam! I meet Jack and everything clicked into place.” Holly smiled dreamily, her thoughts obviously drifting through her memories of last summer. “I’m not trying to push. My friend Rachel was pushing me at the time and it didn’t do any good. I just want you to be happy and if this Nick guy is interested and you like him too—even just a little—then maybe it’s worth a shot.”

“I don’t know.” My gaze slid past the computer screen to the interior of the dark coffee shop. I’d closed down a few hours ago, and after spending a couple hours tinkering in the kitchen, had finally called it a day. I’d made myself a large salad and plopped down at one of the outdoor tables with my dinner and laptop to call Holly. “It’s not like I have a ton of free time.”

“Yeah. I know.” Holly nodded but kept her lecture about working myself to death to herself. Mostly because I’d just turn the tables on her. She was a workaholic herself and knew she had no ground to stand on. “How are things going with your sister being there?”

I shrugged. “We’ve had our good moments and our bad ones. The first day she was total diva brat. Locked herself in her room. Wouldn’t eat or come out to talk or anything. But the next day, things got better. I guess her boyfriend broke up with her.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah. Although, from what she told me, he was in college, so I can’t say I’m too heartbroken that didn’t work out. She’s in too much of a hurry to grow up anyway.”

Holly laughed softly. “I understand that bug. That’s what makes people do crazy things like get married when they’re barely finished being a teenager.” She shook her head at herself.

That was one of the things I liked the most about Holly. She was one of the most authentic people I’d ever met and didn’t try to downplay or hide her mistakes. She owned her past and made the most of those experiences—good and bad—to move forward. I liked to think I’d done the same thing, escaped a bad situation and turned it into something better for my future.