Unwrapping Holly

I reached out and laid my hand over his. Lincoln didn’t even flinch.

“I’m sorry honey. I know she’s a friend.”

“A friend? She’s also my oldest employee. Kathy was there in the beginning, when it was just the two of us,” he sighed. “She’s seen everything. Been with me through everything…”

Brody shook his head sympathetically. “That sucks man. It really does.”

“I just gave out Christmas bonuses…”

By now Lincoln had lost all interest in his food. He looked down at the reports again, as if hoping they’d change. As if begging them to show him something else — something other than what they did.

“That’s it then.”

He slipped out of the booth and stood up, moving with reluctant slowness. Digging into his pocket, he dropped some cash on the table.

“I’m sorry,” said Lincoln. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

Brody nodded and extended his hand. Lincoln shook it, then leaned down to kiss me goodbye.

“Thank you,” he croaked. “Without you, I would’ve never known. This would’ve gone on and on. I would’ve kept on believing everything she said…”

He let the last sentence trail off. I could see the hurt in his eyes. The grave disappointment. I was getting all choked up, just watching him.

“Lincoln,” I offered as he walked away. “Do you want me to—”

“No,” he said sadly. “It has to be me.”

Thirty-Eight

HOLLY

”Mind if I run a fast errand?” Donovan asked. “It’s not far.”

We were walking the beautifully lit streets of the East Village, huddling close to avoid the cold. There was a winter storm gathering. It wasn’t quite here yet, but you could feel it in the air — actually taste it on your tongue if you opened your mouth long enough. It was something we didn’t have in Texas, and I was jealous of it.

“Is it a good errand or a bad errand?” I smiled.

“Neither one, really. I just need to duck into someplace real quick.”

Donovan pulled me through Cooper’s Square. The apartments and condos here were decked out in shimmering white lights made to look like icicles. A cone of larger bulbs had been strung around a central pole, creating a makeshift Christmas tree with a colorful star on top.

“Are you kidnapping me, or…”

“I’m afraid it’s not anything nearly that exciting,” he laughed. “Or at least, not exciting to you. Exciting to me though.”

Happily I squeezed his hand, ready for anything. I’d been looking forward to seeing Donovan all day. I hadn’t heard from Lincoln since he left the diner this morning, and I had tried real hard not to pry. I was looking for a distraction.

“Here,” he said, turning onto 5th street. “Almost there.”

Work was over for me, thankfully. All that was left was to enjoy the upcoming weekend in Maine, and then Christmas with the boys. That is, if Lincoln still wanted to go…

“Ah, here it is!”

I watched as Donovan punched the code on a keysafe, then extracted a heavy-looking key. A minute later he had everything unlocked, and was rolling up the corrugated steel door of what looked to be some sort of an empty, garage area.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“Come see.”