Holly
Lead. Her eyes felt like lead. In fact, her whole body felt like she’d been hit by a truck. Her restaurant was gone, and a sense of sadness she hadn’t thought possible clung to her shoulders. The insurance company had promised to begin looking into it, but they’d said it could be weeks before she would see any money, and she didn’t know how she was going to make it that long.
Her doorbell rang, and though she was tempted to ignore it, Holly had a feeling it was her friends and they would not go away just because she wanted them to. With a sigh, she shuffled to the door and opened it.
Merribeth and Tiffany stood on the other side, baby carriers in hand. “Since you missed meeting Samuel last night, we thought we’d bring him to you.” Tiffany smiled as she pushed past Holly into the house.
“I’m sorry I didn’t make it last night, Tiffany. Dougie and I both planned to come over after dinner.”
“Hush, I’m not here to scold you,” Tiffany said, setting the carrier down and pulling the baby out. Merribeth, who had followed them in and shut the door behind her, did the same with her little one and then disappeared into the kitchen, probably to put on a kettle for tea. Holly briefly wondered where her other kids were but figured they were either at the resort or Chance was watching them.
“We’re here to make sure you’re doing okay and try to cheer you up with baby snuggle time.” She held out the sleeping Samuel to Holly.
“I appreciate it, but I don’t think holding a baby is going to make my troubles go away.”
“No, but I promise you that holding a baby will relax you for a bit.”
With a sigh, Holly took the baby. It wasn’t that she didn’t like babies; she’d just had such a weird childhood that she wasn’t sure what kind of mother she would be, even though she wanted a family one day. However, as the warmth from the baby filled her arms, and the sweet scent met her nose, she did find herself relaxing. Samuel didn’t have much hair, just the tiniest bit of dark fuzz, but as Holly stroked it, she could feel the stress leaving her body. It felt like velvet, and there was something else, some feeling that surrounded him like an aura. He was so little, and he needed protection, but he also held the promise of so much more. Life, love, happiness. Her restaurant had been everything to her, but suddenly she wondered if she had her priorities mixed up.
“Hey, you doing okay?”
Holly glanced up at Merribeth who was holding out a cup of tea for her. “I guess I’m as okay as I can be. I just don’t know what to do next. Even when the insurance money comes in, I’m not sure it will be enough to rebuild the restaurant and honestly, I’m not sure I want to start over again.” She took the cup and set it on the table beside her. She didn’t want to risk spilling hot tea on the baby.
“That’s understandable,” Merribeth said, sitting on the other end of the couch. “You don’t have to go back to work immediately. No one is expecting that.”
“Yeah, you should take some time off and think about what you want,” Tiffany added.
“The problem is that I don’t have a lot of money saved up to live off while I figure that out,” Holly said. “I lost money in deposits with the wedding that never happened, and then business was so slow the last month that I wasn’t able to replenish my savings. Besides, I’ve been working since I was sixteen. I don’t even know what I’d do if I wasn’t working.”
“I know you didn’t need her for the harassment issue, but maybe Sylvia can help you with the insurance issue. Get your money faster or something,” Tiffany said, blowing on her mug before taking a sip.
Holly sighed. “Yeah, maybe. I’ve got her card, so I guess I’ll call her today.”
“You know,” Merribeth said, “you could still cater. The resort kitchen is big enough to share and you could use it anytime you need to.”
Holly hadn’t thought of that. She certainly didn’t feel up to taking a big catering job right now, and she wasn’t sure she could make enough to pay her bills only catering, but it was a thought. An interim solution maybe. “I might take you up on that.”
“We can find you something to do at the resort for money until you get it figured out too,” Merribeth added. “There’s no way we’re letting you lose everything.”
A part of Holly already felt as if she’d lost everything, but she did still have these girls and Dougie and her church. She’d lost things — important things, to be sure, but things nonetheless.
“Do you think it was the people posting your picture?” Tiffany asked.
“I have no idea. I can’t think of who else it might be, but that seems extreme for them.”
Merribeth huffed. “Seems like a pretty natural progression to me. Yell at you, take your picture, post negative lies about you, threaten and harass you, torch your business. It’s a leap but not a very big one as far as I’m concerned.”
Holly shrugged. “I guess it’s possible. We went to the station this morning and they made me think of anyone who could have done it. The list wasn’t very long though.” She ticked the possibilities off on her fingers. “The woman harassing me, my father’s PR rep or someone he hired, and Frederick, though I really don’t think he’s a suspect.”
“Why not?” Merribeth asked. She and Tiffany exchanged a glance that clearly said they both thought he could be a suspect.
“I haven’t seen or heard from Frederick in months. Why would he show up now and why would he do this?”
“Because he didn’t get what he wanted the first time?” Tiffany suggested before taking a sip of her tea.
Holly couldn’t believe she was having to have this discussion again. She knew her friends didn’t think highly of Frederick, and they’d been right; he’d been a snake, but he wasn’t capable of this. She just knew it. “Yeah, but burning down the business wouldn’t give him what he wanted, so I don’t know why he’d do that.”
“You never put him on the insurance for it, did you?” Merribeth asked.
“No, I didn’t, and I know he was a con man, but arson? That’s a bigger leap than the activists.”
“But who else could it have been?” Merribeth asked, pulling little Eliza out of the carrier when she began to fuss. Eliza was Merribeth’s youngest. She had three now. A boy nearly in his teens, another boy who was almost three and little Eliza who was nearing one.
Holly sighed. “I honestly don’t know, but the police said something was thrown through the window. Maybe whoever did it wasn’t targeting me at all but one of my employees.” Although that thought almost made her feel worse. She vetted her employees. Thoroughly. And none of them had a sketchy past, but could something have happened with them since she hired them? She supposed she would have to do some research, but right now she was tired of talking about the subject. “Anyway, I have to wait for an official report so there’s no sense playing the guessing game. Let’s talk about you guys and this adorable baby.” She smiled down at the infant in her lap. “How is motherhood, Tiffany?”
Tiffany’s entire face lit up, and Holly could tell that no matter what she said, motherhood was everything she hoped it would be. “It’s amazing and exhausting—”
“I tried to warn you,” Merribeth said before stifling a yawn.
“I know you did, but I didn’t really believe you. I mean I believed that you found it exhausting, but I thought Samuel would be different or I would be able to handle it better since I wasn’t healing from labor, but nope. He wakes up crying every two hours, and I’m exhausted. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
“Me either,” Merribeth said, “though I have to tell you it’s even harder with three. At least when it was just Lucas, I could sleep when he did. Even when Colin came along, Lucas was old enough that I could usually nap and he’d be okay, but I can’t leave Colin alone while Eliza naps. He gets into everything. The other day, I found him in the bathroom covered in shaving cream and toilet paper. He told me he was trying to be a mummy.”
The girls laughed, and the mood was lighter for a minute before Tiffany’s smile fell. “Well, I’m sure it will be a while before we add a second one.” Sadness laced her voice as she looked over at Samuel. “Especially since we’ll still be using adoption and it’s a long process.” She shook her head and smiled softly. “But what about you, Holly? How are things going with Dougie?”
Holly felt the heat crawl up her cheeks. If the kiss they’d shared last night was any indication, things were going well on that front at least. “Well, it’s still new and of course it hasn’t been easy with everything going on, but I’m hopeful.”
“I’ll be praying for you guys,” Merribeth said. “I know Dougie has liked you for a while, and it would be amazing if you ended up together. In fact, we should probably pray for everything else going on right now too.”
“I agree,” Tiffany said. “There may not be much we can do, but God can do anything.”
Holly wasn’t sure she entirely agreed at the moment, but she closed her eyes and let her friends pray over the situation. She just hoped they were right.