A Copper Ridge Christmas. Maisey Yates
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Название: A Copper Ridge Christmas
Автор: Maisey Yates
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Вестерны
isbn: 9781474044677
isbn:
“Of course. But even if I didn’t, I know how to get in without using the front entry.”
He got out of the car, and she followed suit. “Really?”
“I snuck out more than once during my teen years. And back in. Successfully.”
He pulled his keys out of his pocket, unlocked the door and opened it, holding out his arm as if waiting for her to enter. As she walked into the expansive entryway, her heart fluttered a little bit.
She should be a lot more blasé about this kind of thing, really. She’d lived in this home for almost five years, after all. But even so, every time she walked in it returned her to that place of feeling honored to be permitted to be a part of something. It made her a thirteen-year-old again. Happy for the first time.
“It’s all still in the attic,” she said, gesturing to the sweeping, curved staircase.
“Oh, I know where it is. Because fetching decorations was my job.”
“Oh, poor put-upon youth. No wonder you had to sneak out.” She tried to imagine Ryan being filled with enough whimsy to do something like sneak out and look for trouble. It was difficult. She never would have dared to sneak out, for fear of upsetting the magical world she’d been admitted to.
Of course, she’d assumed it would have been the same for him. Her vision of him was that he’d always been responsible, serious. He’d bought his fishing boat at a young age, then moved out, and had been working on the boat ever since.
“Why did you sneak out? I have to know.”
“Honestly?”
“Yes, honestly.”
“I was doing an apprenticeship on a fishing boat.”
She blinked. “Oh.”
“Sorry, it’s not exactly sex, drugs and rock n’ roll.”
“I didn’t take you for that type, actually. This...makes more sense.” He started up the staircase, and Holly scurried after him. “Why didn’t you tell Dan and Margie? Why did you sneak?”
“Habit, I guess. I found something I was interested in and didn’t want to be shot down. Dan didn’t shoot my dreams down, of course. When he caught me and found out what I was doing, he encouraged me. As long as I didn’t let my grades slip, he said I could go out on the boats on the weekends.”
“We were pretty lucky to have them,” Holly said, emotion pressing tightly on her chest.
“Damn straight,” he said. “I think so too. You can tell because I’m here fetching Christmas decorations for you. For them.” He reached the top of the stairs, then opened the door that led to the attic. “Why don’t you come and choose what you like?” he asked, jerking his head toward the door.
She took a deep breath. She was headed for another small space with Ryan. That was a lot to ask of her Ryan-frayed nerves in a short amount of time.
But he seemed oblivious —which was for the best —so she was going to act like it wasn’t anything.
She swept past him and up the stairs, grabbing hold of the small cord hanging down from the bare light fixture on the ceiling, pulling it and illuminating the space.
Everything was neatly stacked and organized. Probably not by Margie, but most certainly delegated by her. The thought made Holly smile.
“There they are,” Ryan said, gesturing to a stack of bins clearly labeled “Christmas.”
“Okay. Well, my house is a lot smaller than this one, so I’m going to have to be selective.”
“Why do I feel like I might as well have gone shopping with you? This is about the same.”
“At least we didn’t have to drive out of town to get to a big box store. So there’s that.”
“Small comfort.”
“Wrap yourself in it like a blanket, Masters, because you’ll get few more of those small comforts. We’re on the Yule train, next stop tidings of comfort and joy.” She walked toward the bins. “Okay, but lift that top box for me because it looks heavy.”
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