Page 45 of Hope and Hot Chocolate on Mistletoe Lane

‘Let’s talk out the back,’ Willow repeated. She wasn’t meeting my eyes, which was most unlike her.

‘Here, I’ll show you,’ Paul said, leading them through the café and through the door to where they had an office, stock room and kitchen. I followed them, feeling uneasy.

31

PAUL

I led Willow and Karl out to the back office and kitchen area and switched on the light. The music and chatter of the café faded a little bit out here. It had been a busy day getting things ready and it was messy out here but the look on Willow’s face stopped me from refusing to let them talk in private. She looked really upset and when I’d glanced at Holly, she seemed resigned that something bad was going on. My protective instinct flooded back and I didn’t want to leave her alone with them. But I wasn’t sure what she wanted.

‘What’s going on?’ Holly broke the silence as she stopped beside me. She stood so close, her arm pressed against my shoulder like she was using it to steady her. I wanted to steady her. Looking back at that photo when we were young had made me want to reassure her that her heart was safe with me. She’d looked like she was close to tears and I understood. So much time had passed for those two kids but now we were back together. I didn’t want to let go again, and God, I wanted to know if she felt the same way too. But that didn’t matter right now. I wasn’t going anywhere unless she told me to.

‘I put the article about Mistletoe Lane up early,’ Karl said. ‘I was going to surprise you both tonight with the news. I thought your winter wonderland looks great and people in Birchbrook will love it. I thought I’d share it tonight then post about the café opening tomorrow…’ Karl said, giving me a nod. I was tensing up too as I wondered where this was going. He said the winter wonderland article had had a good write-up but why did both him and Willow look so serious then?

Karl cleared his throat and glanced at Willow.

‘It’s only been up for an hour but he’s had an email from someone about you,’ Willow said, shifting her feet awkwardly.

Holly let out a puff of air. She nodded. ‘Was it Grant Rivers?’ she asked, her voice ending with a slight shake.

‘Yes,’ Karl confirmed. ‘He said he let you go from his company because you were embezzling funds.’

All eyes turned to Holly, including mine.

She visibly swallowed. ‘He’s a liar.’ She stepped backwards. Her face had turned pale and her eyes welled up. ‘You won’t believe that though, will you? You’ll think I’m just like my father? Someone who can’t be trusted…’ She turned to go.

Instinct made me shoot out an arm to try to stop her but she wiggled out of my reach and headed for the door.

Not again, was my immediate thought. I didn’t want her to run again.

‘Holly, stop,’ I said firmly. She paused but wouldn’t look at me. ‘Talk to us. We are on your side.’ I glanced at Willow, who bit her lip but she nodded. ‘We want to hear what you have to say.’

Holly shook her head. ‘You’ll believe him, not me.’ She sounded so small, I wanted to envelop her in my arms. But I hesitated, unsure what to do. I just didn’t want her to leave again. Not like this.

‘Don’t run,’ I urged.

Willow stepped forward then. ‘Tell us what’s going on,’ she said. ‘How can we help you otherwise?’

Holly looked at Willow, then at me. She seemed so confused. ‘Why would you want to help me?’ She turned to Karl. ‘Aren’t you going to write an article telling no one to ever hire me?’

‘No,’ he replied. ‘I was shocked at the email so I spoke to Willow, who said we needed to get the facts from you. I’d never take someone’s word for anything.’ He shrugged. ‘Willow wouldn’t hire anyone who would screw someone over, so I knew there was more of a story here than Mr Rivers was telling me.’

Holly still seemed bewildered. ‘But you would just… trust me?’ She ended the sentence with a whisper.

I couldn’t just stand here any longer. I touched Holly’s arm gently. ‘Hols, I know you. You wouldn’t steal money from anyone! Who is this guy? Why has he emailed Karl? Just explain it all then we can help you.’

Her eyes widened and she glanced at my hand on her arm but she didn’t remove it. She took another deep breath. ‘He was my old boss. He… he made a pass at me,’ she blurted out. I tried not to react but I could see where this was going. I closed my eyes. ‘I told him I wasn’t interested and then he acted like I’d made a mistake, and he hadn’t done it at all. But after that, he was really off with me. I had planned to leave and start my own company and he’d been really supportive, like a mentor to me, but when I told him I was going… he went mad. Said I’d amount to nothing without him. He’s been blacklisting me around the city, stopping people from working with me. At first, I couldn’t prove it but one of my colleagues said she heard him bad-mouthing me. And now he’s sent that email to you…’ She trailed off. ‘I worked really hard for him. I would never take any money. You can trust me,’ she added, turning to Willow.

‘What a creep!’ Willow cried, shaking her head. ‘I can’t believe he’d do that just because you wouldn’t kiss him and you left his company to go out on your own.’

I opened my eyes, trying to remain calm which was fucking difficult. ‘He can’t get away with this,’ I said, anger bubbling under my skin at the thought of him treating Holly like that.

‘In my experience,’ Karl said, ‘men like that rarely do things just the once. I wonder if there are any people who have worked for him who have had similar experiences. I could do some digging into it all. You never told anyone?’ he asked Holly.

She seemed stunned again. ‘But you… believe me?’

‘Of course we do,’ I said firmly. I gave her arm a little squeeze. ‘I know you’d never steal money. And it sounds like once this guy didn’t get what he wanted from you, he decided to take revenge. What a…’ I struggled not to spit out a stream of expletives. ‘…loser.’

The door behind us opened, letting in the café noise again. ‘Oh, are you all okay?’ my mum asked in surprise. ‘Your dad wants to make a speech,’ she added to me with a concerned frown at seeing the three of us out here.