Amanda and Ben’s wedding would take place at five o’clock on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. After which, guests would make their way to the reception at a local winery. “I’m sorry, but we have a prayer meeting every Friday night and a lady’s Bible Study every Saturday morning. The church will be available at ten.”
“Mm.” Christine’s smile took on a I-hope-you-rot-in-your-grave tinge.
Holly stuck her pen behind her ear and inhaled deeply. This was going to be a long meeting.
Holly and Josh went location shopping that afternoon, and every other afternoon for the week that followed. With each passing day, the weather turned cooler and crisper. Amber leaves began their downward dance from Martinsburg’s trees. The scent of wood smoke tipped the air. Holly brought out throw blankets from her linen closet. The bakery started carrying their eagerly awaited autumn walnut cake with apricot preserves. And Josh still hadn’t booked a rehearsal dinner venue.
Twelve days before Amanda and Ben’s wedding, on her way back from her morning coffee run, Holly set Rob’s black coffee at his door, then knocked on Mrs. Chapel’s. “Good morning!” She edged the cup through the gap between the door and the jamb.
“Thank you, dear. Did you remember to put in one and a half packets of sugar?”
“Yes, indeed.”
“Will you be going out again later?”
“I expect to.”
“I’m in need of some Efferdent Plus for my dentures.”
“I see. Is it an urgent type of thing?”
“Very urgent.”
“In that case, I’ll see what I can do.” Holly waved and moved toward her door.
“Remember to get the Plus. The Efferdent Power Clean Crystals aren’t worth the packaging they’re sold in.”
“Got it,” Holly assured her. “Efferdent Plus.”
Inside her apartment, she settled herself and her caramel nutmeg latte at her desk. Between fielding calls from Christine and Amanda, the time she’d spent with Josh in person, and the much larger amount of time she’d spent thinking about Josh, she hadn’t accomplished much work of late. Her deadline had made an appearance on the horizon. She’d need to make steady progress toward it in order to avoid becoming a basket case the month before the manuscript was due. She pushed up the sleeves of her cotton shirt, determined to pound out some genius.
One minute dragged into five, then ten, while she squinted at the document open on her computer screen.
Well, it didn’t look like genius would be forthcoming today. She’d settle for mediocre hogwash. Then, at least, she’d have something to work with. Hard to edit and revise blank pages.
Work, Holly. Focus.
She ended up sipping her latte instead, her attention sliding toward Main Street while she thought some more about Josh.
They hadn’t made headway with a rehearsal location, but their friendship had progressed. Whenever they were together, they spent the whole time talking, slowly catching one another up on the events of the past eight years, accustoming themselves to the people they’d become.
More and more powerfully with every meeting, Holly had grown attuned to Josh’s movements, the timbre of his voice, his expressions, his clothing.
There were moments, very fleeting, when she suspected her awareness of Josh might not be one-sided. In those moments, her breath would still and her hopes would tangle with her weighty sense of caution. Then the moment would break.
Afterward, she’d tell herself that he most likely didn’t like her in that way anymore. If by some miracle he did feel the same magnetism toward her that she did for him, she was pretty positive that he’d never act on it. Josh was a very controlled person, private and complex, with a fair amount of pride.
They never spoke about their dating relationship or how it had ended. She’d begun to wish that she could tell him the truth about why she’d broken up with him. She wanted to explain.
But did she want to explain for his sake or for her own selfish reasons? It would be cathartic to unburden herself, yes. But would dredging up the past be of any benefit at all to Josh at this point? She couldn’t very well throw his mom under the bus. And how exactly was she supposed to bust out old confessions, anyway?
“This restaurant has an excellent wait staff, Holly.”
“I feel badly about breaking up with you when we were teenagers, Josh! Let me tell you why I did it!”
No. They were friendly with each other and she was helping him find a rehearsal dinner site. That was it. Josh had moved on. He wasn’t her eighteen-year-old first love anymore, he wasn’t someone she confided in anymore. He was flourishing.
She was the one she should be concerned about. Her heart needed every possible layer of protection against him—
No. It was all right. She’d been doing a good job at keeping things straight in her head. So long as she didn’t let herself go all gooey over him on the inside, it was safe enough to help him with dinner venues. Their outings together were too uncommon and wonderful in their poignant way to pass up.
She could afford to spend a little bit more time with him while he was in town. Just a little bit more.