The Last Christmas at Holly Hill Inn by Maddie James

Author:Maddie James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sand Dune Books

“I know I don’t have to share the tradition with all of you—you’ve been here for Christmas for years,” Kat reminded most of the Cohen family members, “…but just a reminder that the official Christmas lighting at Holly Hill Inn is tomorrow night and I hope you all will be here. In the meantime, I could use help with decorating the Christmas trees in the house, so if anyone is interested in helping with the last-minute Christmas prep—it’s fun, I promise—see Ariana, our resident Queen of Christmas.” She pointed to Ariana, who was hanging garland over the drapery rods at the bay window.

She smiled and waved. “Hey everybody! Welcome to Christmas Eve Eve!”

“Huh?” Alex shrugged his shoulders. “What’s Christmas Eve Eve?”

“Today!” Ariana grinned at him. “Any excuse to celebrate, right?”

Kat stepped into the center of the room. “In Ariana’s world, the day before Christmas Eve is Christmas Eve Eve.”

Alex slowly nodded and reached for the garland to help Ariana. “Cool. Makes sense.”

“I’ll second that,” said Grandpa Z. “What can I do?”

Ava glanced around the sunroom, which was almost too small for all the people standing in it. Breakfast was over. Marcus and Dorothy Cohen had caught a ride into town with Dylan, so they could do last-minute shopping. Ava’s mother hadn’t made it out of her room yet and had texted earlier that she was sleeping in an “taking a day” which meant that Carol wanted to be alone for a while. She’d surface later in the day, Ava was sure.

That left Grandpa Z, Alex, Will, and herself. “Looks like Ariana, Alex, and Grandpa have this room covered. What can Will and I do?”

Kat parked her fists on her hips and glanced about. “Well, there are a couple of smaller trees in the windows on the stairwell landings. The one on the second floor and the other one leading up to the attic. Those could use some decorations.”

Ava looked at Will. “You game?”

He grinned. “Of course.”

“Rifle through those boxes of decorations and use whatever you like,” Kat told them.

The two tentatively looked through the items, chose lights, garland, and shiny gold balls, and placed them in an empty box. “Let’s see how this looks,” Will said.

Ava agreed, then turning to leave the room, ran straight into Matt. “Oof. Sorry, Matt!”

“Hey Ava. No worries.” He steadied her by grasping her biceps. “I wasn’t paying attention. Looking for Kat. Seen her?” Matt moved on into the room. “Oh. There’s my sister.”

“Hey little brother. What brings you here this morning?”

“Well…” Matt drug out the word. “I was wondering if there was anyone here who would like to help me with a minor project. It would involve heavy lifting followed by pizza and beer for lunch.”

Alex stepped forward, raising his hand. “I’m in.”

“Alex, no you aren’t.” Ava gave him a motherly look.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m seventeen!”

“And still under the drinking age.”

“Geez.”

Grandpa Z twisted back from where he was hanging garland and patted Alex on the back. “Let a man handle this, son.” He faced Matt.

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