The Christmas Keepsake by Annie Rains

Author:Annie Rains [Rains, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2025-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.

—Claude Debussy

Hollis stared at his phone’s screen for a long moment, reading and rereading the text from Mallory.

Mallory: Theater rehearsal is canceled for tonight.

It was in a group chat for all the cast of Santa, Baby. The last time he’d spoken to Mal, rehearsal was still on. In fact, there was no room for cancellations. Not with the shortened schedule. What was going on?

One of the hired employees for the tree farm slapped a hand across Hollis’s shoulder as he stepped up beside him. “Hey, bro. Why the long face? Another dog out there that you want to take in?”

Hollis glanced over at Damian, who’d been a seasonal worker for Pop’s farm for the last two years. “There’s always another dog. But no, that’s not what I’m looking at.” He shook the phone in his hand. “Rehearsal is canceled for tonight.”

“Shouldn’t you be cheering?” Damian would never sign up to take a part in a play. He’d spent a few years at the local boys home before turning eighteen. He was still taking the hard knocks that life had handed him and turning them into lessons that would eventually mold him into a central part of this community.

“It’s not like Mal to cancel. Something must be wrong.” Was it Nan? Was Nan sick? “I need to call her,” Hollis told Damian. “You got this?” he asked, referring to the farm. The lot wasn’t busy right now, and the boys knew how to tag and carry the trees up to the front for transportation.

“Yeah. Sure. Between the five of us, we’ll be okay without you, big guy.” Damian grinned. “Go call your girl.”

Hollis would have normally found a teenager talking to him like that amusing, but right now he was too worried. Hollis had been accused of having a “sky-is-falling” mentality. The next shoe was always about to drop with him because of the way he’d grown up. His gut didn’t lie though, and his gut was signaling hard.

He pulled up Mallory’s contact in his phone and tapped to place the call. “Come on, Mal. Pick up, pick up, pick up.” When the call went straight to voicemail, he tapped the screen again. And again. After the third unsuccessful attempt at reaching her, he called Memory Oaks.

“Hey, Francis. Just checking on Nan today. Is she okay?”

“Oh, yes. She’s doing great, Hollis. She just loves sitting in front of that tree in the community room. All the residents love it. The lights are so calming.”

Hollis was relieved that Nan was well, but that didn’t explain where Mallory was and why she’d canceled rehearsal. “Have you seen Mallory there by chance?”

“Today? No, not yet. Should I be expecting her?” Francis asked. “I think she’s having rehearsals at the theater tonight, isn’t she?”

“That’s unclear. I’m actually trying to get a hold of her.” Actually, he hadn’t seen or spoken to Mallory since their date last night.

Their amazing date.

Shopping. Driving through the older neighborhoods in Bloom and admiring the lights and decorations.

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