The Edge of Paradise: Christmas Key Book Three

by Stephanie Taylor

  “No,” Holly says without thinking. “Jake. Don’t say that.” She reaches out with the hand that isn’t holding her coffee cup with the intention of touching him. Jake takes a step back.

  “I don’t know. But you and I aren’t getting back together. We need to just admit that and move on.” Jake takes two more steps away from Holly. “Maybe if you accept that, you can give Bridget the same chance you give everyone else who sets foot on this island.”

  Holly inhales deeply again—just like she’d done before walking into Mistletoe Morning Brew—only this time she doesn’t smell spring in the air, only the rancid scent of misunderstanding, regret, and defeat.

  “Oh, and I forgot to mention,” Jake says, both hands shoved into the deep pockets of the black shorts he wears while on duty. He stops walking backward and stares at her. “There’s a new hole on Holly Lane, and it’s about three times the size of the other ones. Have fun with that.”

  Holly simmers and stews as she watches Jake walk back to the coffee shop, but she knows it isn’t worth it to rebut his accusations. Some of what he’s saying is right, and some of it is just his anger talking, so she bites her tongue and lets him go.

  A new hole on Holly Lane? It’s been weeks since the last one, and while it still bugs her that she has no idea how or why the holes came to be, it’s a mystery she’s been happy to forget about, so long as no new ones have shown up. But now she’s got to get her shovel and go fill this hole, knowing full well that it isn’t pirates or gophers or aliens leaving pock marks on her little rock in the sea.

  The coffee she normally loves is suddenly cold and bitter tasting to Holly as she walks back up to the sidewalk. Without looking in the window of Mistletoe Morning Brew at the Shakespearian floral paradise, Holly pauses at the trash can and tosses her nearly full coffee into its gaping mouth. She knows Jake is still inside, so with a proud, undefeated toss of her head, she strides towards the B&B, ready to get her shovel and golf cart and go fix this damn hole.

  Chapter 25

  Holly rolls over in bed on Sunday morning. She pushes her eye mask up onto her forehead as she slides her finger across the screen of her buzzing cell phone.

  “Hello?” she rasps, holding it in the general vicinity of her ear.

  “He is too much, sugar, just way too much,” Bonnie says in a rush. “That damn Sinker McBludgeon wants me to…well, he wants me to—I just can’t,” she says with anguish.

  “What, Bon? He wants you to what?” Holly sits up in bed, leaning against her pillows. The spaghetti strap of her turquoise nightgown slips off one tanned shoulder. “He wants you to have dinner on the table every night at six? He wants you to get matching tattoos? He wants you to start watching Sons of Anarchy with him?” She rubs her forehead and yawns. It isn’t lost on Holly that Bonnie has called Doug “Sinker McBludgeon” for the first time since their fling officially started.

  “He wants me to—good lord, honey, I can’t even say it.”

  “Well, you’re gonna have to say it, because I’m out of guesses.” Holly’s hand flops down on top of the cool duvet cover. She looks at the clock on her bedside table: it’s only seven.

  “Okay, here I go. I’m just going to rip this off like a band-aid,” Bonnie says.

  “I’m ready.”

  “He wants me to go on a date.” Bonnie says this and then sits there, letting her words drop like a stone in a pond.

  “But you two have already been dating,” Holly reminds her.

  “Not on a date with him, sugar. He wants me to go on a date with someone else.”

  “Oh,” Holly says. “With someone else. Like who?”

  “Like another couple. He wants to date a couple. He wants me to go on a date with him and some strange people he met on Craigslist.” The pitch of Bonnie’s voice is creeping up to the point where Holly can sense an imminent wail. “I think he wants me to—oh, God, sugar—I think he wants me to—”

  “I have a pretty good idea what he wants you to do, Bon.” Holly throws off the covers and stands up slowly with the sleep mask pushed up on top of her head. She needs coffee. “But how did you get to this point? Did he like, I don’t know, warm you up? Ask if you’d be in to this kind of thing?”

  Pucci follows close behind Holly, his body swaying as he lumbers over to the front door and sits down in front of it. He stares at the door knob patiently.

  “No! He’s been at work every day, then he comes home, drinks a lot, and complains about his boss. I’ve been trying so hard to see the same sexy, strong man I saw when he was on the island, but it just feels all wrong. And now there’s this.”

  Holly unlocks the door and turns the knob to let Pucci out. “Yeah, there’s this,” she agrees, putting one arm across her midsection as the early morning air hits her bare skin. She pulls the strap of her nightgown up and takes the eye mask off her head. “So what are you going to do?”

  “Sugar,” Bonnie says, sounding direct and determined. “I tried. I know some people are going to think I’m a fool and they won’t be shy about saying so, but this just ain’t right. I made a huge mistake.”

  “Come home.” The words are simple and to the point, but the emotion behind them is intense and complicated. Of course Holly wants Bonnie to come back for her own happiness and peace of mind, but there’s a part of her that wants her friend back by her side as she grapples with everything that’s been going on.

  “You think I can?” Bonnie’s voice sounds small and hopeful.

  “Are you kidding me? Everyone will be thrilled. We miss you like crazy!” Holly pats her thigh as Pucci noses around in the bushes at the bottom of her porch steps. He bounds up to her and brushes past her bare calf. “How soon can you be here?”

  “This double-couple date thingy is scheduled for tonight, and I don’t plan to be here for it.”

  Holly laughs and closes the front door. “So you’re going to be packed and on the boat from Tampa this afternoon?”

  “Girl, you’d better believe it.”

  Holly can’t stop grinning. She does a little dance in the middle of her kitchen, one fist in the air. Through the window over her sink she spots Buckhunter, filling his coffee pot with water in his kitchen; he gives her a thumbs-up and an amused smile.

  “I can’t wait. I’m so happy, Bon. I mean, I’m not happy that you’re not happy, but I’m happy you’re going to be home, and everyone else is going to be happy—”

  “Sugar, that’s a helluva lotta happy right there,” Bonnie laughs. “But I can’t wait to see you. I’ll text you when I know for sure what time I’ll be there. And, um, would you do me a favor?”

  “Anything,” Holly promises without hesitation.

  “Would you tell people I’m coming back, but maybe leave out the part about why? Just tell them Clearwater didn’t suit me, or I missed Christmas Key too much?”

  “So, wait—you don’t want me to tell them that you went from a pirate’s wench to a full-fledged swinger after less than a month on the mainland?”

  “Oh, shoot! You’re just gonna be a little sassy britches about this now, aren’t you?” Bonnie scoffs.

  “I might.”

  “That’s fine. I guess I deserve that,” Bonnie says. “Just as long as you promise not to say I told you so.”

  Holly flips on her electric kettle and dumps a few scoops of coffee into the French press. “Bon, you have my word. I just want you back.”

  Bonnie is quiet on the other end of the line. “We have a lot to catch up on, sugar. I’ll see you soon.”

  Holly hangs up and stands there in her kitchen. She thinks of all that’s happened while Bonnie’s been gone. The tile is cold under her feet, and she lifts one foot, flexing her toes. “Bonnie’s coming home,” she says out loud, smiling to herself. “Hey, Pucci—did you hear that?” She turns and looks at her dog, who’s found a comfortable spot near the door that leads to the lanai. “Bonnie’s coming home!”

  True to her word, Holly spreads the good news around the island wit
h as little information as possible.

  “Yep, she’s supposed to be on the boat this afternoon,” she says to Cap as they slow their respective golf carts at the intersection of Cinnamon Lane and Holly Way. Cap is about to turn left onto Holly Way and head over to Christmas Key Chapel, where he’s started running a nondenominational church service one Sunday a month. Holly’s heard from some of the other islanders that it’s a reflective, peaceful event, and that his humor adds a nice touch to the gathering.

  Cap looks out over his steering wheel, eyes narrowed into the distance. “Glad to hear that. She belongs here with us,” he says definitively. “And Wyatt’s been a real pisser since she’s been gone.” Cap holds up one hand. “Pardon my language, Mayor. I’m trying to keep it clean.”

  “At least on Sundays,” Holly says with a wink.

  “Seems like the best day for it.” Cap’s face folds into lines and crevices as he smiles at Holly. “Why don’t you join us for the service this morning? I’ll throw in a prayer for Bonnie’s safe return, and we can spread the good news that she’s coming home.”

  It’s on the tip of Holly’s tongue to bow out politely when she realizes that Cap is right: this is the perfect opportunity to let a whole group of her neighbors in on the news that Bonnie’s coming back. She’s already had two cups of coffee, showered, and is even wearing a summer dress that’s appropriate for church, so she really has no good excuse to say no.

  “You know what,” Holly says, putting her cart in reverse so she can let Cap turn in front of her onto Holly Lane. “I think I will join you. Lead the way, Minister.”

  Cap waves a hand to indicate that she should follow. He turns his cart and smiles broadly. “I don’t like to put on any airs, mind you,” he says over his shoulder as they drive under the low-hanging branches of the Jamaican dogwood trees. “I’m only ordained through an organization I found on the internet, but I did get a card in the mail to prove that it’s real.”

  “It’s real enough for me, Cap,” Holly calls, keeping a few feet between their golf carts. The morning is clear and warming up quickly, and the sun breaking through the branches makes a lacy pattern on Holly’s thighs as she passes under the trees.

  They park in a sandy clearing with several other carts and walk the short distance to the tiny chapel. The doors are already open. Ray Bradford is standing on the front steps, greeting the few people who trickle into the building.

  “Morning, Mayor,” he says, holding out a hand to take Holly’s. “Glad you could join us.”

  “Me too,” Holly says, meaning it. Inside, Maria Agnelli is already seated in the front pew. Millie Bradford is next to her, leaning in close to listen to what Maria is saying. Fiona is on one side of the chapel, head bowed, the light of the stained glass windows playing over her strawberry blonde hair. At the back are Vance and Calista with Mexi and Mori between them; they wave at Holly as she enters.

  “Sit anywhere,” Cap says, making his way to the pulpit to prepare. Holly stands there, taking it all in. It didn’t even occur to her to join this gathering when Cap started it a few months back. Her church time has been limited to Easter and Christmas since her grandparents passed, but she has fond memories of Sundays spent in these very pews as a girl. She takes a few steps in Fiona’s direction, sliding in quietly next to her.

  “Hey,” Fiona says with surprise, looking up from the open book of hymns in her lap. “I wouldn’t have expected to see you here.”

  “I’m kind of surprised myself,” Holly says.

  Fiona glances over her shoulder at the open doors. “Any chance you convinced your heathen of an uncle to join you?”

  “I didn’t even know I was coming until I turned my cart onto Holly Lane and parked outside,” Holly admits. “Otherwise I would have tried to get him off his porch and asked him to join us.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you two things.” Holly picks up a hymn book of her own from the pocket in front of her. “One, I had to come over here the other day and fill another hole.”

  “What?” Fiona hisses. “I thought we were done with that.”

  “I thought so too, but apparently we’re not, so the mystery continues.”

  Fiona shakes her head and flips a tissue-paper-thin page in her book.

  “And the other thing is actually good news: Bonnie is coming home!”

  Fiona slams the book shut. “What?” she says in her full, non-church voice. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Nope. Not kidding. She missed us too much and she’ll be home today.”

  “Wow,” Fiona says, turning back to the pulpit as Cap straightens his papers and clears his throat. “That is great news. Between that and you throwing Bridget out of here on her ear, this is shaping up to be a pretty good week, huh?”

  Holly’s stomach turns at the mention of Bridget getting thrown out on her ear. She’s given some thought to Jake’s accusations, and she’s examined her own motivations more closely than she ever wanted to. A lot of what Jake said rings uncomfortably true, and she isn’t sure how she’ll make things right with him again.

  “It’s been a decent week,” Holly says with reluctance. A loud tapping starts at the back of the church and Holly turns to see Calista and Vance shushing Mexi and Mori and patting their legs to get them to stop kicking the pew in front of them. “But I’m kind of second-guessing myself and how I handled Bridget.”

  “Why? You were straightforward, honest, and to-the-point. You didn’t mince words, but you also didn’t call her out by name.”

  “Still,” Holly says, looking around at the triplets and their husbands as they walk up the aisle and duck into a pew. “Would I have done the same thing to anyone else? Like, what if River had said those things—would I have dragged him through the mud in front of the whole island at a village council meeting?”

  Fiona digests this. “Maybe not, but it wasn’t exactly the Salem Witch Trials. No one was threatening to burn her at the stake, you were just being clear about what is and isn’t acceptable around here.”

  “I guess.” Holly faces the front of the church as Cap holds both hands in the air to indicate that he’s about to begin speaking. She still isn’t convinced that Jake is wrong, but what’s done is done, and she stands behind her message regardless of its delivery.

  Cap leads the small group through a lovely service, inviting people to make song requests and to add anything that might touch the hearts of their neighbors in attendance. Maria Agnelli requests that they sing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel, Holly stands up and tells the group about Bonnie’s impending return, and Vance gives a moving reading of a poem by W.H. Auden. Through it all, Holly lets the service wash over her, taking in the quiet pleasure of being amongst friends.

  “Thanks for inviting me this morning,” Holly says to Cap at the door to the chapel when the service is over. He takes her hand in both of his.

  “Of course. The offer stands for you to join us anytime you like. I’m hoping that we’ll start meeting more frequently, but for now, any Sunday morning we can spend in reflection together is good enough for me.”

  Holly smiles up at him as he clasps her hand in his. It’s the old Cap she knows and loves looking down at her, and she takes a moment to appreciate the ups and downs they’ve had over the past year. From Cap falling off the wagon while the reality show was on the island, to his challenging her seat as mayor, it’s been a rocky road. But Cap has always been (even when he’s a thorn in her side) one of Holly’s favorite people, and his formidable presence at the helm of something as personal as a church service feels peaceful and right to her.

  Outside, Holly slides behind the wheel of her cart and flips the switch to turn on the power. The small crowd of islanders will surely spread the word about Bonnie coming home, but she turns right onto Main Street off of Holly Way, ready to make a few more stops just in case. At Jack Frosty’s, she drops in to tell Buckhunter the good news as he turns over chairs and sets
things up for lunch. She waves at Millie and Calista as they open up the salon, then heads over to Mistletoe Morning Brew to spread the word to anyone who might have opted for coffee over fellowship that morning.

  By noon, she’s satisfied that most of the island knows the basics: Bonnie’ll be on the afternoon boat. She’s coming back because she missed everyone, and Clearwater was far too busy for her liking. Holly is giddy as she checks her watch for the fortieth time since Bonnie’s phone call. By late afternoon the island will have its resident spitfire back. Everyone will be coated with the Southern sass they’ve come to know and love, and Holly’s world will be right again.

  All she has to do now is wait.

  Chapter 26

  All talk of pirates (and Sinker McBludgeon in particular) has been banned from the B&B office. In a matter of days, Bonnie is back in her chair across the desk from Holly, and they’ve got their morning routine up and running like clockwork: iced coffees from Mistletoe Morning Brew; morning gossip and chatter; email rundown and plans for the day.

  Bonnie had marched off the boat on Sunday with a suitcase in each hand and a determined look on her face. When Holly raced down to the dock to greet her, she’d dropped both bags and opened her arms wide.

  “Sugar!” she’d screamed, holding Holly tightly and rocking back and forth. “As I live and breathe,” she whispered into Holly’s ear. “I’ve missed you so much—don’t ever let me do something this stupid again, you hear?”

  Holly had stepped back, her face flushed with joy and relief. “I hear you, Bon. I won’t.” Without further discussion, she’d loaded Bonnie’s bags onto the back of her golf cart and driven her home.

  “You get this message about the potholes?” Bonnie asks now, holding up her cell phone and turning the screen to Holly so she can read it from across the desk. It’s a text from Jake. Holly looks down at her own phone.