Recently divorced from his Hollywood screenwriter husband, Nick Holly returns at Christmas to the home of his childhood in Vermont to start a new life in his familiar hometown. Almost immediately he runs into his best friend and crush from high school, Jolly Whitaker, who is also recently divorced and as sexy as he ever was.<br><br>With Nick’s mom encouraging him to see if there is anything still between him and Jolly, Nick embarks on a holiday of discovery and the knowledge that coming home to Vermont is more welcome than he believed. Perhaps this Christmas it really will be a Holly Jolly Christmas.

Holly Jolly

“Hollywood party. Drugs, alcohol, sex. The cliché. I was standing on the side, trying to figure out if I should leave when Jasper approached me. We had sex that night and I sort of moved in with him from then on.”


“Something like that.” I drained the last of the cocoa. “I really should get back to Mom and Jonathan.”


I rose and so did Jolly, who walked me to the door. He took the Christmas mug from my hand.


“Tell your mom I’ll clean her mugs and get them back to her.”


“Sure thing. See you at the Santa parade Saturday?”


“You definitely will.” He held onto the door as I stepped outside. “Listen, after the parade, maybe you could drive with me to take Dad back to his assisted living place in Middlebury and we can have dinner there at Jessica’s.”


Jolly grinned. “No. A restaurant at the historic inn there. The former governor’s house. You really have been out of Vermont for too long.”


Chapter 7