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

As if I had conjured him up, a car pulled to the curb behind me. I turned to see Jolly himself get out. He glanced at the school and smiled.


He walked up next to where I still had my fingers in the links of the fence. “Walking down memory lane?”


“Yep. For a few days now. I haven’t been around much in Willowbrook since I left all those years ago. When I did come back for visits, it was only to see my parents.”


Jolly nodded. “I was on my way by from picking up the Santa Claus suit for the parade. I saw you standing here and decided to stop. I haven’t stopped here myself in a while. Seems a million years ago.”


“Not anything in particular. I want to do some Christmas shopping this afternoon in the downtown area.”


“Come have lunch with me. When we’re done, I’ll drop you off for shopping and then I’m going to get my dad. He’ll stay the night with me since we have to get started so early tomorrow.”


Chapter 8