Free Holding Holly (Love and Football Series) by Julie Brannagh

you’d help me out.”
    “I’ll help you out when you get back here, Collins.”
    “Got it.”
    “Keep me updated,” the coach said.
    “I’ll do that.” Derrick smiled a little. “Thanks, Coach.”
    He heard a burst of laughter before the coach hung up. All he had to do now was figure out how he was getting home, and how he was going to see Holly again.
    T HE STORM FINALLY blew itself out a couple of hours later. Holly could hear the TV on low volume in the living room while Grandma and Derrick tried to figure out what the situation was at the pass. So far, almost a foot of snow had fallen in Noel, and plows were still clearing off the passes back to Seattle. At least the avalanches had stopped.
    Holly sat at the kitchen table, handwriting responses to the Santa letters while she added the accounting of girls and boys to Derrick’s shopping list, which was getting pretty long and even more expensive.
    Derrick walked into the kitchen seconds later and put her phone down in front of her on the table. “I didn’t want to forget to give this back,” he said.
    “Thanks,” she said.
    “By the way, I paid the unlimited talk and text fee at your cell provider. I didn’t want you to have to pay for all the minutes I racked up this morning.” He let out a sigh. “Lots and lots of talking. I think I’m exhausted now.” He dropped into the chair across from her.
    “Derrick, you didn’t have to do that,” she scolded. “This all is costing you so much money . . .”
    “I have a few dollars in the bank, girl. Don’t worry about it.”
    “But you’re already paying for the big party and food and gifts. Didn’t you say the coach is mad and he’s going to fine you, too? You didn’t come over here to spend thousands.”
    He sat up a bit in his chair and reached out to take her hand. “That’s right. I came over here to have dinner with you, and I want to have dinner with you again. How are we going to work this?”
    “What do you mean? I don’t understand.”
    “It looks like driving across the pass and I don’t quite get along. I found out there’s a municipal airport five miles from here. Would you be willing to fly to my place if they brought you back the same night?”
    “Derrick, that’s . . . I . . . it’s just wintertime. When the road is cleared off and de-iced, it’s not so bad. I promise. That’s not it, though,” she said. “I can drive to see you if that’s what you’re worried about. Mostly, though, it’s figuring out when this will happen.” She let out a sigh. “I work all the time. When I’m not working, I’m at home with Grandma. When she’s better, it’ll be different, but then I’ll be back in school, and I have homework, and”—she couldn’t look into his eyes—“I don’t know how I can make this work.”
    He didn’t let go of her hand. “So, it’s not me. It’s the fact that you’re trying to do it all at once.”
    “I’ll be out of school in June, and then I have to find a job.”
    He moved closer to her. “A job, huh?”
    “I want to stay in Seattle, but nursing jobs can be tough to find. I—”
    He reached up to put gentle fingertips over her lips.
    “I’ll help you work it all out. I promise I will.”

Chapter Eight
    T WO DAYS LATER , Holly was alone in Caffeine Addiction at eight AM . Business had picked up since the passes reopened, but she wondered why things weren’t jumping as usual. Maybe everyone in Noel had decided they could live without caffeine.
    “Yeah, right,” she muttered to herself.
    She wiped the counter down for the third time in an hour and tried not to stare at the clock. She enjoyed her job, but being busy meant the hours would pass faster. She, Grandma, and Derrick had joined forces to find Michael, and had struck out with every option they had tried. The elementary school principal thought he might be in junior high, but with no siblings’ names to go on, they couldn’t possibly identify his family. The junior high