Holiday in Holly Oaks

Chapter 7

Tallie only stayed on the sidelines of the game long to eat. Once she was done, Case pulled her onto his team and the next hour flew by. When parents finally started appearing in the parking lot, looking for tired children to take home, Tallie's cheeks were red and her jacket was in the pile with all the other discarded ones.

Even as the younger kids began to leave, the game continued until everyone was called inside to help clean up. The rambunctious crowd trooped inside, bursting with energy, and Case's mom put it to good use. In record time, they had the social hall returned to its normal state, all the dishes clean and the floors swept.

By the time the cleaning was done, the crowd's energy had waned and everyone called out tired goodbyes as they headed in their different directions.

Tallie waved goodbye as she pulled on her coat and looked for Case as she headed towards the door herself. She didn't see him until she was almost out the door and he came up the back stairs, his guitar on his back.

"Tallie, wait up," he called, quickly crossing the hall to join her. She waited, holding the door open for him.

The night they stepped into was quiet. Long gone were the cheers from the crowd in the parking lot. The parking lot was now empty and all the families had gone home. Almost all the lights in the church were off, and the tree in the center of the square shone the brightest.

"Oh, it's cold," Case said, zipping up his jacket and reaching for the gloves in his pocket. Tallie pulled out her gloves and looked up into the inky night as she pulled them on.

The sky was clear but there were few stars in the sky. It looks like snow. She took a deep breath. The air always got a crisp, fresh scent before a snowstorm, and Tallie thought she could almost smell it, but there was no snow in the forecast.

"It almost looks like snow," she said.

Case looked up and examined the sky. "It does, but I thought there wasn't any in the forecast."

"There isn't," she confirmed. She slowly started walking and he followed. They were silent for a little bit, letting their footsteps ring throughout the square.

"I missed this," Case finally said.

Tallie looked at him. "Do you mean the cold? I thought I had heard New York can get chilly at times."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Oh they have the cold but they don't have the kickball games or the potlucks."

She looked at him in mock horror. "How tragic."

"I'm serious," he said. She stopped smiling and nodded for him to go on. "I've enjoyed figuring out life in New York and getting to know people in school and at the law firm, but..." He looked around the square, "there is nothing in New York like Holly Oaks. Don't get me wrong, I've met nice people and had good times, but there is something about being around people who you have known your whole life.

"There is no explaining and there is no apologizing. Yeah, you bump into people and have squabbles, but at the end of the day, there is a deep-rooted understanding for each other."

As Tallie listened, a soft smile slipped onto her face. She had experienced firsthand what he was talking about for the last two years. The Holly Oaks community had shown up for her family in the last two years, never asking for anything in return.

"It is pretty special here," she agreed.

"It is. I mean, look at that," he said, stopping her and making her look at the Christmas tree. The lights twinkled against the dark sky and cast tinted shadows on the stone of the square and the benches along the edges.