One Silent Night (Romeo Family Romance #9) - Jennifer Youngblood Page 0,23
the group until Knox resumed his role as host. “Have a seat.” Looking at Holden, he motioned to the empty chair beside Madison, directly across from where Noelle was sitting.
Everything in Noelle wanted to jump up and flee the scene, but she couldn’t without humiliating herself even further. Her cheeks were scalding. She felt like everyone could see right through her. She’d been so shocked to see Holden that she choked.
Holden did as Knox directed and sat down. Jaxson also went back to his seat.
“Help yourself to some vittles,” Knox prompted and then realized that Holden didn’t have a plate. He got up and went to retrieve a plate and silverware for him. A few seconds later, he placed the items in front of Holden.
“I’ll get you something to drink,” Zoe said as she got up.
Realizing that his mom was okay, Aiden extricated himself from Noelle’s arms and went back to sit beside Madison.
Noelle looked at Birdie. Her face was a touch pale. When she realized Noelle was looking at her, she offered a reassuring smile. Noelle just shook her head and looked away. She suspected that Birdie knew Holden was coming tonight. She should’ve warned Noelle and saved her from nearly choking to death. It had been endearing, at first, that Birdie wanted to get Noelle back together with Holden. Now, it was getting irritating.
“Great season,” Jaxson said to Holden, opening up a segue of conversation.
“Thanks,” Holden replied as he reached for the nearby bowl of potatoes and placed a spoonful on his plate. A second later, everyone began passing him bowls of food.
“That was a tough break at playoffs.” Jaxson sat back, stretching his arm across the back of Lemon’s seat. “Double overtime, and then Ravenwood scored that field goal for the win.”
“We’ll get ‘em next year,” Holden said mildly in a way that let Noelle know he was preoccupied with other things. His golden-brown eyes filled with worry as he looked at her. “You okay?”
Several emotions rushed through her at once—attraction, frustration, nostalgia over all that had been between them before, sadness that nothing had gone as they planned. Even now, despite all that had happened and against her better judgment, Noelle couldn’t deny the invisible line of connection stretching between her and Holden. Now that he was in the room, she was acutely aware of his presence. She nodded, smiling weakly as she looked down at her plate. She still had lots of food left, but she’d lost her appetite. She picked up her fork and stirred her potatoes around her plate, so she could at least make a pretense of eating.
“Speaking of field goals,” Holden said, “Mason’s making quite a name for himself at UTK.”
“He is,” Knox grinned with a touch of pride. “Who would’ve thunk? Mason’s buddy talked him into joining the football team. And as it turns out, Mason’s got a foot of gold on him.”
“He’s got talent, that’s for sure,” Holden piped in. “It’ll be interesting to see what happens to him after college. Do you think he’ll go pro?”
“I’m not sure,” Knox answered. “Mason has had his heart set on following in Cash’s footsteps ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper. I guess we’ll have to see how it goes.”
“What happened to your ear?” Aiden asked.
Noelle’s head snapped up. She caught the simmer of amusement in Holden’s eyes as he looked at her from across the table. “The scissors and I had a little run-in earlier,” Holden answered easily.
Again, Noelle felt her face go hot. All eyes were on her, but she didn’t dare look at anyone. Right about now she figured that they were all second-guessing their decision to let her cut their hair.
“How are plans going for the Christmas Festival?” Knox asked Birdie.
“Really well,” Birdie answered, “especially since I’m not in charge of it this year.”
“That’s right.” Knox sat back in his seat and stroked his chin. “Jill Sandstrom’s heading it up this year.”
Birdie nodded. “She is, and she’s doing a great job. The only thing I have to worry about this year is the bake sale.” She looked around the table. “I’ll be needing volunteers for this weekend. It’s for a great cause. All of the proceeds go to buy children’s books for the library.”
It was cute how fast everyone looked down to avoid being pinged by Birdie’s steely gaze. “I’ll help,” Noelle heard herself say. She turned to Birdie. “Um, that is, if you don’t mind watching Aiden.”