Ryan made a sound like he was choking. “Wait, you’re a girl?!” He leaned over and patted her chest for confirmation.
Holland punched his head and he fell forward, hitting his head on the table. “Yeah, so? I thought you wanted a girl?”
Peter let out a small giggle as Ryan slowly sat up. “So, what would you prefer to be called?” He smiled and, for a moment, she wished it wasn’t a fake marriage, just so that he’d be her brother, too.
She shrugged. “Oliver’s fine.”
“You just said you were a girl!” Ryan yelled. “How can you possibly be okay with being called by a boy’s name?! It’s just weird and a little creepy!”
Holland turned on him. “How old are you?”
He looked a bit confused. “I’m 19.”
She nodded and turned away. “Could have fooled me.” She mumbled under her breath.
Peter burst into laughter, which stopped Ryan from tackling his guest to the floor in rage. But he did turn on his brother. “What’s so funny?!”
“You haven’t acted so childish since dad found your Halloween stash when you were ten.” He flashed Holland a thumbs up. “At least you’ll never get bored.”
She gave him a quizzical look, but didn’t say anything, because at that moment, a little girl ran into the room and attached herself to his leg.
“Ellie!” Maggie ran in and grabbed the girl, but she wouldn’t let go of Peter’s leg. “Ellie, let go of daddy’s leg.”
The girl shook her head and looked up at Holland and Ryan. Her eyes grew wide and she stared at Holland for a moment before running out of the room.
Holland looked up at Peter. “What was that all about?” She asked.
“Ellie doesn’t like new people.” Peter explained. “Just give her some time.”
There was a soft thud and Ellie ran back into the room, but instead of attaching herself to Peter, she came up to Holland. She was holding a picture book in both arms like it was her greatest treasure.
“That’s her favourite story.” Maggie piped in. “She won’t go to bed unless we read it to her. We’ve tried to explain that it’s an Easter book, but she still insists. ‘Coconut for Easter’. That’s what it’s called.”
Ellie flipped through the book and held it up for Holland to see. It was open to the about the author blurb at the back. She set it on the older girl’s lap and grabbed a pen from the table. Holland noticed that the pen was positioned extremely close to the place where Ryan’s head had collided.
“Ellie, what are you doing?” Peter stood up and crossed the room to look down at the book. “Well, would you look at that? Maggie, you have to see this.”
Maggie came up to stand beside her husband. “What is it?”
“Ellie’s met her hero.” The smile in his voice was apparent to anyone listening.
Ellie held out the pen to Holland and she signed the page. She then passed the book back to the little girl and she plastered it to her chest like it was the only thing keeping her alive.
Holland smiled and leaned forward. “Do you like that book?” Ellie nodded vigorously. “Then you should come visit the shop.”
She smiled back and walked over to her mother. She tugged on Maggie’s skirt and pointed at her hero. Maggie nodded and she beamed.
Maggie looked up at Ryan and Holland and frowned. “Ryan, are you sure you want to go through with this? Holly seems like such a nice girl and won’t your father be mad?”
Ryan smirked. “Only if he finds out.”
She sighed heavily and gestured for his ‘fiancée’ to follow her. “Alright. Come on, Holly. We have a lot of work to do. Unless you have any dresses of your own, we need to get you a completely new wardrobe.”
Holland ran through her vocabulary and remembered that wardrobe didn’t always mean the same thing as closet. Maggie probably meant a ton of new clothes. A little shudder rippled down her spine and she quickly ran through a mental catalogue of her clothes. “Uh, I have a dress that I got for my middle school graduation, and a few that I’ve worn to weddings. About five or six all together.”
Maggie looked her over and nodded. Holland knew she thought she wouldn’t have any, considering the way she dressed. “Alright, it’s a start. Skirts?”
“I have a few mini-skirts I wear with jeans and two or three long skirts.”
“Blouses?”
The shop-owner winced. “I did have one for my school choir, but I haven’t worn it in years. I doubt it still fits.”
“I can see why you thought she was a boy.” Peter said to Ryan. “She’s American, right?”
Ryan nodded and Holland face-planted him into the table again. “I am not!” She exclaimed, shocking Ellie with the outburst. “I’m Canadian!”
***
Ryan lifted his head off of the table slowly. There’s no way she’s Canadian. He said to himself. She’s got too much of a temper. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Oliver get up and follow Maggie out of the room.
“So, does she know?” Peter asked, sitting down beside him.
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t want to give her a reason to back out.”
“She’s going to find out.” Peter patted Ryan’s shoulder. “It would be better if she heard it from you.”
Ryan tried redirecting the conversation. “Her bookstore is pretty popular. She’s not off the street, but she still needs some money. She seems to really love books.”
“You compared her to Oliver Twist, didn’t you?” Peter asked bluntly. Ryan turned away quickly. “How did she react?”
“She is an orphan.” He explained. “She didn’t take it so well.”
“That’s because you were so insensitive about it!” Oliver said angrily from behind them. Ryan hadn’t even heard her come back. He turned around and was shocked at what he saw.
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