(rivals to lovers, small town, sports) [WATTYS 2024 SHORTLIST] (Season 3 coming soon) After a devastating Olympic loss puts her career in a downward spiral, an aging skier returns to her laid-back mountain hometown to rediscover her love of her spor...
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The only thing keeping this night from being perfect for Holly was whatever had upset Eddie.
It wasn't her fault. One part of them had focused on her all night, but it was always kind of like that when Eddie was nearby. Their whole soul turned towards her.
And yet, tonight, since Eddie's lie, that awareness felt sharp. Even after they'd talked about it, and they understood that she'd been trying to protect them, the unease didn't go away. It just shifted. Eddie had worried about bothering them, but Holly worried about her, too. They hated to see her hurt.
Or, well- they'd got used to her physical pain by now. She was limping a little tonight. They'd noticed she hadn't used the chair they'd had put out for her at the meet and greet.
Her physical pain, though, Holly knew how to handle. They had ice packs in the freezer at home. They'd stocked up on the good painkillers and cleared a corner of their tea cupboard for her to keep a tin of edibles. They hadn't bothered to ask Juniper before suggesting Eddie use their home gym for her stretches and exercises. Billie Jean liked that a lot because she could frolic in the snow in the yard and still come check on Eddie through the huge windows every few minutes.
But when Eddie's dramatic brows turned down and that lively spark in her eyes went out, Holly felt helpless. They wanted to wrap her up in their arms and promise her everything would be okay, but they didn't know if everything would be okay.
It had to be Danica. No one else - nothing else - had that kind of power over Eddie.
Somehow they got through their speeches and the dinner. Watching Eddie cheer up during the meet and greet, they finally relaxed a little. Enough to mingle properly and almost enjoy this event they'd worked so hard to bring together.
The gala was a huge success. After so many months of stress, it was a marvel to witness the guests chattering and enjoying themselves. The silent auction bids Holly had peeked at were generous, and a hundred people had put their names in to preorder World Cup tickets.
Holly had been trying not to hope too hard that this might really work, but they couldn't help it. In the humming energy of this room, looking at the numbers, the only possible conclusion was that they'd done it. With a lot of help from Eddie, Levi, Gia, and all the other friends and family who had donated items or time or support to make it happen, of course.
Based on Holly's back-of-the-napkin math, the funding was secure. Which meant the World Cup bid was secure, and soon the whole future of Crystal Peaks would be secure, too.
And in that bright hope, Holly could see exactly how easy it would be to secure their own future, too.
All they had to do was tell Eddie they'd started to think she was right. That none of this had been a coincidence. Not Holly backing into her truck. Not Malcolm spilling the beans about Holly's lie that they were dating her.
