Holly Jolly

By Shawn Lane

Recently divorced from his Hollywood screenwriter husband, Nick Holly returns at Christmas to the home of his childhood in Vermont to start a new life in his familiar hometown. Almost immediately he runs into his best friend and crush from high school, Jolly Whitaker, who is also recently divorced and as sexy as he ever was.

With Nick’s mom encouraging him to see if there is anything still between him and Jolly, Nick embarks on a holiday of discovery and the knowledge that coming home to Vermont is more welcome than he believed. Perhaps this Christmas it really will be a Holly Jolly Christmas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Dec 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781646566358

Shawn Lane

Shawn Lane is a multi-published author of gay romance. She lives and works in Southern California. She has been published by Loose Id, Amber Quill Press, Evernight Publishing, MLR Press, JMS Books, and Ellora’s Cave. For more information, visit smlgr8.blogspot.com.

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Holly Jolly

By Shawn Lane

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2020 Shawn Lane

ISBN 9781646566358

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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Holly Jolly

By Shawn Lane

Chapter 1

December

My mother, Adela Holly, was waiting for me when I arrived at baggage claim at Burlington Airport in Vermont. She opened her arms without a word, and I allowed myself to be enveloped into one of her big, strong hugs.

Welcome home.

Vermont hadn’t been my home in years, of course. But it would be now, again.

Fortunately, mom had room when my life pretty much fell apart.

I pulled back and gave her a smile. Thanks, Mom.

She gave my arm a squeeze. The board thingy says the bags should be coming out in a few minutes. How was the flight?

Long. And I couldn’t even sleep. Never can.

Nope, me either. But you’ll sleep good tonight I bet. I’ve got your room and bathroom already for you. As closed off from the rest of the house as I could manage to give you some privacy.

The household was going to be made up of Mom—Dad had passed away ten years earlier—me, Mom’s new male friend, Jonathan, his dog, and Mom’s three cats.

I’d grown up in that house, but it had changed since then. When I’d left to make my life in California, many years ago now, Mom and Dad had redone a lot of the place. I was an only child, and the house originally had three bedrooms. They’d made the two smaller bedrooms into one, and put in another bathroom, as the small house had only one. It was the remade room and bathroom where I’d be living. For the foreseeable future, anyway.

Mom and Jonathan, of course, had the master bedroom suite.

Great, but I hope you didn’t go to too much trouble.

Mom waved this away. Jon’s handy so it wasn’t too problematic. And we used the side door as your entrance. You remember, the one that used to lead out to the side yard where we put the trash cans. We keyed it and everything so you can come and go as you please.

Thank you. Jon didn’t come with you?

He’s getting the house ready.

Ready?

Getting the Christmas tree up and ready so we can all decorate it together. She smiled her warm smile. "It’s been years since you and I got to