Page 41 of The Inn at Evergreen Hollow

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Nora sat in the otherwise empty living room of The Mistletoe Inn, on the couch closest to the fire, flipping idly through the photo albums. She had to look at something, do something with her hands, or she would burst into tears. The fight with Aiden, how much Sabrina hated her plans for the festival—it all left her feeling empty and sad, as if everything she thought she’d found here had just been a mirage.

She’d been right to plan to keep it all at arm’s length when she first came, she thought to herself. Not to get involved, to spend time with her parents and Melanie, and leave the rest the way it had always been. None of it had anything to do with her, and the town didn’t want her to have anything to do with it.

Tears brimmed on her lashes, and she sniffed them back. She was just about to pick up another album when she heard footsteps, and looked up to see Caroline walking in. She stiffened a little, expecting a comment from Caroline about her being too soft, or asking what had upset her this time.

Instead, Caroline frowned, crossing the room to perch on the sofa next to Nora. “I can tell you’re upset,” she said, a little awkwardly. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

Nora swallowed hard. “I’m sure you have something else you need to be doing.”

“Well, yes.” Caroline let out a breath. “But it can wait for a minute. What happened?”

“It’s nothing.” Nora shook her head, unable to imagine explaining everything that had gone on that day to Caroline. She wouldn’t understand. She’d certainly take Sabrina’s side.

“We might have grown apart a good bit, Nora, but we’re still sisters.” Caroline narrowed her eyes at Nora. “I know that’s not true. Come on. Out with it.”

What’s the worst that can happen?Another speech like the one Aiden had given her, maybe, but she expected it from Caroline, at least. She turned to her sister, setting the photo album aside, and began to explain.

She explained everything in a rush, the words coming out in a tumble once she started to talk. The conversation with her coworker that had set it all off, her decision to help to give herself something to take her mind off of Rob, the way she’d really started to enjoy sprucing up the festival and adding to it. Her excitement over all the plans, and how she’d thought everyone was equally excited, only to see their doubt when Sabrina tore it apart. Sabrina’s interference throughout the whole thing, and finally her conversation with Aiden, and how terribly that had gone.

To Nora’s surprise, Caroline sat and listened to all of it, without interruption. “Maybe you were right,” Nora finished, biting her lip. “Maybe I just don’t have the right touch to plan a small-town event or help the inn. This just isn’t what I’m good at.”

Caroline let out a slow breath.

“It’s not that,” she said finally, and Nora’s head snapped up, surprised. “You’re on to some things. It’s just that what Aiden and Sabrina are trying to explain is that you need to keep itcloser. That fancy catering menu you were talking about? Sure, upgrade the food for the festival. It could use it, honestly. But stick to getting Rockridge Grill and Marie’s to make the food. Trust that they can handle it. I promise you some of the guys who hunt would love to provide game to turn into some kind of fancy appetizers.”

She smiled, the expression looking a little odd on her mouth. Nora couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen it.

“Those decorations?” she continued. “Trying to do something new, all those themes? That’s great too. You just need to employ people in the town to help. Aiden would have made those signs, I bet. And you know Mom loves to paint.”

“Aiden is busy!” Nora let out a frustrated sigh. “Everyone is busy. They have jobs and lives and businesses to run and kids and houses to keep, and?—”

“And they love this town,” Caroline said gently. “They’d beexcitedto help make those things, rather than have them brought in from some out-of-town place with no special touch. I’ve seen some of your plans,” she added. “I think they’re great, honestly. You don’t have to scrap everything. Just tweak it a little so the people here have a hand in it other than just setting up stuff someone else has put together.”

“You’ve seen it?” Nora asked weakly, still stuck on how many words she just heard her sister say—more than she usually strung together—and the fact that Caroline thought her work was good.

Caroline nodded. “You’re a great event planner. Honestly, I’m proud of you. You just need to adjust your touch a little for a small town like this. Not take your hands off the wheel altogether.”

For a moment, Nora couldn’t speak. She was too shocked to hear her sister say that.

Caroline must have read it on her face, because she reached out, touching Nora’s knee with a slight look of remorse on her face.

“I can admit that I’ve been in the wrong a bit,” she said quietly. “I’ve let the stress of the inn get to me over the years, and I’ve been taking it out on you. No one should have made you stay here if you really didn’t want to. It’s not as if that would have helped anything, or made any of it better. Not because youcouldn’thave helped,” she clarified. “But you would have resented it.”

Caroline let out a sigh, looking across the room as if she couldn’t quite meet Nora’s eyes. “I’ve felt rather alone in running it,” she admitted quietly. “I just don’t like to talk about it.”

“I’m sorry.” Nora’s words came out suddenly, but they were entirely genuine. “I really am. I don’t think I was wrong to go to Boston, necessarily, but I didn’t think enough about how it would affect everything. I really want to help now that I’m back.”

“Your promotional idea sounds like a great start.” Caroline glanced back at her. “Mom ran some of the numbers. I think it really might work. She’s considering it.”

For the first time since the conversation with Sabrina, Nora felt a smile tug at the edges of her lips. “What do I do about the festival?” she asked quietly, and Caroline considered for a moment.

“Scale it back a little,” she suggested finally. “Outsource the things you still need to local vendors. Showcase those businesses, instead of ones outside of Evergreen Hollow. It will mean more to everyone involved, and tourists who show up will see the best that we have to offer. Everyone will be more invested in the success of the festival, and you can still improve on past years, just on a little bit of a smaller scale.”

“You’re right,” Nora admitted, after a moment’s consideration. “All of this just got out of hand, I think. I’ve beenso used to pulling off big events in one certain way that I didn’t think about doing it differently. But… you’re right.”

She felt better after saying it. Her mind was already running off in three different directions, imagining how she could take the plans she’d already made and alter them to work on a smaller, more local scale.

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