Page 5 of Holiday Reunion

Sarah snorted. “I doubt that. He just wants to put on a show so everyone will believe he's a great guy. It’s like no one remembers he left for several years. If he really loved this place, he would’ve stayed and tried fixing up Lake Harbor the right way.”

Brie tilted her head and squinted. “Is there really a right way?”

Rolling her eyes, Sarah turned from her friend and focused on what they had planned for today. “With this new project, I won’t be in as much for the next couple of weeks. I’ll try to have everything ready the night before so you can just put them in the oven and be done with it.”

“Wait, you’re going to try to workandplan the festival?”

“What choice do I have? I can’t exactly close down for a couple weeks. And the mayor asked me to do the festival. I can’t say no to him.”

“Sure you could have.” Brie moved closer, her voice gentler. “Even you need to accept that you can’t work yourself to death. Dead people can’t keep their business going either.”

Sarah nodded. “Yeah. I know. Thankfully, it’s only for the next couple of weeks.” She shot her friend a concerned look. “Do you think you’ll be able to handle it okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured her. Even though Brie’s voice had a soothing effect on Sarah’s frayed nerves, it wasn’t enough to help her completely forget that in a few short hours she’d be working side by side with James on something she didn’t even want to do. Brie touched her arm, causing her to jump. “You should probably just go home. Get some rest. Heaven knows you’re going to need it if you’re going to have to deal with James for the next several days.”

Sarah groaned. “Don’t remind me.” She offered her friend a smile. “But I can’t leave yet. I have to finish the peppermint eclairs. It’s tradition. People are going to be expecting to have them. it’s the first day of December.”

Brie all but pushed Sarah toward the exit. “I’ll have them ready just fine. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

Tossing a fleeting glance over her shoulder toward her friend, Sarah allowed herself to succumb to her friend’s request. As if she’d teleported, she landed outside in the snow. She shot one more look at her shop and sent a small prayer it would be able to survive while she was away.

It had to.

Sarah satat the table in the coffee shop in the middle of town. There was no coffee near where she worked, and James had insisted he wasn’t worth anything without his caffeine fix. Herlegs bounced as she waited for him to show up. She told herself she was here first, so she had the upper hand, but in reality, she simply didn’t know what to do with herself.

Every time the door opened, she looked up only to find it wasn’t the man she was expecting to see. On the table before her, she had her own documents drawn up regarding the festival. There were notes about past festivals, what worked and what didn’t. She included everything she thought would be a good addition and there was even a list of things she refused to budge on.

If James thought this project was going to be easy, he was sorely mistaken. They had one chance to get it right.

The door opened and a chime rang through the lobby. Sarah glanced up to find James standing just inside. His eyes swept through the room until they landed on her. He wore a deep blue suit with a red vest and a festive looking tie. The second their eyes met, Sarah had to catch her breath.

Even from this distance, his blue eyes were amazing. She’d been so engrossed with her fury the other day to truly appreciate his looks, but now that she’d cooled off and had a plan, her heart was trying to get away with treason.

He held up a finger to place his order and then in no time, he was seated at the table.

Before he had a chance to speak, she spun her papers around for him to see. “Obviously, we need to stick to tradition. The tree lighting ceremony will be the focal point for the festival. It’s going to run for two weeks and we need to have plenty of activities going on during that time. I have a list here for everything that has worked in the past.” She pointed at the ones with little stars by them. “These are the ones thatmusttake place, no questions asked.”

His focus scanned the paper before him. Then he settled back in his chair. “This is all very thorough.”

“Yes, it is,” Sarah beamed.

“I think we can make everything on your list happen. Even a small scaled Santa’s village. I’m sure there is someone who would be willing to dress up as the jolly ol’ fellow.”

She didn’t know whether to be suspicious at how easy it was to get all of her demands met, or to be relieved he wasn’t going to fight her. At this point, she just wanted to get this project done and over with, so she opted for the latter. “Wonderful. I’m sure there are some city council members who we can delegate some of this to. It will be important to remind the people what our town used to be and that it still exists in the hearts of the community.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

She bit back a smile. Maybe Brie was right. James wasn’t as bad as she’d thought he was.

“There’s just one thing I want to add.”

Sarah stiffened. She’d given him the benefit of the doubt far too soon.

“We need to do something to draw people out. Something that says, look out Maine, here’s Hollyberry Harbor.”

“No we don’t,” she muttered dryly. “We’re great the way we are.”

“Sure, sure. But this part of town is dying. You can’t deny that.”

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