Page 42 of Naughty Santa

Wait a second. What? It didn’t sound like these two were here just for the party. Joe’s gut tightened with trepidation.

Paris nodded. “I understand. I will admit that I was under the impression that you were going to pass.”

“Yes. Again, I’m sorry. We should have communicated more clearly,” the older man said to the younger one.

“We did have a few reservations,” the younger man inserted.

“But we cleared those up, Todd,” the older man said with a frown. “We have fully discussed all of it and are now in agreement.”

Joe watched Paris draw herself straighter. “Well, I wasn’t expecting this at all. I want to clarify the stipulation that everything in this store must stay exactly as it is now. With the same employees. No significant changes. Did you get that information from my lawyer?”

“We did,” Todd said. “We’re hoping to negotiate some of that, actually.”

“No.” Paris’s response was swift and firm.

“Upgrades. Improvements. That’s all, my dear,” the older man said. “I promise you that we want to make no changes to anything of substance.”

“What my father is saying,” Todd said with a heavy sigh. “Is that he is enchanted by this place exactly as it is and he intends to keep it the same. However, we need to be realistic about what we can agree to. If we’re going to operate this business for the foreseeable future, we have to be given the leeway to make appropriate changes. The stipulations from your attorney are very...stringent. Crazy really.”

“Todd,” his father snapped.

“Dad,” Todd returned. “It’s ridiculous to sign a clause that says we can never paint the outside any other color and that we will always include Randy Travis in the playlist and that we have to keep the power tools in aisle seven. It’s—I’m sorry—crazy to stipulate that this place will look exactly the same twenty years from now than it does today down to every last detail.”

Paris had done that? She’d actually gotten her attorney to write all of that into the proposal? Wow. That was a little...crazy. And amazing.

Paris crossed her arms, and Joe’s heart was pounding so hard he was struggling to hear her response over the sound.

“I don’t see why not. My aunt was able to keep it the same all the years she owned it,” Paris said, her tone cool.

“I promise you that the bird seed and fake snow that your aunt stocked in the past year is not the same that she stocked twenty years ago,” Todd said, obviously a little exasperated.

Paris’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “I suppose that’s true.”

“We’re talking basic changes. Keeping up with the times. Making reasonable improvements to improve our margins. Things like that,” Todd said.

“Again, I’m going to have to insist that you are sensitive to pricing and keeping things affordable,” Paris said. “These people work hard, and they need this store for their supplies.” She gestured toward the seed and feed side of the building before gesturing to the holiday side. “As well as deserving to wallow in their love for Christmas. They deserve to be able to afford to go Christmas crazy.” Her voice wobbled a little at the end. “They have to be able to fill their houses and yards and businesses with as many elves and candy canes and tinsel as they want.”

The older man was gazing at Paris with an obvious look of affection. As if he thought she was magical.

Dammit, he was right.

She was.

She understood this town, and she was fighting to keep this place here for them. Everything that she’d thought was silly and over-the-top and tacky and ridiculous before were now the things she was insisting stay the same.

Joe was in love with her. If he hadn’t been sure before, he would have been in that moment. Everything about what she’d just said to these men made him want to grab her and never let go.

But she was leaving.

There was no longer any reason for her to stay. She’d come to sell the business, and now she had a buyer. Even more, a buyerwho thought the store was wonderful and wanted to preserve it as it was.

Joe had secretly hoped she’d never find a buyer. That if someone did make an offer, it would come with a plan to bulldoze the place. The first couple of days she was in North Pole, Paris probably would have gone along with that. But it hadn’t taken her long to get to the point where she wouldn’t let someone tear it down. Still, it wasn’t until the last few days that he’d discovered she truly couldn’t imagine this place being anything other than the Holly Jolly and that she understood how important it was to the town.

Still, Joe had hoped—now that she loved the place—she wouldn’t find someone who would keep it as it was. He’d hoped she wouldn’t be able to let it go.

The older man was grinning widely. “I can’t wait to spend time here and get to know the people and know that they’ll be using the tools they buy from me in the spring to hang their Christmas lights that they get in here in December.”

Paris’s shoulders rose and fell as she took a deep breath, and she dropped her arms.

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