Page 15 of Snowflakes and Sparks

Before I could answer, he let go of my hand and spun around, leaving me breathless and alone in the cold night.

Chapter Six

It had been a couple of days since Alex and I had gone to dinner together and I hadn’t heard from him since. I didn’t know if he had meant it when he said we would have to go on a proper date. Not that I had time to stress about the meaning of his words. The closer we got to Christmas, the more tourists flocked to the town, all of them wanting to stock up on books and newspapers. If the store could keep this up the whole year round, Kate would be blown away.

It was nice talking to the tourists and hearing about their holiday experiences. Most of them came here every year apparently, because of the Snow Ball and all the other Christmas festivities. An older couple from Florida told me they ordered a personalized Old Pine Cove snow globe every single year, for every one of their children and grandchildren.

I loved hearing about traditions like those. My family celebrated Christmas, but our traditions were a bit more plain and simple. Every party started with wine and garlic bread. Then meatloaf with mashed potatoes and glazed carrots. Apple pie and the best cookies in the world as dessert, thanks to my grandmother. And my dad always fell asleep in front of the TV at ten o’clock.

My parents didn’t buy personalized snow globes either. Their gifts ranged from socks and scarves to towels and picture frames. They meant well, but their gifts never contained something exciting or surprising. They were practical at best. It would be nice to have a couple of great Christmas stories like some of my friends though. Stories were wonderful for bonding purposes, plus they made for sweet memories.

Maybe… Yes! That was it. The theme of the Winter Walk should beChristmas stories. People could go from one stop to another, listen to magical Christmas stories, and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate or mulled wine, and maybe some cake as well. I could ask Alex to whip up a kettle of soup. If they completed all of the stops, they would get a small gift. An Old Pine Cove fridge magnet or a keychain. Or a snow globe. We could ask for a small contribution for the Winter Walk and donate half of it to charity.

I opened my web browser and started looking for an example of a short but beautiful Christmas story that we could use. Of course, the matching cap and jacket people had to approve my idea first, but if I could provide them with a cost estimate and tangible examples, they would be on board for sure.

Right after closing time Kate called me, wanting to know how I was doing.

“I promise to get you out of there soon, but finding a suitable candidate seems more daunting than I’d thought. It seems no one who has the qualifications to be a store manager wants to live in a small, secluded town.”

“I’m sure you’ll find someone soon. You did find Claire, right? Before she… passed away, I mean.”

“To be honest, she was never meant to keep the store open for long. Our regional manager knew her niece and he told her we needed someone who could start right away. Since Claire had been the head of a library before she retired, it was an easy choice.”

“Retired? Just how old was this Claire lady exactly?”

“About seventy-two. Give or take.”

That certainly explained the horrible wallpaper and tacky furniture in the house.

“And she still went skiing?” I asked.

“I guess she liked to stay in shape. Anyway, I just hope we can hire a capable person soon. We miss you here in L.A.”

For some reason I hadn’t missed L.A. all that much. At first I hadn’t wanted to return to Old Pine Cove, but now that I was here, I had to admit it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it would be. Then again, I’d be going back to California soon. Maybe I would look at things differently if I had to stay here forever.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure people are too busy with the upcoming holidays to be looking for a new job right now. Give it a few weeks and they’ll be lining up at your door.”

“I know, there’s no need to worry yet. I’ve got a much more important issue to discuss with you. Becca Loveheart is doing a book tour and she’ll be in Maine just before Christmas. If we could get her to take a detour and agree to do a reading and signing in Old Pine Cove, we’d put the store on the map. It would be a real shame to have to close the store so soon after it opened.”

“Close the store? What do you mean?” I tried to sound as casual as possible, but I couldn’t stop my voice from shaking.

“It’s nothing for you to worry about. We opened the store as a pilot project, to see if we could get traction in small towns as well, instead of just focusing on big cities. The sales figures of our local stores don’t add up to our regular ones. Which is normal of course, but the board is aiming for a slightly higher figure.”

“I understand. Please don’t make any decisions yet, Kate. I will get you those figures.”

“If you could, that would definitely up your chances of getting Linda’s job,” she said. “I have already written a glowing recommendation letter for the board and I’m quite positive you’re the best candidate at the moment. But you know how much they love seeing numbers on a spreadsheet.”

“I’m on it. You can count on me.”

We exchanged our goodbyes and I switched my attention to my computer. The numbers I had in front of me seemed more than fine. Heck, if I had a business that made this much profit, I’d be able to eat sushi and drink champagne every day while taking helicopter rides over the Grand Canyon. Yet the board wasn’t happy enough with my numbers?

I shook my head. Some people were hard to please. Granted, they were running a business here and it would be silly to throw money at something that wasn’t working, but the store’s revenue had doubled since I arrived. Granted, there had been an influx of Christmas tourists, but it was still a great achievement in my book.

I turned my computer off and changed into my running gear. I hadn’t gone running once since arriving here and it was starting to show. The cookies I kept eating at night hadn’t gotten the memo that they needed to travel further south. Instead, they had taken up residence on my hips. It was time to let them know they’d outstayed their welcome.

After running for about a mile, I had left the town behind me. The forest lay to my left, almost begging me to step into it. Who was I to say no to a good run in nature? I needed to clear my head.

The steady rhythm of my thudding feet was all I focused on for a while, until thoughts of the bookstore pushed their way toward the front again. Having Becca Loveheart signing books at Got It Covered would be a fantastic opportunity. She’d been one of my favorite authors ever since her first book was released, a romance novel that was going to be turned into a proper Hollywood movie next year.

---