Page 70 of Dash of Bryce
Chapter 32
Harper
In the crowded living room, Gordy turned to Bryce and said, "But if the village won't be open 'tilnextChristmas, what's the point?"
"Money," Bryce said. "If it's finished before the end of this year, the grant foots the bill. It'll be great for the city."
Gordy still looked doubtful. "So you're not gonna have a grand opening or nothin'?"
Listening, I couldn’t help but smile, but not because of anything they were saying. Somehow, in the space of twenty minutes, we'd managed to move all of the food and drinks tomyhouse so the guests would have a warm place to eat and hang out.
In the meantime, Gordy and his wife Joanna had been walking guests over totheirhouse for short – if somewhat chilly – tours. They were now calling tonight's party a house-coolingas they tried to make the best of it.
Now, maybe twenty people were crammed into my living room all nice and cozy as Christmas music played in the background.
Next to me, Gordy said to Bryce, "That reception thing – maybe you could have ithere."
Bryce laughed. "Yeah, my landlord would lovethat."
Somehow, I'd lost track of the conversation. I turned back to them and asked, "Love what?"
Gordy looked to me and said, "You didn't hear? They were gonna do a reception for local businesspeople, but the pub backed out."
I looked to Bryce. "What pub?"
As I listened, Bryce explained that the city had wanted to host a reception and Christmas village walk-through for local businesspeople – ones who might be interested in renting space during next year's holiday season.
But to make this event happen, they needed a place to host it, preferably someplace next door to the Christmas village. They'd been planning to host it at the neighboring pub, but the business had been sold to new owners, who had just started an extensive remodeling project that would prevent them from hosting anything for at least three months.
When Bryce finished, Gordy looked to him and said, "Yeah, but what aboutmyidea?" He gestured to the crowd in the living room. "Just think about it. You could do the same thing you're doing now."
I spoke up. "What do you mean?"
Gordy glanced toward the buffet table we'd set up near the Christmas tree. "You could have the receptionhereand do the toursthere. I mean, the village is just on the other side of the fence, right? You could cut a gap in the wood and let people walk back and forth."
Funny, there was already a gap, not that most people realized it. Still, the thought of strangers traipsing through my house wasn't a jolly one.
And already Bryce was shaking his head. "Nope. Not gonna happen."
"But why not?" Gordy asked.
Bryce gave me an amused glance. "Because I don’t want my landlord to kill me."
Gordy hitched a thumb in my direction. "You meanher? Sure, she's a little nuts, but she's alright."
I laughed. "Gee, thanks."
After Bryce nixed the idea yet again, Gordy gave a resigned shrug and then looked to me. "So what does your sister think of the village? I bet she's excited, huh?"
I smiled. "Well, shewillbe, but I'm saving it for a surprise."
This made Gordy frown. "How can it be a surprise? The thing's right on the other side of your fence."
"Yeah, but Lexie isn't living here right now. And she doesn't take Market Street to work. She probably doesn't even know the village is going up."
This was true.When I'd first learned about the project, I'd been dying to tell Lexie right away. But the more I'd thought about it, the more I'd realized how muchmoreLexie would enjoy the news after it was finished.
My sister loved Christmas.
