Cozy Hometown Christmas, page 12
Mason laughed. “Okay, well, I guess I did notice. But I don’t know about moving here. I mean, I’d have to see about subletting my apartment and…”
“Of course. You need to take time to think about it. But I’d be pleased if you came on board.” Kent smiled. “We can go over the financials and my plan when you’re ready.”
Mason felt as if a huge weight had been lifted. “Okay. That’s a lot to think about. And I guess if I do come on board, that means that now more than ever, we need to advertise and build our customer base. The holiday season is short, and we’ll need to make most of our money during that time. Decorating the skating pond and having that big sign about our business will help.” Mason thought about the plans he’d dropped off with Irene before he left. Would they be good enough?
“I don’t know, I think things are going pretty well as it is. I mean, this town is all about Christmas, and they have events all year to bring people in, so we’ll make money at other times of the year too. I’m kind of surprised they never had a Christmas store here before.” Kent paused and looked off into the distance. “It’s almost as if it was meant to be. But anyway, sometimes money isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I think you’ve learned that at your job this week.”
“Maybe. But this is different. We’re not going to do anything shady to win the decorating contest.”
Mason glanced out the window at the house across the street. Was Kristen in there? And now that he was staying in town, could they continue their friendship? Could he hope for more? Maybe not if he won the skating-pond-decorating contest. Especially not if her family was having a problem with the trees. Taking that decorating job away from her might really hurt them.
“One thing though: I really don’t want to hurt the Woodward Christmas tree farm. I think they might be having some trouble with the trees. When we had the wreath contest, I noticed some of the pine needles were dry.”
Kent’s happy expression morphed into concern. “I certainly hope they aren’t having trouble. But I don’t think we need to worry about hurting the Woodwards by winning the pond contest. I think maybe both of us can win.”
“Really? How?”
“I guess you didn’t notice the porch when you came in.”
“No. I came right in the garage.”
Kent put his mug down and slung his arm around Mason’s shoulders. “Then come out front, son. I want to show you something.”
Mason stared at their front porch. His father had put up more decorations, but not all of them were from the Christmas store. Real pine garland with twinkling white lights was wrapped around the spindles, and fresh mistletoe hung at the top of the stairs. Evergreen wreaths with colorful bows hung in every window.
He turned to his father. “You bought things from the Woodward farm?”
“Even better.” His father jutted his chin toward the Woodward house.
Mason’s jaw dropped when he noticed what Dorothy had added to her porch—a silver-tinsel Christmas tree loaded with ornaments. “Is that from our store?”
Kent laughed. “Yep. Dorothy and I got together and decided we could work together. You know, promote each other’s businesses. And if we can do that with our porches, maybe you and Kristen can do that with the skating pond.”
“But Irene was expecting a contest, and I already handed my drawing in before I went to work.”
“Well now, that doesn’t sound like a problem that’s not fixable. I’m sure you can come up with something to make Irene see that the two businesses working together is better than them being adversaries.”
Mason stood for a few minutes, his gaze switching between the two houses. He wanted to rush over and talk to Kristen to see if she wanted to work with him, but what if she thought he was just trying to horn in on her territory because he didn’t think his plan would win? No, he had a better idea, a way to show her that he wanted to team up for both their benefits.
If he hurried, he could submit new plans before the deadline and before Irene looked at the ones he’d already given her.
Chapter 27
The skating-pond plans were as done as they were ever going to get. Kristen had had to practically sneak out of the house to avoid her mother, who had been interrupting her every half hour to ask her to come see something on the porch. She didn’t have time and was too nervous about getting the plans in on time.
She rushed out to the car and zipped off toward the town hall with only moments to spare before the deadline.
Now, she stood in front of the door to Irene’s office and took a deep breath before knocking.
“Come in!”
Kristen open the door and stepped in. “I made it just in time.” She thrust the plans out toward Irene.
Irene looked confused. “What’s that?”
“The skating-pond plans.” Kristen’s heart dropped. “I’m not too late, am I?”
“No, but I thought you were working with the Hales.” Irene’s gaze darted to a rolled-up paper on the side of her desk.
Now Kristen was the one who was confused. “Together? You said we were supposed to have a contest, and whoever came up with the best plan would win.”
Irene gave her a funny look. “Mason came by earlier and dropped these off.” She picked up the roll. “It incorporates decorations from both of your businesses, so I assumed you decided to make it a group effort.” She stood and unrolled the paper.
Kristen stepped closer. “I don’t understand.”
“See? He’s got evergreen trees from your tree farm all around the pond.” She pointed to various spots on the drawing. “Then he accentuates it with a few of the white artificial trees from his shop. And the whole thing is done in white and silver with white lights. I think it will be gorgeous.”
Kristen stared at the drawing, visualizing what it would look like in real life. Mason had done an excellent job of blending the real and fake trees. And he’d used the decorating scheme of white and silver she’d mentioned when they’d talked at the firepit. Was he trying to steal her design idea?”
“He’s using our trees in his design?”
Irene shook her head. “No, he said it was from both of you. Not just Tinseltown. He asked about sharing the billboard with the tree farm.”
“But I thought only one of us could get the advertising billboard.”
Irene shrugged. “We only have one spot where we put the sign that says who decorated the area, but that doesn’t mean we can’t put both your businesses on that sign.”
“Then why did you say we had to have a contest?” Kristen was getting a little exasperated. She’d fretted over this contest so much, and the whole time, she could have just combined efforts with Mason and Kent?
“I didn’t know if you wanted to work together. When Mason first came to me to apply, I didn’t know that you were even interested. Last year, no one decorated it. I know your family was still grieving then. Anyway, when you showed up, I had to think of something. I didn’t know if you were friendly. In fact, it appeared as if you didn’t even know each other, so a contest seemed like the best plan.”
“And this is okay with Mason and Kent?”
“It was his idea.” Irene looked up at her quizzically. “You mean you didn’t work on this with him?”
“No. I didn’t. But I’ll be happy to work with him on the decorating.”
Kristen smiled down at the plans. She wasn’t sure why Mason had decided to do this, but it made her feel good. And it might even solve a problem; if she wasn’t able to supply the bigger evergreens, she’d have his artificial trees to take up the space. And the fact that he’d incorporated her idea of white and silver told her that he was being inclusive and not trying to take over the design.
“That’s good.” Irene tapped her watch. “Because there’s only three days left to decorate it, so you guys better get going.”
Kristen was still confused as she drove home. Had Mason really made his plan so that they could both do the decorating? Was that why he had been acting so weird the morning of the gingerbread-house contest? Was he coming back to town, or would she be working with Kent? Her mother seemed to think Kent was a good guy, but Kristen barely knew him and wasn’t sure if she wanted to work with him that closely. But she would because it was tree farm business.
She pulled into the driveway and was still a bit dazed about the whole thing when she got out of the car. Mason’s porch looked different, but it was hard to pinpoint what was different about it since it was so loaded with decorations.
As she was looking, Mason stepped out onto the porch. He looked apprehensive. “Hey there.” He started down the steps toward her.
“Hi. I thought you were out of town.” Kristen’s gaze skipped back to his porch. Were the garland and mistletoe from her family’s tree farm?
“I came back.” Now he was standing in front of her. “Had to quit my job.”
“What? You quit your job? Why?”
“It just wasn’t suitable for me anymore. And after being here with my dad, I realized he needs me.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, his gaze drifting out to the woods. “I realized that I was tired of the city life and my stressful job. I’m going to work in the Christmas shop with my father.”
Kristen’s heart lifted. She wasn’t sure why. She barely knew Mason, but she felt they’d connected, and now there might be a chance to see if that could blossom into something more. “I know the feeling. I did the same.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Not one bit.” She hadn’t thought about the city or her old job since she’d been home. “I just came from the town hall, and Irene showed me your plans. Do you really want to work together?”
Mason’s eyes lit up. “If you want to. I hope you don’t mind that I made those plans including both of our products. I had to rush once I got back from Philadelphia and wasn’t able to talk to you about it.”
Just then, Kent came out on the porch. “Oh, hey there! I hope you like Mason’s idea for working together.”
“I do, but I’m not sure my mom—”
Dorothy came out onto her porch with George at her heels. Kristen’s attention swiveled that way, and she stopped talking in mid-sentence when she noticed the silver-tinsel tree on the porch. How had that gotten there? Her father never would’ve had an artificial tree, but she remembered her mother mentioning that her parents had had one. Hey, wait—had her mother and Kent been scheming?
“What do you think?” Dorothy gestured toward the silver tree.
“It looks nice,” Kristen said uncertainly.
“Sure does. And it’s a perfect example of how we can work together. Between both of our businesses, we have everything people want to decorate their homes for the holidays, don’t you think?” Dorothy raised a hopeful brow at Kristen.
That answered the question: her mother wanted to work together with Kent and Mason. In fact, Dorothy and Kent had probably cooked this whole thing up to show her how it could be done.
“It sure does,” Kristen said.
Apparently, even George agreed. He let out a meow and leapt off the porch, promptly disappearing into a large snowbank.
“George!” Kristen leaped for the cat, pulling him out of the snow.
Even though she’d just saved him, George was ungrateful. He wriggled out of her arms and made a beeline for the door, where he skidded to a stop and started grooming his wet fur without even a glance back at Kristen.
The four of them laughed. Dorothy opened the door for George and then gestured toward the rest of them. “Now that we’re all in agreement, what do you say we all go inside and discuss how we can make the skating-pond decor the best it’s ever been?”
Chapter 28
Dorothy put on a pot of coffee and broke out a tray of Christmas cookies from her seemingly endless supply. They all sat around the kitchen table, talking about the skating-pond design like old friends.
Even George joined them. He curled up in the corner by the fireplace, slitting open one eye every so often as if he was monitoring the conversation.
“I think we should alternate the artificial trees with the real trees,” Kent said.
“The white artificials will be lovely with the silver decorations, and maybe we could stagger different-sized trees or just use small ones to offset them.” Dorothy exchanged a look with Kristen, and Mason worried that the look meant they might not have any tall trees to use for decorating.
“Smaller trees could work really well, especially if we arranged a few around each of the white trees.” Mason wanted to give them an out in case his suspicions were correct.
Kent frowned. “Maybe some smaller ones, but don’t you think some nice tall ones would look good too?”
Mason didn’t say anything. Apparently his earlier mention to his father that the trees might have a problem hadn’t sunk in, or maybe Kent knew something he didn’t.
Kristen cleared her throat. “I agree with Kent about the taller trees, but we want to have a contingency plan.”
“Contingency plan for what?” Kent grabbed another cookie. “Did I mention these are delicious?”
“There might be a little problem with the trees.” Kristen held up her hand at Kent’s look of concern. “It’s nothing too bad. Ethan thinks we just need to feed the trees a different fertilizer mixture, but that might mean we won’t be able to cut trees in time to start decorating tomorrow.”
“And we really need to start tomorrow to get it done in three days,” Dorothy cut in.
“Okay then, small trees will look great too. We can get plenty of garland and wreaths and show off the Woodward tree farm items that way,” Kent said optimistically.
The back door opened, and Ethan stepped in, his eyes widening when he saw the four of them sitting around the table. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No, dear. Come and sit down.” Dorothy explained to him how they were teaming up to decorate the skating pond. “And we have a contingency plan in case we can’t supply trees.”
Ethan did not look pleased at that. “Of course we’ll be able to supply trees. They just need a little more potassium.”
Mason glanced at Ethan. He seemed a little defensive about the trees, but Mason couldn’t stay silent. Ginger might be able to help. “You know, I used to work at a fertilizer company, and my best friend there is a chemist and an absolute genius with plants. Maybe I could have her come out and take a look?”
Ethan frowned, his hand pausing halfway to the plate of cookies.
“I don’t think we need any help. My family has been running this farm for generations, and we’ve been faced with plenty of issues, which we’ve always overcome.” Ethan’s expression softened, and he grabbed an iced Christmas tree cookie. “But I do appreciate the offer.”
“Why don’t you have a seat?” Dorothy pulled out a chair and gestured for Ethan to sit.
He seemed reluctant, as if he wanted to run out the door as soon as he was done with the cookie, but after a pointed look from his mother, he sat.
As soon as Ethan sat down, George jumped into his lap. It was clear Ethan didn’t know what to do by the startled look on his face and the way he held his hands up in the air. The cat was not to be deterred, however. He proceed to turn around in a circle, selecting the best spot before curling up in Ethan’s lap. Ethan didn’t push him out, but he didn’t pet him either. He wrapped both hands around his coffee mug instead.
“I think we need to make a list of things to do. We need to be organized if we’re going to get the pond decorated before the skating party.” Dorothy stood and grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. “I don’t know why Irene waited until the last minute this year.”
“She was probably thrown for a loop by having two parties interested in doing the decorating,” Kent said.
“Don’t worry, we can get it done,” Mason assured her. “I’m used to setting things up in a short time frame.”
“I hope so. I’m really looking forward to the skating party.” Dorothy jumped up from the table again. “I’m knitting scarves for all of us to wear.”
Kristen eyed the knitting bag dubiously. If the things she’d seen falling out of it were scarves, she wasn’t sure she wanted to wear one.
Dorothy pulled out a ragged, disjointed purple fan. “See? I’m getting better. I’m going to be working hard on these to perfect my technique for the skating party. Isn’t that great?”
“It’s wonderful.” Kristen gave Mason a raised-brow glance when her mother looked away.
“I’m even going to knit a little Santa outfit for George,” Dorothy said.
George let out a meow. His head jerked up, and he glared at Dorothy. He was still curled in Ethan’s lap, and they could just see his face over the top of the table. The look in his eyes made it seem as if he’d understood what Dorothy had said and had no intention of wearing a knitted suit.
Everyone laughed, and Ethan removed his hand from the mug and petted the cat on the top of the head. “Don’t worry, buddy, she’ll never be able to get you into it.”
“We’ll tackle that when we come to it.” Dorothy stuffed her project back into the bag. “Anyway, I can’t wait to see all of you skating and whirling about with your scarves flying in the wind.”
Ethan snorted. “Not me.”
Dorothy gave him a look. “You could try to join in.”
Ethan looked down at his mug, and Dorothy’s face softened. There was a story there, but Mason sensed it wasn’t his place to ask. Dorothy turned her gaze on Mason, and his heart sank.
“Mason, you’ll be there skating, won’t you?”
“Uh… I’ll be there but not skating.” Mason fidgeted.
“Why not?” Dorothy asked.
“I never learned how.”
“Oh! Don’t worry about that. Kristen is the best teacher. She’ll have you doing figure eights in no time.” Dorothy picked up the pencil and the piece of paper. “Now, let’s get going on that list.”
