Chapter 33 Clara
I ’M A THIRTY-YEAR-OLD WOMAN WITH a hickey and I don’t know how I feel about it.
Relieved that it’s a perfectly acceptable time to wear a turtleneck sweater, sure. But otherwise, the jury is out. Jack acted like it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen, then apologized profusely when he realized I wasn’t laughing with him.
“I got carried away,” he said. “Won’t happen again.”
When I called him a leech he started laughing all over again. Thankfully, I was smart enough to bring a thick knitted turtleneck sweater that covers up the evidence that I was a reckless slut last night on an empty lane. God, it was worth it.
It started snowing on our drive home, and it hasn’t stopped yet. Seeing everything coated in a thick blanket of white makes it feel even more enchanting.
I take a sneaky look in the North Pole mailbox, full of brightly colored envelopes, outside of Harry’s on my way out the door. Jack told me he built the red mailbox from scratch with leftover lumber and had Wilhelmina paint the reindeer postage stamp on the side.
When I asked him what made him build it, he said it was something his granddad had done when he was a kid. So he brought it back and the local kids love it. He said he writes letters back to the kids from Santa and I swear I started ovulating on the spot.
The roads have already been plowed when I cross over to head to the Green Light.
As Matilda’s event approaches I’ve been regularly sticking my head through Miss Celia’s door to check if there’s anything I can help with.
Sometimes the answer’s no, sometimes the answer is yes, make one hundred goodie bags for the readers coming to the event.
The publisher sent over art prints and bookmarks they had left over from the preorder campaign, which Miss Celia added to a collection of things she’d bought for the occasion.
As I reach the pavement on the other side of the street I hear my name. Jack’s head is sticking out of the Bliss café doorway. “Got something to show you.”
He holds the door open for me and as soon as I step across the threshold I can hear Flo lecturing him about how rude it is to yell at people in the street.
“Morning, Ms. Flo,” I say cheerfully. She’s putting out a fresh batch of cinnamon rolls and they smell divine. The low hum of Christmas music—no, correction, French Christmas music—is playing from the speakers. “That cinnamon roll will fix all my problems, I can tell.”
“Good morning, Clara,” she says back with an unusually delighted tone. Her eyes flick to Jack. “Don’t you have a business to run?”
“I want to see her face when you show her,” he says, leaning against the counter, his thigh pressing into the garland. Flo swats his arm with a towel as I hit the other arm with my hand. “What?!”
“You’ll ruin the garland!” we both say in sync.
“That’s not a reason to abuse me,” he says, playfully rubbing his biceps. “Just show her and then I’ll get out of your hair.” Flo looks at him like he just told her to breakdance. Jack’s Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows hard. “Please. Thank you.”
Flo gets an iPad from beneath the counter and unlocks it. After tapping a couple of times she hands it over to me. “They published the story.”
I’m confident my face is giving Jack all he wanted as I fight between jumping up and down and outright crying with happiness.
On the home page of the online news outlet that was here for the Santa run is the accompanying article.
It already has thousands of reads. My eyes skim over the text. “This is incredible.”
“I know,” Jack says, and when I look up at him he’s wearing an expression I haven’t seen before. Pride, maybe? I might be getting ideas above my station because of all the sex.
“They called Fraser Falls ‘a hidden gem in a magical winter wonderland.’ That’s, wow, that’s quite the endorsement.” Flo is beaming in front of me. “I’m so happy for you, Ms. Flo.”
“Maggie has already had ten calls this morning with people making reservations.” My words catch in my throat, leaving me unable to respond.
I’ve dealt with big wins and equally big losses throughout my whole career, but there’s something about this that feels miles above the rest. “We’re talking about arranging a winter market in a couple of weeks!
Very humbly sized to start, but if it’s a success it could lead to something bigger and better. ”
I pull myself together. “That’s incredible news.”
Flo looks to Jack. “You’ve seen her react. She’s very emotional, as you anticipated. Now back to work, we have an immaculate town reputation to uphold. Can’t have you lurking around in the middle of the day.”
It’s 10 a.m.
Jack doesn’t dare roll his eyes but I can tell by the way they crinkle that he wants to. His expression softens when he looks at me. “Bye.”
As soon as he’s out the door, Flo turns back to me. “Clara, I’ve taken the videos down.” My throat becomes a desert. I cling to the edge of the counter for steadiness. “You look upset.”
I shake my head, all I can manage right now. She’s taken down the videos. I wasn’t mentally prepared for this. “Not upset. Shocked.”
“This isn’t about Davenport,” she says firmly.
“What they did is still unacceptable, but Fraser Falls is getting attention for all the right reasons now. I don’t want our good image to be associated with drama and online discourse.
I see now that my actions, while done with good intentions, invited the world to our doorstep.
And frankly, not everyone is house-trained. ”
That’s a good way to describe it. “I respect your decision, Ms. Flo. I’m happy Fraser Falls is getting the recognition it deserves. I’ve fallen in love with your hometown. I feel very lucky to have experienced living here.”
“I suspect you’ll be heading home now that the videos have been deleted.” My stomach sinks, and sweat starts to form at the back of my neck. “Is there a big prize waiting for you back in the city now that you’ve achieved what you came here to do?”
“The promotion I’ve been working toward, supposedly, but I’m not sure I have achieved all that I came here for, if I’m being honest. The toy drive is still ongoing and the author event, and, gosh, I have so much more I wanted to do.
I’ve hardly even spent any time with the Christmas tree farm.
” I can hear my voice getting louder and higher, but I can’t stop it as the pressure builds in my chest. “I want to help Tommy. I still haven’t met Donald. I can’t leave without meeting Do—”
“Clara,” Flo says softly. “I’m not serving you with an eviction notice. You don’t need to panic.”
I am panicking. I wonder if they’ve noticed at work yet. Am I going to pull my phone out of my pocket to thirty victory messages? Or, worse, missed calls from my dad? “I just don’t want to leave anything half done,” I explain. “I want to see everything through.”
“While I was cynical at first, I can see that your presence here, no matter what brought you to us, has been a blessing. Being honest, I’ll be sad to see you go.
I know I’m not alone saying that.” Water lines my vision but I hold it back.
Flo opens a food box and scoops out a cream-frosting-covered cinnamon roll for me.
She closes the lid and hands it over. “It will fix your problem. At least for this morning.”
Flo has a way of kicking you out without actually walking you to the door. Maybe she just doesn’t trust I’m not going to have some kind of emotional episode in front of her, which is a fair judgment.
I’m in a daze when I walk back out onto Main Street. I should cross the street and tell Jack everything that just happened, but I don’t. I turn right and head to the Green Light.
I don’t have any messages or calls, which eases the lingering tension a touch. I know it’s only a matter of time before someone notices the videos have disappeared. I know I should be excited. Flo taking down the videos should feel like a relief, but it doesn’t. I don’t know why it doesn’t.
That’s a lie. The why it doesn’t is six foot four and has messy brown hair and brown eyes with hints of amber. He looks after me when I’m injured, he lets me warm my cold hands on his extraordinarily warm body, and he tells me that I deserve the best.
I know we said just for now, but this feeling fucking sucks.
M ISS C ELIA DOESN’T NEED ME to do anything. Wilhelmina doesn’t either. Dove isn’t at the toy drive station at the town hall when I swing by. Mel and Winnie are too busy to chat. Maggie won’t even let me shine cutlery to be helpful.
I lie in bed staring at the gull on my ceiling.
I don’t bother opening my closet because I don’t want to learn that I’ve completed my plan.
I contemplate calling my dad, getting ahead of the situation, but the idea of hearing him telling me to come home immediately is more than I can handle today.
Instead, I clock-watch until I know the Hungry Fox is open and head over there.
I’m the first person in, to Tommy’s surprise when he looks up from his Kindle. I place my laptop down on the bar and open it.
Tommy eyes me suspiciously. “You have a weird energy today.”
“Me? That’s weird. I’m doing great. Not that you asked, but I am.
So, I’ve been working on a presentation and I didn’t want to show you until it was done, but it’s kind of hard to do on my own.
I was wondering if maybe you have time to do it together today?
” Because I don’t want my time here to run out before I finish , is what I don’t add on.
“Sure, I can help you. What’s the presentation about?” Tommy asks.
I twist my laptop ninety degrees so we can both see the screen. “Your patio extension.”
Tommy rubs his fingers over his lips. “You’ve been working on something for my extension?”
“I know it keeps getting rejected, and this might get rejected too, but I’ve taken a slightly different approach.
” My different approach is not standing up in the meeting and asking for it, hoping people will say yes.
“It’s a draft but I’ll show you what I have so far.
It starts with a sketch of what the tavern might look like with more outside room. That puts a visual in everyone’s mind.”
He doesn’t need to know I took a picture of Jack’s design without Jack knowing. He won’t care—well, he might when he realizes I was going through his stuff. In my defense, the man is messy and I was looking for a pen.
“You’ve really thought this through,” he says, leaning closer to the screen.
“This slide outlines the potential benefits. People like things in threes, so I’ve stuck to that format, focusing on profitability, public perception, and return visitors.
This slide is the cons, and you can change them if they’re not right, but underneath I gave a way you’ll tackle or handle each of them so it doesn’t impact your neighbors. ”
“This is brilliant, Clara.”
“When I went shopping out of town, I saw a couple of bars with outdoor sitting areas serving food. I put the pictures in here.” I click to the next slide.
“Which brings me to my next point: I think you need to ask for more than just a decking extension. You’re limiting yourself because you won’t be able to use it in the winter.
If you put a retractable roof and walls system, you can add heaters and make it profitable all year round.
That’s what those bars I saw were doing. ”
“I like how that looks too.”
I nod, grateful he sees the vision. “Fraser Falls is so beautiful right now, why would anyone want to go inside and stop looking at it? This way they can eat, drink, and enjoy the view.”
I go through my other slides that need his help. Mostly ones with figures, visitor numbers, et cetera. When I’m finally done I tuck my hands under my chin and wait for his feedback. I’m waiting a long time.
“I’m speechless, Clara.” The subtle nagging feeling that started when people stopped wanting my help has started to seep away. “This is incredible, thank you so much.”
We make a plan for me to email the presentation to Tommy so he can insert all the facts and figures we need, once he’s looked them up.
Then we will go over it before the next town meeting.
The meeting is just the first stage; if they approve it, he needs to get official planning permission, but it feels closer than it did an hour ago.
Tommy swears he has no other problems to fix, other than being single. I tell him I could introduce him to Honor but my brother might disown me. Sahara has a very specific type, and that type is rich and works on Wall Street. I promise him if I ever make any new friends I’ll tell him right away.
I take my time walking back the long way to the B & B, absorbing every square inch of Fraser Falls.
The family of light-up snowmen that has been added to the Christmas tree display.
The sleigh on the roof of the gazebo. The Christmas and Hanukkah books in the window of the Green Light.
Holly wreaths for sale in Wilde & Winslet.
Mistletoe above the door of the Frozen Spoon.
Jack’s North Pole mailbox sitting proudly outside his store.
I keep walking back to the B & B instead of going into Harry’s. I’d love to see him, but I don’t know if I could concentrate over the sound of the ticking clock I can hear.