Chapter 26 Santa’s Little Plan
santa's little plan
Ivar
Marty, Tess’s brother, led Holly and Ivar to the brewery’s backroom. “Right back with a stout and a cider,” he said, already disappearing through the swinging doors.
Ivar noticed that the room buzzed with the quiet ease of friends who’d known one another forever.
His sister was hunched over a stack of Carnival flyers, muttering about printer ink.
Tess perched on a keg, twisting a candy cane between her fingers like a wand.
Emma leaned against the wall beside the coat rack, scarf still around her neck, cheeks pink from the cold.
“Look at you,” Tess said, grinning at Holly. “Already in your unofficial Winterwood uniform of flannel shirt, sweater, and snow boots.”
“Just trying to blend in,” Holly joked.
“Good luck with that,” Emma teased. “You’ve got ‘project manager’ written all over you.”
Liv smiled without looking up. “If she’s volunteering for the Carnival, I’ll take her.”
“So what’s this all about?” Marty asked, placing the drinks on the table. “We’re busy tonight. I don’t have much time to spare.”
“Well, then. Let’s get down to business,” Ivar said, setting the brochures on the table. “It’s about Chad Hale’s proposed development.”
Word had spread quickly that he wanted to build a resort, but even the most pessimistic among them would not have anticipated how severely the Hale project would change the landscape.
“Surely this would never clear the environmental assessment,” Tess said.
Ivar glanced at Holly. “We have people looking into it, but don’t forget, they do too.
Same with road capacity, electricity usage, water requirements.
You name it, we’ve got someone working on it.
” Sure, they were at some mysterious hidden village somewhere in the world, but he’d keep that between him and Holly.
“What about the sister? Doesn’t she own the land?” Liv asked.
“She does, and for the time being she’s going along with it.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Marty asked.
Ivar moved behind Holly and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Holly and I want them to fall in love with Winterwood,” Ivar announced. “By giving them something they’ve never had—a real hometown. Somewhere they belong.” He anticipated that the room would fall silent in disbelief. It did.
“That’s not much of a plan,” Emma finally said.
“Yes. And I thought Miss Kringle wanted to buy the land. How can we be certain that this isn’t a ploy for us to sabotage the land sale so she can buy it and develop it herself?” Marty asked.
“A fair question,” Holly answered. “Yes, my family wants to buy the land, but our goal is to preserve and protect the forest. Not exploit it.”
“How do we know we can trust her, Ivar?” Tess asked.
“Because I trust her, and you know how much the forest means to me,” Ivar replied. The room fell silent once again.
“That’s good enough for me,” Liv said.
“Then that’s good enough for us too,” Tess said with only a hint of reluctance. “Perhaps if we had more details.”
“The Hales think they are going to get resistance from the town,” Ivar began. “So, let’s do the opposite. Let’s be kind and welcoming. Starting with the Christmas Carnival. We’ll make them grand marshals.”
“Aren’t grand marshals for parades?” Marty asked.
“You know what I mean.”
“By being involved, they become part of the town,” Holly said. “We’ll have them judge some of the events, so that they’re not observers; they’re participants. The town will begin to mean something to them, and they’ll care about what happens to it.”
Liv looked thoughtful. “That’s clever. They’d have to mingle, talk to people, get to know us.”
“And,” Holly said, “it’s public enough to make them feel honored, especially Chad. He struck me as the kind of person who would enjoy that.”
Ivar added, “Neither child had a hometown growing up. If they feel like they belong here–”
“—they might want to protect it,” Holly finished, their eyes meeting briefly.
There was a beat of silence, then Liv nodded. “I’ll draft the official invite. Emma, can you bake something that says ‘Welcome to Winterwood’—but with sprinkles?”
Emma beamed. “Sprinkles are my love language.”
“Done,” Liv said. “Let’s turn this Christmas Carnival into a charm offensive.”