Chapter 9
HOLLY
‘It’s chaos here today! Sorry about the smell of paint,’ Willow was saying to me as we climbed the stairs in the farmhouse later that morning.
She explained that her boyfriend Dylan was getting the farmhouse ready for his dad and brother to arrive for Christmas.
‘It’s not up to scratch, apparently,’ she said cheerfully, with a shrug.
‘I’ve only met his brother, Nate, once and it didn’t go well so I said to Dylan, you’ve invited them, you do what you need to do to make it go as smoothly as possible.
Hence why you and I need to work on the winter wonderland without him.
Here we are…’ She trailed off as she pushed open a room.
‘My cousin Daisy has this room whenever she stays here. She got married on the farm this summer; it was gorgeous. I hope you like it.’
I stepped in behind Willow and smiled as I looked around.
The room was a quintessential farmhouse bedroom with a floral bedspread and sloping roof.
It had an en-suite bathroom and was almost the same size of my apartment, which said a lot about the price of city living.
‘It’s lovely.’ I set my suitcase down and turned to Willow. ‘Where shall we start?’
‘Before Dylan started decorating, I got him to help bring the polytunnels we used for the pumpkin patch back out so they are ready in the field. Let me show you what we have to work with.’ Willow led the way, passing by another bedroom to gesture to her boyfriend, who was painting a wall cream.
He was tall, dark and handsome. He turned to give me a warm smile and wave.
‘You can meet properly at dinner; we have too much to do right now!’
‘You said you’d sold tickets already; it would be good to see what you’ve promised people who have booked,’ I said as I followed her back downstairs and outside again.
I was glad of my black wool coat and chunky boots as we hit the outside air.
It was dry thankfully but with a cold breeze and low, grey clouds that formed a fluffy blanket across what seemed like an endless sky.
There were no tall buildings or pollution to block it out.
The farmhouse perched on top of a slight hill and I could see acres of farmland all around us.
There was no noise out here. It felt like we were part of nature.
The city was part of another world to all this.
‘Come on, Maple.’ Willow whistled and her dog bounded out of the farmhouse behind us. We walked over to the side of the farm where a set of polytunnels stood in a field cleared of grass and trees: a blank canvas.
‘Oh, there’s my dad!’ She waved as an older man came around the side of the farmhouse carrying a basket. ‘Dad, come and see Holly. Do you remember her from school?’
Mr Connor came over. He was slightly stooped and stiff in his movements but I remembered his big smile and twinkling eyes.
He looked like Willow but with grey hair and lines that hadn’t been there when I was a teenager.
‘Holly, I was so happy when Willow said you’d agreed to come and help her while I’m away.
It was not a great time to win a cruise.
’ He winked as he held out a hand and gave mine a firm shake.
I laughed. ‘I would say I feel sorry for you, Mr Connor, but…’
Willow rolled her eyes. ‘I know, right? It’s all been a bit chaotic but I’m happy for you, Dad, you know that.
It’s a six-week cruise taking them through all the festivities.
He’s off with his lady friend who also happens to be our mayor – I’m not allowed to call Taylor his girlfriend, apparently – on Monday,’ she told me with a twinkle in her eyes just like her father’s.
‘Best raffle I ever entered. And call me Adam, please,’ he said to me. ‘I’ve collected the eggs; now I need to go into town to buy a new suit. We need to wear a suit for some of the dinners on the ship. I feel a bit nervous about how fancy it might be.’
‘It’ll be fun, Dad; you’ll have an amazing time.’
‘Just wish I didn’t feel like I’m leaving you in the lurch, love, what with Dylan and his family, the baby on the way and all this…’ He gestured to the field behind us. ‘I keep telling Willow she takes on too much on the farm.’
‘I just want it to be successful,’ Willow said quietly.
‘We will make it a success,’ I told her firmly, feeling the exact same way about my own business. I had the same fire in my belly.
‘Well, if you need me just shout,’ Adam said, giving Willow one last concerned look before heading to the farmhouse.
‘He signed the farm over to me and has to take things easy with his health but he gets frustrated that he can’t help as much as he’d like or used to,’ Willow explained once he was out of earshot.
‘Let me show you our website…’ She handed me her phone as we walked over to the polytunnels, which were securely fixed into the ground.
There were five of them interlinked like one big trail for people to walk through.
I looked down at her phone.
Birch Tree Farm Winter Wonderland
Opening 1 December – order your tickets now!
Christmas shopping, Christmas trees, Santa’s grotto, a festive light trail, ice rink and much more…
‘An ice rink?’ I asked with a sinking feeling now I’d seen what Willow had promised.
She looked sheepish. ‘I may have got carried away. Dylan always says I dream too big, but wouldn’t it be amazing? I thought I’d hire one.’
‘What have you organised so far?’ I asked, thinking furiously if I knew anyone who could find us an ice rink to hire at such short notice.
‘I’ve bought Christmas trees from a farm that’s not too far away.
Brian is an old friend of my dad’s and he wants to sell off his trees as he’s winding down to retirement so people will be able to buy them from us, and we can use some to decorate the wonderland too,’ she replied.
‘But I’ll be honest, that’s about it but I have done the budget with Dylan.
He made a spreadsheet,’ she added with a fond smile.
‘Okay, send that over to me so I can see what we have to play with.’
‘We’ve charged more than we do for our pumpkin patch to cover my ideas but obviously, we need to take your fee out of the profits made…
’ Willow took back her phone and emailed the spreadsheet to me so I looked at it on my phone.
She watched my expression anxiously. ‘Our Airbnb cottages are all booked for Christmas and they get free entry whenever they want to come into the winter wonderland and that seemed to be a big draw for them. And the tickets have sold faster than our other events so I know there is a market for it. But do you think I overpromised everyone? Can we deliver what I’ve advertised?
’ Willow chewed her lip. ‘Holly, your silence is killing me!’
‘Sorry.’ I looked up from my phone into her panicked face.
I may have struggled with nerves coming back to Birchbrook but in my business, I was calm, cool and collected.
Unlike my clients. They were allowed to be anxious but I had to reassure them.
This was a big task but if we could pull it off, it would be huge for both of us.
‘We just need to plan what we need to buy or hire, what we can do ourselves, and how we can make your money go as far as possible. It’ll be tight though and we’ll have to do a lot of the work ourselves to save money…
’ I trailed off, eyeing her growing baby bump.
‘I am never afraid of hard work and this baby isn’t going to stop me.
I might be slower than usual but I’m determined as hell.
I can’t fall flat on my face with this. It has to live up to expectations.
And then I’ll hire someone full-time to help me around here and I can stop taking on too much like everyone tells me I do.
’ She gave her bump a little pat as if it would help calm her.
‘Okay then,’ I said, relieved she wasn’t freaking out.
‘Let’s go back inside and make a list of what we want to do and how we can make it happen.
Then we can divide up some tasks. We’ll need to go shopping, contact suppliers, gather everything we need before we can start decorating and creating the experience so the sooner we do that, the better,’ I said, already walking back towards the farmhouse keen to get the ball rolling.
‘I want everyone to find it a magical Christmas experience,’ Willow said as she followed me. ‘Festive as…’ She floundered for the right word.
‘Festive as fuck,’ I couldn’t stop myself from suggesting.
She snorted. ‘Yes! We can’t put that on any marketing materials though, can we?’
I grinned. ‘I’m not sure Birchbrook could handle it. Let’s keep it wholesome, but that can be our motto as we work on it,’ I suggested.
‘Perfect.’
I liked Willow more and more, which made this a whole lot easier. I didn’t dare hope that everyone else in town would be like her, though. The one I wanted to warm up the most was Paul, whose reception had been decidedly frosty so far. When years ago, he’d been my favourite person in Birchbrook.