Chapter 20 Tate
tate
The following day was utter madness.
I had two artists pull out last minute and I scrambled to call down my list of backup people. At the same time I had to drag out my electrician for the fourth time to add onto our breaker box because our light show needed the power of a small fucking city by the time Andre was done with his design.
It was awesome, but holy shit he was killing me.
“Tate?” Valerie ducked her head into the trailer, her iPad in hand.
“Please don’t tell me another vendor called looking for me?”
“No. The electrician is here as well as the mayor. She would like a tour.”
“Crap.” I gave her a cajoling smile. “Do you think you could show the mayor around? You’re our social media maven.”
“I would, but she asked for you specifically. She brought the Haven Chronicle press with her.”
Fuck me.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew keeping the mayor happy was the only way to keep my life stress free, but man, I did not have time for this.
I followed Valerie back out to newly paved walking path.
I’d sacrificed a stretch of the front pasture for parking, and they’d just painted the lines for cars and trucks as well as larger areas at the back of the paved area for buses.
I was determined to make the Haven Winter Wonderland accessible to as many people as possible.
Mayor Candice Walsh was camera ready, her winter white hair swept back from her scarily unlined face.
She wore a smart suit in power red with an icy white blouse that matched her hair perfectly.
The junior reporter was clipping a microphone to her lapel as Mitchell Barton, the owner of the Chronicle, smiled indulgently at the mayor.
They had a long-standing rivalry that sometimes ended up with a visit to a hotel at the edge of town for them to blow off steam. I didn’t really want to think about it, but since I’d bought the hotel to refurbish it, I’d been the unfortunate witness to one of their steamy encounters.
I’d handed off the hotel remodel to someone much more qualified instead.
I did not need to know those kind of secrets in Haven, thank you very much.
Before I could get across the parking lot to meet them, the mayor spotted Amber sneaking out of my house.
Shit.
Her head was on a swivel as Amber met my gaze. Mitchell followed her gaze and his shoulders went back.
“Miss Dalton, do you have a moment?”
Amber froze, her hand on the gate. “I, uh...” She met my gaze with an apologetic smile.
She tucked her hair behind her ear as she crossed the driveway between my home and the entryway to the Wonderland.
“I always have time for you, Mitchell.” She held out her hand to him, then to Candice.
“Mayor Walsh, so nice to see you again.”
“It’s been too long, Amber.”
“The last few years have been very busy.”
“Not too busy to have a new romance?”
Amber’s cheeks pinked. “Yes, well, it was a new development.” She gave me a wide-eyed look as if asking for help.
I moved next to her and laid a proprietary hand on her lower back. I don’t think that was exactly what she was looking for, but she didn’t try to move away from me.
“So, does that mean you’ll be at the opening of the Haven Winter Wonderland?” Mitchell pressed.
“Of course.” She smiled up at me. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’m very proud of Tate and what he’s created here.”
“Does that mean you’ll be performing?” The mayor asked with a bit too much guile.
“No. I wouldn’t want to take away from where the attention should be—the artists.”
“But it would bring people.”
I resisted the urge to drag her in closer. “I’m involved with Amber, not Ambrose. She’ll be here as my girlfriend not a PR stunt, Madam Mayor.”
Amber stiffened at my side and glanced up at me.
“Tate, that’s not what I meant, and you know it.” The mayor sniffed.
“Does this mean you’ll be sticking around for a while this time, Amber?” Michell asked, smoothly changing the subject.
“It’s good to be home, let’s just say that.” She slipped away from me. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I have a friend heading up to meet me.” She went onto her toes and kissed my cheek. “Careful, those two will eat you alive,” she said under her breath.
She crossed the driveway, an extra swing in her walk that nearly made me growl.
Then she started running when a black monster of a Jeep drove up the road between our houses.
She opened the door and I could hear her laughter from where we were before she climbed in and the engine revved before turning back around.
The woman behind the wheel was as startlingly beautiful as Amber, but she was everything dark to Amber’s light. From the ink color of her hair to the wing of her exotic eyes. She gave me a sassy wink and threw her head back in a wicked laugh before the Jeep headed back into town.
I turned back to Mitchell and Candice.
Mitchell’s shrewd eyes were narrowed as he watched the Jeep drive away. “She looks familiar.”
I wasn’t stepping in that landmine. “Let me show you around. Our artists would love a shout-out in the paper as well.”
Mitchell nodded, his genial smile back in place. “Of course. We can do that.”
If they were going to disrupt my day, I would be getting something out of this. “We aren’t quite ready for show and tell, but if you’ll forgive the areas that aren’t quite ready I’d be happy to show you around.”
“That’s what we’re here for.”
The junior reporter was snapping pictures as we climbed the walk to the smaller sign inside the village.
A pair of Christmas trees flanked the archway.
They were large and decorated in cool white twinkle lights that cycled through a soft glow.
Welcome to Wonderland was hand-painted by one of the first artists to sign on with me.
“Phoebe Valentine made our signs for the village. She’s a muralist by trade, but does very cool signs in between her bigger projects.
” I pointed at the playful blue and white arrows pointing to the various destinations in the village.
“She even made us a font that I trademarked for us. I made sure to use as many local businesses in the creative aspects of Haven Winter Wonderland. Her brother has helped Valerie, our social media coordinator, to create a fun website which will have a list of artists and their schedules with us.”
I held a hand out for them to walk ahead of me.
“We’ll head out to North Star Lane which is the main street for all the vendors. We have a mix of three different size retail spaces for all kinds of artists. We’re doing everything from the entire season to two week rentals.”
Nerves sprang and coiled in my belly. I’d been working on this for over a year and now it was finally coming together.
Mitchell scanned the winding lane. “Twenty-five is it?”
I nodded. “We have twenty-three retail spaces right now and two will be for food and refreshments. We’re having a few guest food and beverage trucks as well on the busy weekends.”
“Impressive.” The mayor’s calculating gaze skimmed over the well-made sheds. “This will be bringing a lot of people here, Tate.”
“That’s the plan.”
“I wasn’t sure when you brought this wild project to me at the town hall. I didn’t even know how to create a permit for this place.” She slowly turned around. “It’s far exceeded my expectations. I was expecting little wooden structures like Mark Whimsey’s Christmas Village.”
I laughed. That place had been around since I was a child. “I should be offended.”
She chuckled. “Well, you are the creative one; I am more about spreadsheets and ledgers.”
“Well, I’m hoping the ledgers will come along as we see how the season shakes out.”
I took them around the trail to the larger, office-sized shed that I’d ordered to use for refreshments.
“This is Reindeer Run. It’ll be a stopgap for the Haven Wonderland of Lights which will leave from here and travel around the back pasture.”
“I don’t see any lights.”
“They’re behind that large backdrop. I bought and repurposed one from an old studio—”
“Is that also Phoebe’s work?” Mitchell asked as he pointed at his assistant to take photos.
“Yes.”
“You’ve definitely put a lot of thought and money into this, Tate.”
“I have. And this final retail space will be a tease of all the stores that are in Haven proper. I’ve commissioned all the stores to have a table.”
“Commissioned? Not rented?”
I shook my head. “Haven is my home. I want our storefronts to succeed. The Wonderland space is to bring new people in, but I won’t be forgetting my roots. I want to push the foot traffic into the town as well.”
Mitchell’s eyebrows rose and glanced at his junior reporter. “Did you get all that?”
“Yes, sir.” The kid pointed to the mic that the mayor was wearing.
“Well, Tate, you’ll be making the front page of the Chronicle.” He held his hand out to me.
“I appreciate that.”
“Very impressive, indeed.” Mitchell wandered away, his hands linked behind his back as he looked around on his own.
The coils in my belly calmed. “What else can I show you, Mayor?”
“I’d like to see the lights back there.”
“You can see that on opening night at eight o’clock.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Is that right?”
I grinned. “We’ve been working on that surprise for weeks. No one sees it until it’s perfect.”
Well, I planned to show Amber the night before, but Candice didn’t need to know that.
I still had to have a few secrets.