DID YOU KNOW?
Pleasant Sands’ newspaper, the PS NEWS, started in 1974 as a four-page bimonthly paper. Now it is a daily paper and also offers an online subscription, along with coupons on Sunday.
Vonda had come through with the Sunday ad and it was so beautiful it had made Angela cry.
The ad had worked. That day the store was so busy, there were times when people were waiting outside for it to empty enough for them to get in. At one point, Angela was worried the fire marshal might be called in.
At the end of the day, Emma counted the till and handed Angela the numbers.
“Wow.” Angela sat staring at the register tape. “I didn’t trust the tape. I thought for sure we’d overrung something.” No mistake. It was a whopper of a sales day.
One day at 50 percent off and she had the best sales of the year.
Emma leaned across the table and high-fived her.
Angela heard a familiar knock at the front door of the store. Emma looked surprised. “That’s my sister’s knock.” She jogged from her desk to go open it.
“Surprise!” Marie and Chrissy yelled.
“You two! What are y’all up to?” Angela held the door open for them.
Chrissy skipped inside carrying a tin. “We brought treats.”
Marie held up the old Heritage Plaid–patterned jug that Momma Grace used to fill with hot chocolate when they were kids. “Hot chocolate.”
Emma rounded the corner.
“Enough for all of us,” Marie added.
“I’ll get the cups,” Emma said.
“Can you believe this?” Angela said. “It looks like we’ve been robbed.”
Emma chimed in, “We had the best sales day of the whole year today.”
“That’s great news.” But Marie looked worried.
“It’s okay. I know this isn’t sustainable. We’re still closing,” Angela said. “I’m barely breaking even on some of this merchandise.”
Marie winced. “Some of that stuff has been on the same shelf for six years.”
“You’re right,” Angela agreed. “Longer than that. Some of this inventory is from when Great-grandma was still alive.”
“Well, it’s moving now,” Emma announced. “Customers are splurging big-time. It seems like the most expensive stuff is what we sold the most of today.”
“That’s great news.”
“It is.” Angela was relieved that there was at least hope that she’d move most of the inventory before Christmas Eve. The more she could liquidate and turn into cash, the better off she’d be.
Emma hugged Angela. “I’m glad it was a good day. I’m going to head out if you don’t need me for anything else.”
“We’re good here.”
“Bye, Marie and Chrissy. Merry Christmas.” Emma laughed. “Marie. Chrissy. I never noticed that before. Marie Chrissy. That kind of sounds like ‘Merry Christmas’! How fun.” Emma breezed out of the office, and a moment later the heavy arched front door slammed shut.
“She’s taking closing the store very well,” Marie said.
Angela placed the checks and cash into the bank bag and zipped it up. “They all are. She’s going to go back to nursing school.”
“I had no idea she’d done that before.”
“Yeah. Her parents are going to help her out while she finishes up. Stephanie hasn’t said what she’s going to do, but Jeremy told me this morning that he’s thinking about going to Australia for six weeks to surf with his severance and then figure it out when he gets back.”
“Wow. That’s exciting.”
“It is. Everyone is landing on their feet.”
“You will too.”
“I hope so. I’m trying to just keep my eyes and heart open to whatever comes my way.”
Chrissy tugged on her mom’s arm, then whispered in her ear. “Sure,” Marie said to Chrissy. She pulled something out of her purse and handed it to Chrissy.
“This is for you, Aunt Angela.” Chrissy proudly marched it over to Angela and laid a picture on her desk.
Angela tilted the picture at an angle. The bright blue background had waxy smudges on it, and there was something with a lot of lines on it spreading diagonally across the page. Then it hit her. “Is this a picture of the Dear Santa app?”
“Yes!”
Santa’s sleigh and reindeer … with a Picasso flair. She reminded herself to never pick Chrissy for a Pictionary partner. “Thank you.”
“What’s this?” Angela pointed to a wild-haired thing sitting next to Santa. “Is that Santa’s elf?”
“No. That’s you and Santa riding together in his red sleigh.”
“Isn’t that fun. I hope I remember to bring a coat.”
Chrissy’s expression grew serious. “Yes, and earmuffs and gloves too.”
“I will. I promise.” Angela loved her niece. That kid had one great imagination. “Very good advice. Thank you.”
“Can I go make a snow castle in Snow Valley?”
“Sure. We’ll be out there in a couple of minutes.”
“Thanks!” She ran from the room.
“So you seem to be doing great. I was worried when you didn’t take my call today.”
Angela pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Sorry, I remember hearing it ring, but I was with a customer. I never even checked my messages.”
“That’s perfectly fine. I was just worried. I love you, sis. I do understand how much this has all meant to you. I just wanted you to know that I am here for you. I promise things are going to work out for you. I can just feel it.”
“Thanks, Marie.”
“You want your life to be full. And not just work. Love too.”
“That’s scarier than being without a job.”
“Don’t say that. Look at what I have with Brad. He’s amazing. You’ll find someone just like him.”
“What if I find someone like Dad? And he leaves me. That would be more than I could take.”
“Angela. Don’t think like that. The way he behaved was unacceptable. No question about that. He abandoned us, but I think he really flipped out when Mom died. He couldn’t take it.”
“I know. I don’t know why I brought that up.”
“Because you’re afraid. There’s change coming. That makes everything seem scarier.”
“It would be nice to have someone in my life. I envy what you and Brad have. And Chrissy. What a blessing she is.”
“Your life will be full. Brad and I are here for you.”
“Thank you.”
“So, Chrissy and I have a surprise for you too.”
“You mean besides the Santa Picasso?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go out to Snow Valley with her.” Angela led the way.
Marie walked into the snowy space. Chrissy was hard at work building a snowman. Sort of.
“Chrissy, let’s tell Aunt Angela about our surprise.”
Chrissy came running over to them. “I’m going on a field trip. You get to come!”
“Her school is having a field trip and it’s my turn to help chaperone,” Marie explained. “I want you to come with us. It’s not until they go back to school after Christmas vacation, but you have to come.”
“Sure. Why not? Where are we going?”
“The turtle rescue farm,” Chrissy exclaimed.
Angela spun toward Marie. “Are you kidding me?”
Marie grinned. “It’ll be fun.”
“I’m not going to work at a turtle farm.”
“I didn’t say you were. I just thought it was a great coincidence when Chrissy came home with the permission slip. Perfect timing. Maybe you’ll find your Prince Charming there.”
“Fine. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how things go. That’s still a while off.”
“Chrissy, get your things. We need to get home.”
Marie held the door open as they all three went back inside.
“Bye, Aunt Angela!”
Marie gave her a hug. “Momma Grace would be proud of how you are handling this.” She walked out the door and took Chrissy’s hand, turning back to wave.
Angela waved, and then closed the door behind her.
She walked through the store. The place was a mess. Bare spots marked where the merchandise had once sat. Lots of empty spots.
Only ten more shopping days.
It was hard to believe how much merchandise they’d sold today. At this rate, the store would be darn near empty by Christmas Eve. Maybe even sooner.
All that would be left would be the lighthouse. To leave it empty would be a shame, but what could she do here?
What was it that Santa had said? Well, the guy formerly known as Santa. He’d said she needed to solve a problem. What did the people of Pleasant Sands lack?
Were there any underserved areas in the business profile of her little town? There were plenty of accommodations, restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. Fishing tours did well year-round. They’d just got the new gym, and that even had spa-related services.
Where did she fit in?
That question made her stomach queasy.
She walked through the store filling in the empty spots where items had been sold with things from the top and bottom shelves, then turning off the twinkle lights on each display. Suddenly the store looked neater and ready for business again.
It was hard to imagine the place any other way.
She grabbed her laptop and started searching the internet for repurposed lighthouses. Some were homes; others had been transformed into bed-and-breakfasts, only she wasn’t so sure that was the kind of business she wanted to run. Then again, at the prices some of these were charging she could hire an innkeeper.
But did Pleasant Sands really need another place for tourists to stay? She’d be putting herself in direct competition with people she’d known her whole life.
An alert flashed on her screen. She had a new email.
She smiled as soon as she saw who the most recent email was from.
Dear A—
I’m quite impressed. That’s not an easy decision. See. You are brave. I knew you were.
I’m in the middle of a project but as soon as I get things sorted out, would you like to meet for a toast to new beginnings? I’d love to celebrate with you. You said Pleasant Sands is lovely. I hear there’s a wonderful Tree Lighting on Christmas Eve. Maybe I’ll see you there. I’m easy to spot with the red fur-trimmed stocking cap with the sprig of holly on the side.
Maybe we’ll even collect shells together as we walk along the beach.
Talk to you soon,
Formerly Santa
Meet?
Her heart did a giddy-up. Celebrating sounded exciting, but goodness knows what they’d be celebrating.
I’m losing my business. Hardly something to celebrate.
She’d have to really think about this meeting, and that made her nervous. Her palms were sweating at just the thought. Rather than deal with that she went back to her research. There were several lighthouses that had tours. And if she gave lighthouse tours and acted as the docent she could restrict that to Memorial Day through Labor Day.
She had no idea how much it would cost to keep the lighthouse open without all the hoopla and expense from the holiday lights. They’d been a staple forever. But certainly it would be less expensive without all of that going every day.
She quickly worked up a budget to see what the bare bones would be just to break even on the lighthouse and her own bills.
It wasn’t really that much.
Plus she had enough savings to last her a year. A whole year. There was something very comforting about that. Plus liquidating the inventory would provide her with even more of a nest egg.
Tours were always an option, but how many people would want to tour the lighthouse? Especially when there were so many more interesting things to do in Pleasant Sands. It wasn’t haunted, and there was no hugely enthralling story tied to it. Didn’t even have any historical rescues to speak of, compared to the lighthouses she was reading about online.
There had to be a better solution. All she needed was one good idea.