Lisa stepped outside to get some air.
Watching Kevin leave the store with that far-off lost look on his face weighed on her. That and the sound of Ezra’s voice as he recounted the visit with Nancy Redinger and her not placing an offer. And what was the common denominator between those things?
Me.
She should’ve told Kevin sooner. It was too late now. It didn’t matter that her intentions had been good. And she shouldn’t have promised Ezra she could pull off such a big job in that time frame. This wasn’t her first rodeo. Customers got anxious and jumped the gun. It happened all the time on real jobs.
She’d let herself become so focused on her goals and desires that she didn’t look at the full effect on everyone around her. Something she’d always said she wouldn’t do.
Lisa took her phone out of her pocket and called her lifeline. Oliver. Through thick and thin, Oliver was always there.
Huddled outside of the Kringle Kitchen in the snow, she waited for him to answer. “Are you busy?”
“Never too busy for you,” he said. “What’s up?”
She could barely hear him. She wasn’t sure if it was the rush of the windy snow on her end or just a bad connection. “It’s noisy. Where are you?”
“On a train,” he said, not offering any other explanation.
A train? He was probably joking around. Like always. “Alrighty then. If you’ve got a minute I need your ear.”
“I’ve got all the minutes you need.”
She told him about the project staging Daisy’s Country Store to help sell it, the potential buyer not biting, and pretty much everything except what was really bothering her. “And I just…maybe it was too big a job for the time I had, but Kevin and I really wanted it to work. And now—”
“Now you’ll think of something, because you always do,” Oliver reassured her. “So. Cut to the chase and tell me more about this guy you clearly have a crush on.”
Lisa stopped mid-stride, nervous energy making her laugh. She dug her free hand deeper into the pocket of her puffy coat.
“Oliver. I don’t think I have a cr…I do not have a crush. Okay? I mean maybe it’s…” She stopped pacing, and let out a breath. Do I? “No. I do. I do.”
She started pacing again. Partly to keep warm, and partly to help straighten out her thoughts. She always did her best thinking when she paced. At my age? A crush? Oh my gosh, it’s definitely a crush.
“Oliver, I shouldn’t have a crush. I don’t live here. He doesn’t even live here. I don’t even know if he likes me.”
“Have you asked him to do something?”
“Maybe it’s the season. I’m all caught up in the Christmas of everything.” She spun around and walked back.
“Lisa, just ask him to do something with you. Something not work-related. If he says yes, then he likes you. If he says no, he probably still likes you.”
“Thank you for that very confusing advice, Oliver.” She was so frustrated. “I just wish I knew what to do with the store.”
“Hang on,” Oliver said. “I’ve got a call… Oh, I should get this. It’s Polly.”
“Aww. Tell her I said hey.” A thought struck. “Wait a minute. Oliver? That’s it. You’re brilliant!”
“What? I mean, sure, but…what?”
“We need to tell Polly about Daisy’s Country Store. It’s perfect for her. The location is great, and it really has turned out so nice. We could use a lot of the same ideas we did in her Burlington store in this space. It would look amazing.”
“You’re right. She said she was going to open a few more stores. This could work for everyone. I’ll touch base with you later.”
“No! Call or text me right back. Tell her she has to see this store. It’s perfect for her. Plus, we’d have fun staging it for her here. You’d love Evergreen. They’re getting ready for the big Christmas Eve festival. It’s going to be spectacular.”
“Christmas Eve festival? Okay. Stand by.” Oliver disconnected the call. Lisa did a happy dance right there among the red and white tables on the sidewalk in front of the Kringle Kitchen.
She stole a peek inside at Ezra still talking to the others. His furrowed brows made an underline of the four creases in his forehead. If she could have just one more chance, she knew she could make something good happen for Daisy’s Country Store. She wanted this so badly.
Turning to face the store, Daisy’s already looked alive again. She crossed her fingers and checked her phone. Not that it was likely that she’d missed the call.
Call back, Oliver.
Time ticked by so slowly.
She silently prayed for help. Not even a miracle, just another shot at giving Daisy’s a second chance. Please.
Her phone didn’t even get a chance to complete the ring before she hit the button. “What did she say? Please tell me she said yes.”
Oliver’s voice was steady. “Lisa, don’t have a heart attack. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“With Polly? Is she coming to the store? Or do you mean just jobs in general? Oliver, tell me what she said!”
“Of course she said she’d come see Daisy’s,” he said. “No one ever turns me down.”
“That is so true. You’re right. You’re you, and you can paint a picture better than anyone I know. But tell me. What did you say? What did she say? I need details, man.”
“I told her everything that you said, and she said she can be there Christmas Eve.”
She let out a scream of joy. “Yes! Oh, Oliver. This is amazing. If you were here I’d kiss you on that smirking cheek. You’re smirking, aren’t you?”
“You know me.”
“I don’t even care. I’m glad you’re just that good. This is awesome. I have to go and run and tell the gang.”
“And Kevin,” he said with an accusatory tone that sounded like it should be followed by “K-I-SS-ING.”
“Yeah. Kevin. I can’t wait to tell him too, but right now there’s a group of people in the Chris Kringle Kitchen that are all going to be thrilled to hear that Polly’s coming to town. I’ll call you later. Thank you, Oliver. Thank you so much.”
“All I did was answer the phone.”
“Yeah, but you always do. Thanks for being the best friend ever.” She disconnected the call and ran inside the diner.
Inside the Kringle Kitchen, Ezra was still commiserating with his friends, while Carol freshened their hot chocolate.
As Lisa walked in Ezra ran a hand through his hair, trying to hold it together. “I appreciate how hard everyone tried to help, I really do, but it looks like we just don’t have the resources to—”
She raced to the table, throwing her hands in the air. “I think I just got us one more chance at a buyer.”
“What? How? Who?” Ezra’s chair screeched across the tile floor as he leapt to his feet.
“Well, first of all. Slow down,” she said to Ezra, trying to catch her breath. “Okay, my partner and I have this client named Polly, and Polly is looking to expand. So, we’ve convinced her to come to Evergreen during the Christmas Festival to look at the store.”
Excitement rose, and everyone started talking at once. Ezra’s face lit up. “That’s amazing. It’s great—”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Lisa said. “We still have a lot of work to do to impress this woman. I just wish we…” she closed her eyes and looked up, wishing on nonexistent daytime stars for answers. “Oh boy.” She tucked her hands into the back pockets of her jeans as she stood there thinking. She needed a miracle. Christmas magic. That’s it! “The snow globe.” Lisa locked eyes with Carol, then spun around. With everyone watching, she walked straight over to the front counter and lifted the snow globe off of its pedestal in its place of honor.
The wooden base felt smooth in her hands. It was still as heavy as she remembered from her childhood. Her heart raced.
This snow globe was known to grant wishes. No one really knew how it came to be in the Kringle Kitchen. Some people said that it literally just showed up one day. Lisa eyed the replica of the Evergreen Church sitting upon the snowy hill with tall evergreen trees on each side. She yearned to be part of that happy couple who rode in a horse-drawn carriage in front of it…but right now, her wish was for the store.
She closed her eyes, gently turned the snow globe over, and gave it a good shake. The snow swirled around the church as she squeezed her eyes tight and made a wish. “Please work.” She set snow globe back down and walked slowly back to the table, letting out the breath she’d been holding.
“What did you wish for?” David asked.
“Hold on a minute.” Thomas raised his hand. “I thought we weren’t supposed to tell our wishes.”
“That’s what people always say,” Joe said.
Carol laughed. “Usually just before they tell us what they wished for.” Carol turned to Lisa. “So, spill it.”
“I wished for a new idea. And by the way, why don’t people ever tell their wishes?” Lisa dropped her hands to her side. “I think that’s kind of silly. If it’s an important Christmas wish to you, I think you should just share it with people.”
Michelle seemed to agree. “That’s actually a good point.”
David said, “That is why we write to Santa.”
Lisa looked over at David. Oh, to be a kid again. “Yeah. It’s… Wait a minute. What?” An idea niggled at her brain. She pointed to David. “Say that again.”
“We tell Santa what we want? It’s why we write him letters?” David looked completely confused.
“That’s why we write him letters.” Lisa took the old letter out of her pocket and tapped it against her other hand. “That’s it. Kevin’s letter.” She tightened up, shaking the letter in the air. “That’s it!”
Not one of them—not Thomas, Michelle, Joe, Carol, David, Hannah, or Ezra—seemed to know what the heck she was trying to say.
“The letter is the key. We use this letter to sell the store.”
Hannah still looked dumbfounded. “Man. That snow globe works fast.”
Michelle tilted her head. “So, like the candlelight processional?”
“Yes! All of it. The candlelight processional. The carols. The bells.” Lisa’s hands were flailing around with each exciting word. “All of it. Everything that is in this letter, we use it. ‘Christmas like it used to be.’”
Ezra patted Hannah on the shoulder, nodding with interest. “It could work.”
Michelle shook her head. “That’s not going to be easy to pull off. Daisy kept some of the things going, but nobody did this like Ruth. And they did it with a lot more time to plan.”
“I know.” Lisa still held the letter between her hands. She was so excited that tears blurred her vision a bit. “I know that. But I still think we have to try. And we can show Polly what Evergreen is really made of.”
Lisa faced her new friends and held her hands out, face up. Closing her eyes, she said, “Please tell me you’re with me.”
It barely took a split second for all of them to raise their hands and shout in agreement. Everyone around the room seemed excited by the show of togetherness. A community pulling together. This was exactly why she loved small towns.
She raised her knee and both hands in the air. “Yes!”
The only person missing was Kevin. She wished she’d told him about the letter sooner. If she had, he’d have been here for this right now. She couldn’t imagine how it felt to have something so personal from the past brought up so publicly after this much time. She had her own struggles with her childhood disappointments, and they weren’t nearly as troubling as losing a parent.
Hopefully, he’d forgive her. And hopefully, he’d be excited that they might have a second chance to try to sell the place for Ezra and keep Daisy’s Country Store, or something very similar, alive in Evergreen.
The next morning, low fog hung over the town. Lisa headed to Daisy’s to take stock of what was done and what she had time to complete based on the new plan. She also needed to find Kevin and talk to him. And apologize again about the letter, too.
As she turned the corner into town square, she saw the familiar red truck parked in front of the store. Her hands tightened around her steering wheel.
She wasn’t sure what she was going to say to him. As she pulled in front of the Kringle Kitchen, and got out of her car, she rehearsed possible speeches. She looked both ways, then crossed the street toward Daisy’s.
To her surprise, Kevin was waiting outside with two coffee cups.
“Hey,” he said with that smile that made the sides of his eyes crinkle slightly.
The way that made her insides spin.
“Hey.” She made her way across the street.
Kevin lifted the cup in his left hand toward her. “Peppermint hot cocoa?”
Exactly how I like it. “Wow. You remembered.”
“Yeah.” He took her hand as she stepped over the mound of snow next to the sidewalk.
Her heart stammered as she took the cup from him. “Thank you. That’s very sweet of you.”
“I’m a very sweet guy.”
They took a seat on the red bench in front of the store. She crossed her legs and tried to settle down. It wasn’t going to be easy. So she dove right in.
“Listen, I just want to—”
“No, really, about yesterday. I’m sorry,” he said. “I left really abruptly.”
“No.” Lisa shook her head. “It’s not your fault.”
“I heard about your plan. Use the old traditions to sell the store.”
“Yeah?” Small towns were amazing like that. She was glad she wasn’t trying to keep a secret.
“Evergreen has a newspaper, but most of us get our news at the coffee cart in the morning.”
“Good, because I thought maybe you were a mind reader there for a second,” Lisa teased.
But Kevin looked serious. “I want to help,” he said.
“You do?”
“Yes. That’s how Christmas is supposed to be in Evergreen.”
Her heart filled with a warmth she’d never felt before. “Thank you.”
He lifted his cup. “Cheers?”
“Cheers.” She tapped her cup to his and took a sip.
Carol’s voice carried across the street. “There they are.” Carol crossed the square with Hannah awkwardly carrying Santa’s mailbox. “Hannah had an idea about the Letters to Santa mailbox.” Carol turned to Hannah. “Go.”
Hannah stepped up, excited. “We’ll continue the tradition and we’ll set it up right here on Main Street.”
“That’s brilliant,” Kevin said. Lisa liked the idea too, because the whole town would get to enjoy the old tradition now.
“And then once the store is up and running, we’ll put it back in the store.”
“I love it,” Lisa said. “That’s a great idea. And what about the choir and the caroling?”
“Don’t you worry about that,” Hannah assured her. “That’s my baby. We’re going to go set this up.” Hannah and Carol headed down the street.
“This is great,” Lisa said to Kevin. “I guess we should head on inside.”
He stopped her. “But first. There’s one more thing.” He stood and reached for her hand to help her up.
“Ohhh. What’s this? Mysterious.”
“You’re going to like this. Come on.” He took her hand and they walked down the block to the Evergreen Church. He held the door for her as they stepped inside.
“Thank you, sir.”
He led the way down to the basement.
What in the world does he want to show me down here? But when she reached the bottom step, she saw Henry standing near the bell mechanism with his toolbox at his side.
“Henry?” She walked over to Henry’s side below the bell tower. Looking up, she could see the bottom of four stationary bells, plus the three above those that were visible from outside. Seven in all.
“I told Dad what you’re trying to do. He agreed to come down and look at the bells again.”
He was right. She did like this. “Oh, Henry. Thank you so much.” She stepped closer, eyeing the complex set of gears that made up the clock and bell mechanisms.
Henry looked skeptical as he slipped on his glasses and looked closer at the green triangular mechanism. “Yeah. I’ll take a look, Kev. I’ve worked on these bells for years, and I don’t think we have all the parts.” He snatched his glasses back off.
Both of the Miller men were clearly invested in these bells. She looked up in the tower, where a light dusting of snow coated the top of the bells. If only she had some advice. She thought again about the phrasing of the letter.
“Yeah, but the letter said—”
Kevin grabbed her hand and shushed her.
“What was that?” Henry asked.
“Oh, um, nothing,” Lisa shrugged. She had no idea why Kevin didn’t want his dad to know about the letter, but that was his call. “I just…do the best you can, Henry.”
“If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.” Kevin slapped his dad on his back.
Lisa smiled at Kevin. He looked happy.
Henry looked at the bells again, not appearing overly confident. As they walked off, she turned around to see Henry smiling at his son.
She bounded out of the basement, buoyed at the possibility of the bells finally chiming again. With Kevin right behind her they went back over to Daisy’s.
“Thank you for asking your dad to look at the bells again.”
“Couldn’t hurt to try,” he said. “It would be so great if after all these years we could get them working again. I wish you remembered what it was like. It was so…I guess magical is the best way to describe it. The loud, clear sounds of those bells. All seven carry a slightly different tone. It’s musical. Heavenly.”
A slight chill ran up her arms. She didn’t remember the bells, but she hoped she’d get the chance to experience it herself this year.