Page 7 of Wish You Faith

His mind wasn’t sure what his heart was thinking.

“Regardless, you should consider working a privilege.” She grinned, and he finally noticed tiny dimples on both cheeks.

“So if I work here, who do I answer to?” Evan asked.

“Lorenzo and me.”

“Directly?”

“We’re a small team here. We just need to get the work done, meet the deadlines, make the customers happy, and repeat until the Christmas season is over. That’s all.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Is it?” She smiled.

He smiled.

Suddenly Evan couldn’t wait to float to the tree farm and be with his princess.

Was that too much to ask?

CHAPTERTWO

By invitation only, the masked ball at the Moss Tybee resort ballroom was the last place Rosie Hamilton wanted to be on a Saturday night. She’d rather read a book at home or watch a movie with Mom, whose Stage 4 cancer was in remission.

In other words, she was a homebody and not cut out for galas and balls and such gatherings. She was usually the first person to leave Christmas parties.

To attend the annual Moss Tybee ball, she usually had to rent a ballroom gown, but she had no money for that this year, having used up most of her savings for Mom’s treatment.

She couldn’t resort to last year’s gown because it had already been returned to her richer maternal cousin who lived in St. Mary’s, south of St. Simon’s Island.

Unfortunately for country mouse Rosie, none of her excuses worked. Her friend, Gwenna, a freelance designer with an MFA, offered to adjust a vintage gown for her. It was a pale peach color, not Rosie’s choice, but it was free, and she would parade it for Gwenna, who wanted to make a splash in the fashion industry.

The gaudy stone necklace that Gwenna wanted her to wear was too opulent for her. She took it off and left it in the car. She wanted to wear a crossbody bag, but it didn’t go with the gown.

She found a matching clutch purse to go with her Mary Jane platform heels. She had purchased both items this morning at a thrift shop for five dollars. She wondered if it was meant for cosplay or something, but it had a pearly peach color that matched the gown.

Overall, she felt like a mannequin in an obscure corner of a store.

The ballroom was large and looked like a dome of some sort. All around were Christmas trees from Christmastown. The wreaths were in place here and also in the hallway and all the way to the exit where Rosie had first entered the building.

She could have brought someone with her. However, Mom did not want to accompany her. Neither did Gwenna, who had a date night with her boyfriend.

Rosie came alone, and standing at the door, she realized that she had forgotten her mask. Where had she left it? In the car? All she could remember was removing her necklace.

She turned around and went back to the coat check counter and asked for her threadbare coat. The man was very kind to her, and she tipped him. She wasn’t sure if she should, but she felt that she needed to reward politeness. Five dollars was all the cash she had in her clutch purse.

She walked briskly down the hallway, flanked by lovely poinsettias on the floor along the wall and wreaths on the walls. She remembered working on those.

Thank You, Lord, that it all worked out.

Outside it had started to rain a little, and she didn’t have an umbrella. She stood there, wondering what to do and whether she could borrow an umbrella at the concierge. As the crowd grew, she stepped aside.

An umbrella appeared above her head. It was Christmas red.

“Waiting for someone?” the man in a mask asked her.

In her platform heels, she was eye to eye with him, but it was evening and she couldn’t recognize him. The voice was also not familiar to her. So, she decided not to reply at all.

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