Page 40 of Christmas Cove

The office door opened, and he stood, hoping to be called in next. Two women came out, jackets in hand, a briefcase with one, and a stack of yellow folders with the other. Because of their gleeful smiles, they must have had a pleasant encounter with the lawyer. A good sign.

Once the doorway had cleared, Leo poked his head around the corner and looked inside the office, but there was no one there.Strange, he thought, and went in. Two women had apparently just left a good meeting and there was no other door for the lawyer to have disappeared through.

Janice Masters’s office was nothing like the utilitarian waiting room space. Rich, dark wood bookshelves, spilling with volumes of law books, encyclopedias, and various non-fiction, lined the far wall. A large desk rivaling the one in the Oval Office sat dead center, and rich, red velvet curtains framed the north-facing windows. Leo admitted the space looked imposing, and his nerves tingled his shoulders.

“Can I help you?” a voice sounded from behind him in the doorway.

Leo spun around and saw one of the two women who he had just seen leave a moment earlier. As his mind caught up, he stuttered unintelligible sounds meant to be a greeting. “Are—sorry, I didn’t mean—I’m looking for a Janice Masters, are you?”

The woman, with her caramel skin and dark hair, reminded him of America, only with an unamused face that terrified him. He supposed a good lawyer should have a good poker face, and this one did!

“I’m Ms. Masters,” she said and hung her jacket on the coat tree in the corner. She came around the desk, cool as a cucumber, and sat in her leather chair. “And you are?”

“Really embarrassed,” Leo said.

This made her crack a smile, for only a second, but he had seen it, and knew he could charm his way through the meeting if necessary.

“I’ve been waiting to see you all morning,” Leo said and motioned to the chair across from her. “May I?” He didn’t wait for her to answer, knowing it would be harder to kick him out if he was seated. He ignored her minor protest and continued. “I got an email last night from you—”

“Oh,” she interrupted. “You’re the mayor from Christmas Cove.”

“You can call me Leo. And you can imagine the shock I’ve been in since last night.”

“Leo, I was plain in my email. I’m sorry you waited for hours to talk to me, but there’s nothing more I can do. It was a courtesy to inform you about the incorporation, nothing more,” Masters said while scribbling something on a legal pad.

“Just like that? There’s nothing we can do to save the town? I don’t understand why we got notice today. It’s only a week from now.”

“The law is clear, Leo. It is an automatic trigger and happens at the end of the year. You simply don’t have the requisite number of residents to stave off the incorporation.”

“I thought we had more time. Another year.” Leo ran his fingers through his hair while he considered a way forward. There was only one thing he thought could buy some time. “What about a full head count? On Christmas Eve, before the deadline, we gather the whole town and do a proper census. Are we allowed to do that?”

Ms. Masters sat back in her chair and tapped her pen against her lips as she thought about his question. She put a finger up to him and made her way to the bookshelves. A finger grazed across the spines and stopped on the one next to the last. Pulling out the book, she swiped pages to the left so fast, he couldn’t count them.

“Here,” she read the words for a moment and placed the book in front of him on the desk. “You, as Mayor, are allowed to appeal the decision and request a full count of the citizens of Christmas Cove. It looks like you have just over a week to assemble all legal residents inside your jurisdiction.”

“Hope,” he whispered and looked up at her. “I can’t lose my town. It means everything to me. We’ll have the numbers. Somehow. And Christmas Cove isn’t going anywhere.”

“I’ll arrange for the magistrate to be there on Christmas Eve, before midnight. I can’t promise you anything more than that.” Ms. Masters put her hand out to him, and he stood. “Best of luck,” she said.

“Thank you,” Leo said.

With renewed passion for what they were doing in town, he walked out of the building. Bringing back Christmas had just taken on a whole new layer, and he wasn’t going to be the bearer of unwelcome news and let the city down. He checked the time and hoped he wasn’t too late.

There was exactly one person he wanted to confide in. One person who had the imagination and determination to right the train before it fell off the tracks totally. And if he hurried across town, he might just catch America before she left the library.

CHAPTER22

This shouldn’t be toohard, America told herself as she pulled open the bakery’s front door. She hadn’t picked the particular establishment for any reason over another. It wasn’t even the first shop on the street. But, as her tummy rumbled, she guessed at the cause. The smell of apples and nutmeg drifted to her nose and beckoned her inside. Espresso and pumpkin spice infused the air, and her mouth watered. Patrons filled the place to the brim, and a line stretched the length of the counter where small cakes, cookies decorated with icing and red and green sprinkles, and miniature pies sat behind the glass case.

There was nothing in Christmas Cove that could compete with this shop. Her high hopes for jumpstarting the beleaguered Cove were now buried under a mountain of self-doubt. Had Leo been right? Was she in over her head?

“Hi there, hon,” a friendly face said from behind the counter. “I’ll be right with you.”

America nodded.It would be a shame to not delight in Elizabethtown’s Christmas offerings, she thought as she examined the menu.

“What’ll it be?” the same woman asked. Her bright blonde hair glittered in the light from the hundreds of mini lights that hung along the ceiling. Her rosy cheeks reminded her of Mrs. Claus, and America couldn’t help but like the woman.

“I’ll have an apple spice macchiato to go please,” America said.

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