Page 15 of A Kiss at Christmas
“Now, we have a little contest to get you all in theChristmasspirit.Thereare two parts to this—individual activities and group activities.”Grahamswitched to a new slide, and a little bobble-headedMeritdanced onto the top of the screen, with a list of activities below him. “Now, during your time here, you can do any of these activities, and each one will earn you one point.Allyou have to do is send a picture of you doing the activity toMeritand me.”
Twophone numbers came up on the screen, andGrahampaused while they all pulled out their phones and entered them in.Kellicouldn’t believe thatMeritandGrahamwere giving them their personal cell phone numbers.Shewas putting theCEO’sand theCTO’sphone numbers into her phone!
“Feelfree to take a picture of this slide if you’d like, but just know that all of these activities, along with where to go to do them, are posted on that wall over there.Now,Meritis going to talk about the group activities.”
Grahamchanged the slide asMeritstood, and this time, all twelve of their bobble-heads danced their way to the top of the screen, to the sounds of people shouting things like “Yay!Myfavorite!” and “Ican’t wait!” along with a lot of clapping.
“Iwould like to introduce you all toEliseStevens.”Meritmotioned to the woman who had been sitting next to him, with a look of utter adoration on his face.Likeshe was his world, and everything shone brighter with her in it.AndEliselooked back atMeritlike she had discovered the secret to happiness when she had met him.
Thewoman was probably a couple of years younger thanKelli, yet she had already found a love like that.Someday,Kelliwas going to find a man who would look at her that way when he introduced her to people.Andshe was going to look at him the same wayElisewas looking atMerit.
“Eliseis the activities director for theRoyalPalmResort, and the reason why this resort is so popular atChristmastime.”
Eliseblushed, which madeKellismile.Andthen, for some stupid-crazy reason,Kellifound her eyes darting toParker.Shehad to remind herself that she was in no position to date right now.Andespecially not if that date wasParker.Thetwo of them had already tested those waters, so they already knew they’d sink.Shedidn’t want to dateanyonein her building again, actually.Itmade for too much awkwardness.
“Bedown here for breakfast every morning at nine,”Meritcontinued. “Forthose of you counting, yes, that’s sevenDenvertime.Don’tworry—we’ll make the meal worth your while.Andthat’s whenElisewill talk about the itinerary for the day, including the group activities.You’llwant to join in on them because they’ll be worth two points each.Graham, want to tell them what their points will buy?”
Grahamstood again, a grin spread across his face. “Doyou remember that work satisfaction survey that went out to random employees via email a week or so ago?Yeah, that only went out to the twelve of you.Andthe question we were most looking for your answers to was the one that read, ‘Whatkind of non-monetary reward would most motivate you?’
“Sowe took your answers and came up with a prize package.We’rehoping there’s at least one thing on this list that will make each of you want to earn as many points as possible so that you can win it.”
Grahamchanged to a new slide, and a little game show host walked onto the screen, motioning big with her arms at one of three wrapped presents. “Thefirst prize we are offering is,” he dragged out the word, then the present burst open, “three bonus vacation days, to be used whenever you’d like over the next year.”
Therewere lots of “Ooh!”s and “Wow!”s from the group, but that prize didn’t really interestKelli.Sheglanced atParkerand saw that he didn’t seem particularly interested, either.
“Andthe next prize is...”Thegame show host moved and then motioned big at the second of the three prizes on the screen.Itburst open andGrahamsaid, “Afree catered lunch for everyone on your team, delivered once a week every week for a full year!”
Kelli’seyes went wide.Sheinstantly wanted this prize, and she wanted it badly.Sheimagined how much everyone on her team would enjoy it.Howmuch all their faces would light up each week when it came.Howvaluable it would make her to the team, and how much she would enjoy being the one who won it for them.Howmuch of a great bonding thing it would be for everyone on her team.Withthat kind of experience every week, her team would be unstoppable.
Shecould feelParker’seyes on her, so she glanced over at him and saw a look of curious interest—but only until she looked.Hequickly dropped the expression and turned his attention to theTVagain.
“Andfor the last prize.”Thelittle characterVannaWhite-ed the last gift, and it burst open. “Thebest parking spot at your building for a full year!Wepolled a bunch of people at each building to find out which was the most coveted spot.”Thenhe read the list of buildings and the parking spot they were giving away at each one. “Andfor buildingC—so marketing, sales, and accounting—spotC-seven.”
Kelligasped and her eyes immediately foundParker’s, and they stared at each other.Kellihadn’t looked at him whenGrahammentioned the second prize, but based on the expression on his face right now, even if he hadn’t been interested in the lunch, he was definitely interested in the parking space.
Thecompetition was on, andKelliintended to win it.
“Itlooks like we’ve got you interested,”Meritsaid, chuckling. “You’llsee that right next to the list of individual activities on that wall, there’s a bar chart with each of your names, and we’ll update it with the number of points you currently have as soon as you report them.Andjust to the right of that, we’ll have the daily group activity posted.”
“Andthis won’t stop onChristmasDay,”Grahamadded. “Wearen’t a fan of the let-down you feel when all celebration stops the momentChristmasis over.We’llbe celebrating up until the morning of the twenty-eighth, which is when the retreat ends.
“Atthat point, you are welcome to fly back home or you can stay here untilNewYear’sDay.Wewon’t be doing the retreat for the extra days, so you’ll be on your own for most things, but we’ll still have the mansion.Soyou can keep your room and take advantage of allTheRoyalPalmhas to offer.Justlet us know in the next few days which day you’d like to fly home.”
Kelli’seyebrows rose.Shehadn’t expected at all that they might offer more days.Herdad was going to be returning from his trip on the 29th, and she kind of wanted to be home when he arrived.
Meritnodded. “I’llbe here untilNewYear’sDay, butGrahamis going to head home onMondayfor a familyChristmasparty.He’llbe back in time for ourChristmasEvecelebrations, and when he comes back, he’ll have his wife,Tessa, and his little baby,Hope, with him.”
“Whojust happens to be the cutest baby in the universe!”Grahamadded, which madeKellismile.
Grahamswitched to a new slide, one withSantasneaking into a room. “Weare doingSecretSantas, too, andMerit’sassistant,Carla, randomly chose a name for each of you.Whenyou get to your room, you’ll find an envelope on your nightstand with the name of the person you’ll be aSecretSantafor.Throughoutyour time here, try to get to know that person, and then get a small gift for them to open onChristmasmorning.”
“Yourluggage is already in your rooms,”Meritsaid, “which are on the two floors above us, and your room assignments are posted on the same wall over there with the points.Thetheater and the exercise room are downstairs.Butbefore we let you go up and get settled, we have our first group activity!”
Elise, the womanMerithad introduced as the resort’s activities director, stood for the first time. “Wehave a tree that needs decorating, but there are no decorations because you all are going to be the ones to make them.”
Alltwelve of them looked at each other as if any of them understood what the plan was.
“We’vegot some supplies set up on the table back there,”Elisesaid.
