Page 46 of Carry Me Through Christmas

“Of course, Mr. Windfall, that sounds perfect. I appreciate the generosity of the buffer,” I heard myself saying. Wow, my autopilot mouth was good.

“Very well, son. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to having you as part of the team.”

“Thank you, sir. Same to you and yours.”

I hung up the phone and took in my sparsely decorated bedroom, that suddenly seemed to have lost the brightness Blaire left in it just an hour or so ago. This was what I wanted all along. This is what I had been working toward. Holly Ridge had been run into the ground by their City Council, and it wasn’t Blaire’s fault she couldn’t save them. I would go to the state capital and start over there. Maybe Blaire would want to come along and work on state initiatives in the special events office. But if not, we had only been doing whatever it was we were doing for a whole five days now. It would be unfortunate to leave her behind, but it would be worth it for the pursuit of my goals. That’s what mattered now. Holly Ridge was in the past and maybe Blaire Greene would need to stay there too.

Chapter 27

Blaire

Was it possible that just this morning I woke up in Cole’s bed, my legs tangled in his, watching his eyes do that sleepy-blink-awake thing, while a slow smile curled his lips when my face came into focus? That had to be a scene from someone else’s life, because right now, nothing in my life was anywhere near that good.

To say the final parade run through this afternoon had gone about as smoothly as a house full of fifteen people trying to catch an international flight that leaves in forty-five minutes would be putting it mildly.

Half of the high school marching band had come down with food poisoning from a chili-cook off fundraiser they held yesterday, so their Christmas carols left a little to be desired. Frosty’s winter wonderland float had somehow gotten wet and turned all the “snow” decorations yellow. The candy cane marshals couldn’t find their canes and the truck that was supposed to pull Santa’s sleigh got a flat tire mid-route. And, somehow, out of a 34th Street-fueled nightmare, Santa himself was hungover and had to lean over the edge of the sleigh to avoid adding his own chunky decorations to the scene, definitely scarring the dance class that was letting out of Lydia’s dance studio at that exact moment.

“All right, everyone!”

I addressed the crowd of parade participants gathered around the end of the parade route.

“That may not have been the best run-through in the world, but it definitely gives us room to create some parade magic this evening when it’s time for the real thing! Joe, try to find some fake snow spray over at the general store to turn Frosty’s snow white-ish again. Hopefully the dark night will help cover up the yellow hue as well. Marchers, maybe let’s pick one song to play up and down the parade route and really nail the thing. And for the love of Kris Kringle, can someone please get Santa a greasy sandwich, some coffee, and a water?”

I noted that my voice got higher and the speech faster with each suggestion I rattled off. I took a deep breath and put what I hoped was a reassuring smile on my face.

“Okay, everyone, thanks so much for joining in the parade. I’ll see you back at the starting point in two hours.”

After addressing some more individual concerns from the participants, locating some large plastic candy canes in the bushes surrounding the gazebo and checking to be sure the cars that had been still parked along the parade route during rehearsal had all moved out of the way, it was forty-five minutes to the parade kick off. Holly Ridgeians and out-of-towners alike were lining the streets, bundled up against the evening cold, some having brought blankets to tuck around their legs while seated in their camping chairs and on the curb.

Everything has gone so smoothly up to this point, Blaire. There’s always going to be one hiccup in a festival. Hopefully, this is Holly Ridge’s, I thought to myself, now that I finally had time to breathe. I searched the crowd for Cole’s broad-shouldered figure while checking my phone to see if I missed a text from him. This morning he mentioned he had a few things to do during the day but would be sure to come over in time for the parade kick off. I found myself wanting to find him in the crowd, seeking his steady and calming presence to soothe the jitteriness I felt after such a rough afternoon. Somehow, I knew he would make me feel better, even if he couldn’t give me the hug I was so deeply craved while we were out in public.

My eyes traveled over the crowd, but I didn’t see that familiar head of brown hair and sparkling brown eyes behind glasses and my phone hadn’t suddenly displayed any messages, so I decided to run up to the studio above Jitters for an extra pair of gloves before I got sucked back into any festival prep. If Susie saw me through the window heading up the stairs and waved me in for a Peppermint Mocha on my way back down, well, that definitely wouldn’t make me feel worse.

I rounded the corner to the alley next to Jitters and suddenly jumped back to the front of the building. Two people were sitting on the staircase leading up to the apartment—Cole and Tanya.

Shit. What is Tanya doing here tonight? I hope she wasn’t around for any part of that rehearsal. And why is she talking to Cole?

I could hear their voices rumbling, so apparently they hadn’t spotted me before I darted out of sight. Gloves completely forgotten, I peeked around the corner, using the crack between the wall and a very conveniently placed drainpipe to take a closer look. Tanya had her phone out and appeared to be recording their conversation. Poking my head around the corner allowed me to just make out their conversation, the noise from the street behind me almost loud enough that it would drown out their voices if the wind changed direction.

“Thanks, Cole, this has all been really helpful. So, for one last question, on the record, do you think the Christmas festival is going to save Holly Ridge?”

Cole paused, a pained look on his face I had never seen before taking over his features.

“As a financial guy, I understand why the state did what it did. Holly Ridge was in trouble and needed some intervention. They have the best interests of the fiscal health of the area and the state in mind. As a citizen experiencing the Christmas festival with new eyes and a new perspective after growing up in the area? I think it was a huge burden to take on, and if nothing else, the former mayor’s daughter gave her town one hell of a festival to hang their hats on if it should be the last one. Blaire Greene—”

The fire station siren went off at that moment, signaling that there were only fifteen minutes until the parade started, and also drowning out the rest of Cole’s statement. I think I had heard enough though. It sure didn’t seem like Cole believed I could do this, and I absolutely hated the term “former mayor’s daughter” coming out of his mouth. Yet, I was still frozen in place and once the whistle stopped, I heard Tanya ask, “And off the record?”

Cole sighed. “Off the record? It’s not going to happen. The money brought in so far doesn’t indicate that Holly Ridge is going to earn what they need to keep the town charter in to next year.”

At this moment, a cacophony of jingle bells went off behind me, causing me to jump and turn around. Phil was handing out the jingle bells we had ordered to help kids in attendance at the parade welcome Santa down the street and had just reached the Jitters’ block. Of course, the kids weren’t going to wait until they could see Santa to give their bells a test run.

I couldn’t believe it. When had Cole found out the money wasn’t going to be enough? Why was he telling Tanya, but not me? Him not believing in me made a bit more sense now, because it seemed like I had failed. I wasn’t in charge of sending the official reporting to the state capitol, that responsibility was with the City Council’s office, but I was providing those numbers to the council and thought that we were doing really well—better than the projections we had set out that would have us meet our goal.

The continued jingling from the bells finally saturated my brain, and I realized where I was. Money threshold met or not, there were a ton of people here waiting for a parade. I started jogging up the sidewalk, dodging parents carrying toddlers on their shoulders and teenagers trying to look like they were too cool for a Christmas parade. My meltdown would have to wait until later. It was time to have a parade.

Cole

It felt good to get the news off my chest that it didn’t look like the festival was going to bring in enough money to save Holly Ridge. Tanya had become something of a colleague after our initial meeting over the summer, calling me the day after our lunch and walk around the town square to apologize for her behavior. It turns out that Christmas was somewhat of a sore spot for her as well, and she had lost control of herself that day. She asked me about financial implications related to her different articles and focuses, anonymously and off the record, so I knew I could trust her to keep the news between us. I strongly suggested she come back to Holly Ridge during the festival to follow-up with her article from over the summer during one of our e-mail exchanges and I was happy to see she had taken the hint.

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