Happier. Lighter.
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, darling,” she says, and I swear that I hear her sniffle, but she clears her throat and pulls back. “Goodness, enough of that. I’ll let you get back to it, and I’ll see you tonight, okay? Oh, and you may want to turn the heat up in here—it’s quite chilly. You’ll want to make sure all of our guests are nice and warm.”
“I’ve been so busy setting up I didn’t even notice. I’ll let them know to turn it up. See you tonight.” With a smile and a wave goodbye, she walks out of the door, leaving me alone.
I feel better, less nervous, after talking to Mom, and now I’m ready to get home, put on the most beautiful dress I’ve ever owned, and throw the best dang party that Strawberry Hollow has ever had. All with Jackson by my side.
After one last run-through, I leave the catering company to finish setting up, let the maintenance guys know to turn up the heat, then grab my bag and head out the door.
The moment I walk back across the threshold, I know something is very, very wrong.
It’s freezing.
It’s barely three o’clock in the afternoon, and I can see my breath… inside Town Hall.
Of course, I’m already completely dressed for tonight in my party dress and favorite Louboutins. I wanted to make sure I was ready and back here in case there were any last-minute issues, which clearly… there are.
“Has anyone seen Jackson?” I ask Gary, the maintenance and lawn guy for the city, as he passes by, a look of worry on his face.
Great, even Gary looks worried. Something is definitely wrong.
He doesn’t say anything but points toward the back room, where moments later, Jackson comes strolling out. I expected him to be dressed for the party, but instead, he’s got his signature worn jeans and a flannel on, and he’s covered in black dirt with a large wrench in his hand.
Oh God.
He looks irrationally hot right now, but I can’t even focus on that because I am now full-blown panicking.
“Please tell me that it’s just me and it isn’t actually this cold in here,” I tell him when he stops in front of me.
I can tell just by the expression on his face that that isn’t the case at all.
“I wish I could, Snowflake,” he says softly, gently, as if I’m a wounded animal about to flee. “Heating’s out. The furnace should’ve been replaced a damn decade ago. I tried but couldn’t fix it.”
Groaning, I drop my face to my hands, tears welling in my eyes. I knew things were going too smoothly. There was no possible way everything was going to go that great.
I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it did.
“Hey,” Jackson says as he sets the wrench down onto a nearby chair, tipping my chin up to look at him. “We’ll figure it out, Emma. It’s going to be okay.”
“Jackson, it is not going to be okay!” I sniffle as his thumb swipes along my cheek, brushing away the stray tear that has fallen. “God, I had this perfect plan. Every single detail planned out and even a plan B, although I was sure that I would never need it. Well, guess what I didn’t plan for? The venue not being usable. This is a disaster, and now the entire party is going to be ruined. We put so much hard work into making this place go from drab and dreary to a winter wonderland, and it’s ruined.”
I’m full-on crying now, and I know my makeup is probably smeared down my face at this point, but I’m so upset and disappointed.
“Fuck, I hate seeing you cry, Emma,” Jackson says. “Baby, I will fix this. Maybe not the furnace, but this party is far from ruined. We’re going to have the best damn party that Strawberry Hollow has ever seen.”
I want to laugh at how confident his words sound, but I’m too distraught at this point.
“What can we do? It’s not like we have a ton of spare buildings ready to host the entire town, Jackson. And the food? The decorations? The band?” My chest starts to feel tight when I start to think of all the moving pieces that I need to align for this damn party to happen.
His chest rises as he exhales, still holding me to him, and then he pulls back to look at me. “I’ve got an idea. You might hate it, but I think it’s the best one we’ve got, Snowflake.”
At this point, we’re going to have to take what we can get, or this party is not going to happen. And to save both of our reputations and records, there has to be a party.
“I’m listening.”
He nods, a serious expression on his handsome face. “We have the party at the barn on my parents’ property.”
“Jackson…” I say, my eyes wide as I start to shake my head.
“Just hear me out. It’s big enough for everyone, and we’ve got an extra-large hearth in there with plenty of firewood. We’ve got lights and electricity running to it already, so all we’d have to do is get everything moved over and then have Wayne and Mayor Davis spread the word that the location has changed. It’ll solve the problem.”
Pulling my lip between my teeth, I mull it over. I mean, it could work. But I think my parents are going to be extremely unhappy about it being on Pearce land, in the barn where they always host their annual party, instead of somewhere neutral like Town Hall.
It’s already enough that we’re getting our entire families together under one roof. But if we do this… it’ll be a Pearce roof. Hell, they might not even come at that point.
But what other option is there? The barn has everything we need to pull this off if we work quickly. We have absolutely no time to waste.
“Okay. Let’s do it,” I exhale, trying to rein in my rampant emotions. Logically, I know this is the best plan for everyone. “But how are we going to get everything over to the barn on such short notice? I mean… we have so much to do and so little time, Jackson. It’s seriously going to take some kind of Christmas miracle for us to actually be able to make this happen. My perfectly curated plan has fallen apart.”
This time, he chuckles, and I love the way his lip tugs up into a grin, momentarily taking my mind off the fact the entire party is falling apart around us. I wish we could just sneak away back to his house with Marley and Mo, and I could watch them running in the yard in their new sweaters. I decided next I’m going to knit them some adorable little booties for their paws so they don’t get cold when they’re running in the snow.
“Well, that’s why you’ve got me. We’re moving on to plan… C.”
“Was there a plan C until right now?”
“Nope.” He grins. “But if there’s anything I’ve learned since meeting you, it’s that we absolutely need a plan. Especially when it comes to things like this. So now… we’re going with plan C, and it’ll be amazing. I’m going to go make some calls, get my crew up here with the work trucks, get this loaded up, and move locations. I need to give my parents a heads-up too.”
I nod. “Okay, and I’ll talk with the caterer and the band and… call my parents, as well as Wayne and Mayor Davis. They can let all the residents know we’re moving, and then I’ll start packing up all of the decorations and table settings.”