Katie caught the stumble over Hannah’s words. That girl was more interested than she was letting on. From here, it was more than obvious. She watched Hannah trip over herself trying to deny it all the way to the steps, where Elliott stood smiling at her. This was adorable. “Sure. Let’s get me checked in.”
“Megan,” Hannah called up to the porch. “You have a guest. Who needs—you need to check her in.”
Katie wasn’t buying Hannah’s act that she was completely unaware of a little something between her and Elliott for one second. She followed her onto the porch, and before they got inside, all the lights in the garland and on the house came on at once.
Elliott stood there proudly with the cord in his hand, smiling.
Hannah lit up as bright as all of those lights. “Ahhh. It’s so pretty.”
His smile broad, he nodded, clearly pleased with himself.
Katie was pretty sure by the look on Elliott’s face that he was thinking something like, And so are you, Hannah.
Friends? Sure.
“Come in.” Megan opened the door.
Katie followed her inside.
Inside, the warmth from the brick fireplace in the living room washed over them. It felt so good after being in the cold damp air, and the room smelled good, too—like fresh-baked goods and Christmas. Tiny white lights blinked on the tree in the corner of the room, the light dancing off of dozens of clear glass ornaments. Fluffy white hydrangea and deep red poinsettias, almost the color of the exterior of the house, peeked from between the branches. Gorgeous golden ribbons swept in and out of the limbs from bottom to top in a flourish beneath a beautiful white feather-winged angel.
Megan pulled a card with Katie’s name on it from the card file on the desk. She handed her a barrel key on a ring in the shape of the sign out front.
Katie admired the old key. “How pretty.”
“Thank you. We’re so glad to have you here at Barbara’s Country Inn. You’re in the Holly room. It’s one of my favorites. I think you’ll be very comfortable in there. The light is wonderful in the afternoon. I’m Megan. My sister owns the place. Welcome again.”
“Nice to meet you,” Katie said. “I’m looking forward to my visit.”
“It wouldn’t be a B&B without breakfast. You’ll find everything you need to know about that on the desk in your room. If you’ll just leave the slip on your doorknob before you go to bed tonight, or bring it down and drop it off here anytime, we’ll take care of that. We host a gathering every night here at the inn with hors d’oeuvres and desserts. I call it Meet and Mingle, because it’s not just for the guests—locals stop in too.” Megan’s face was animated as she spoke. “I love how people always find common ground. It’s so lovely. I hope you’ll be able to squeeze in at least one night with us, but I understand with so much going on.”
“It sounds wonderful.”
“Good. There’s a complete calendar in your room of things to do in Evergreen during your stay. It’s right next to the complimentary basket of goodies.”
“You’ve really thought of everything.”
“We try.” Megan stepped around the desk. “Can I help you with your bag?”
“No, thank you. I can manage.”
“Upstairs. First door on the right.”
Katie climbed the wooden staircase to the second floor. Just as Megan had said, the Holly room was right at the top of the stairs. Evergreen, Spruce, Poinsettia and Mistletoe were the names of the other rooms she could see from here. She rolled her bag on the wooden floor. The door to the room was propped open, so she brought her bag inside and closed the door behind her.
It was much bigger than she’d expected. She had plenty of room to work. Delighted, she left her bag sitting where it was and toured through the room. Chairs in front of the windows and a desk against the wall offered two great options to nestle in for writing, should inspiration strike. The bed was covered in layers of fluffy linens of red and white. Two pillows were wrapped like presents in front of the heaping pile of fancy pillows. A huge poinsettia took up the better part of a round table in front of the window. The king-size bed looked so comfortable with the pillows piled on top that she was half tempted to forego unpacking and stretch out for a long nap. Maybe even until tomorrow.
She laid on the bed face down and let the quiet hang around her for a moment before turning over and staring at the ceiling.
As much as she wanted to just lie there in the pretty room and absorb the joyful environment, it nagged at her that she’d kind of left Mom hanging when her phone had died. Mom was probably wondering what the heck was going on. She got up and plugged her phone in, and set up her notebooks, pens and laptop on the desk. A tiny red glass vase held a single sprig of holly. She tapped the edge of her finger against one of its bright-green pointed leaves. The berries were so glossy they didn’t look real. Just like the rest of the town, it seemed too perfect to be true. Yet it was. She shifted the tiny bud vase, letting the sprig lean as if pouring inspiration toward her workspace.
Since the battery on her phone was now at least charging, she made a quick call to her mom, but it went straight to her voice mail. Because living out of a suitcase was too distracting, she unpacked her clothes and hung most of her things in the pretty mahogany glass front armoire on the padded silk hangers provided, then slid the empty suitcase into the closet. She liked being settled in for the long haul, even if it was only for a week. That was certainly long enough to come up with some good ideas for the next book, and even get some plotting done.
Excited to check out the rest of the B&B, Katie took her charger, phone and laptop downstairs. A few people chatted in the living room, but the den was empty except for the warm fire blazing an inviting orange. She closed her eyes and wrote whatever came to her mind, and the ideas were flowing. She’d never even considered writing a story set at Christmas, but it was beginning to feel like there was something to be told here.
She was in the zone, her fingers hitting the keys as fast as she could to keep up with the thoughts rolling through her mind. Her phone rang, breaking her concentration. Mom? She took the call. “Hi, Mom. Sorry. My phone ran out of battery.”
“I figured. I don’t mean to rush you, but I’ve reached out to just about everyone I normally rely on and—”
“You know,” Katie cut her off, glancing down at her scribbles in her notebook, “I was thinking there might actually be a story here.”
“In Vermont?”
“Well, it’s this town. You should see this place. This inn is gorgeous. I’m feeling very spoiled at the moment, and kind of liking it, I’ll admit. Every business here in Evergreen has some kind of Christmas theme. There’s even this Christmas time capsule—”