I pulled out of his arms, feigning exasperation. The truth was, I wanted him too. I’d begun to worry that I’d never get enough, which was a problem, given he’d be gone by Christmas. I pushed the thought aside, determined not to fall into a panic spiral about a pattern of men leaving me on December twenty-fourth. “As much as that sounds like fun, I don’t want to greet Howard at the door naked. I’m getting a quick shower.”
“Need company?”
I grinned at him. “Yes, but we don’t have time.”
My phone buzzed again with a text from Keely. “And the hits just keep on coming. They’ve moved the Christmas Committee meeting to this morning at eight.”
Howard made it to Snowsville in eighteen minutes. I was barely out of the shower and Sebastian was barely dressed. It was like Howard had been waiting for my call. We crashed into the morning Christmas Committee meeting just two minutes late.
“Our wanderers return,” Ivy said, her eyes bright with questions. “Don’t worry, Howard told Barbara everything. It’s time you got a new car, Celia.”
“I’ll check it out,” Howard said. “You might just need some petrol.”
Had I mentioned to Howard that the petrol gauge read empty? Maybe Sebastian had. I’d been in my car while he and Sebastian had sat with Howard.
“Good job the Black Swan had vacancies,” Ivy said, a mischievous smile on her face. “So tell us, what’s our competition doing?”
Once we’d delivered our Snowsville debrief, Cindy on reception interrupted with a large square package wrapped in layers of brown paper.
“For Sebastian,” she said.
“Ahhh, I’ve been waiting for this,” he said. “If you checked your email this morning, you’d have seen I circulated a logo and branded graphics for the market. I’ve sent it to all the shops in the village to use in their newsletters and have requested they send something out today if possible. It will give them a good reason to contact their customers, which may well lead to increased sales either online or through in-person attendance. A win for everyone” He tore open the brown paper parcel to reveal a sign for Christmas in Snowsly. As he held it up, I couldn’t help but think how ludicrous it looked—not the sign, that was beautiful. But Sebastian, the man who hated Christmas, holding up a red, green, and white sign covered with elves popping their heads around the letters, and Santa feeding his reindeer at the bottom.
“It’s so festive,” Ivy said, clearly delighted.
“I love the vintage feel,” I said, peering closer. “It looks like it could have been from the fifties.” It was perfect for Snowsly—cosy and friendly and inviting.
“People don’t come to the Cotswolds for clean, modern lines. We’ve tried to keep it in keeping. Later today, smaller signs will arrive that can be put up on each stall. I want to run with Celia’s idea and have some of my marketing team coming up later today to set up a couple of Instagram points—picture stations—that will encourage people to post on social media and spread the word.”
Sebastian didn’t waste time. I had no idea he was so invested.
“Sounds like Snowsville were doing some exciting stuff,” Barbara said. “Have we any hope of holding on to at least some of our customers?” She sounded desperate.
“They have a lot of people from outside the village running stalls. We should consider that for next year, so we can attract an even wider audience with a bigger market. Vendors from outside the village have their own following, so we might capture the attention of people who’ve never visited us before.”
“The village can charge for a stall and get additional income, too,” Sebastian said.
I hadn’t thought of charging the stallholders, but it would be great to cover some costs of the lighting and the stall itself. Even better.
“Nothing that would directly compete with any of our home-grown stallholders, of course. But there was one stall selling cuckoo clocks and beautiful German weather houses that were just delightful.” I blushed thinking of the gift Sebastian had bought me. “And another selling festive shortbread. I also think it might be a good idea to have Christmas characters mingling with the crowd and taking pictures with visitors. Almost like the ones at Disneyland, but Christmas-themed. Like elves and Santa and stuff.”
Murmurs of understanding and agreement tumbled through the group.
“We just have to keep our nerve,” I said. “These new ideas will make Snowsly even more of a Christmas destination than it was before.”
“Which reminds me,” Sebastian said. “Celia, I’ve taken your idea about having Christmas characters and run with it. I’ve hired some elves to stroll through the market, greet the children, and take photographs. They’ll arrive just before noon.”
That was fast work. No wonder he was so successful in business. He knew how to get things done.
“I just sent a few messages on the drive back,” he whispered, reading my mind. “One more thing,” Sebastian added, addressing the room again. “Tomorrow afternoon, there’s a journalist from Good Housekeeping and another from Rallegra magazine coming over to cover the market.”
“A journalist?” Howard asked. “What on earth for?”
“To get Snowsly coverage,” Ivy explained. “It’s one thing to ensure Snowsly’s the best Christmas market in the whole of Great Britain, but we’ve got to make sure people know about it.” She turned to Sebastian. “You’re a darling boy. Thank you.”
Sebastian shrugged off the blush that crawled up from his collar. “Hopefully, with all these changes, we should see an impact on footfall and profits should start to go up. If this year doesn’t turn around as quickly as we’d like, the publicity and branding should mean that we go into next year really strong.”
If I didn’t want to bang Sebastian before this meeting—which I totally did—I absolutely, one hundred percent wanted to strip him naked and mount him like a horse after what he’d just said and done. He was even sexier than usual when he was taking control and making things happen.
He turned to me and lowered his voice. “You’re not offended that I implemented your ideas? You’re brilliant, Celia—I just wanted to see your visions come to life.”
“Not at all,” I replied. “I’m so happy you did.” It took all my willpower not to crawl into his lap and kiss him.
Whoever would have thought the Christmas-hating, Barbados-bound grinch might have just saved Christmas?
Sixteen
Celia
I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that I hadn’t had much sleep the previous night, or whether it was because I’d barely stopped for breath today, but I was exhausted.
I pulled on my reindeer pajamas and switched on the kettle. Some hot chocolate while I worked on my next idea might keep me awake. I pulled out the large box of unused decorations from under the stairs. I could have sworn the Santa costume from a few years back was in there. I reached down and grabbed something furry. This was it, or else a cat had crawled in and died here. I pulled my arm out and did a little jump when it came to the surface all red and Santa-like.