Christmas Ever After

by Karen Schaler

  Chapter Eleven

  Riley took her hot chocolate with her as she strolled around the kitchen, taking in all the beautiful Christmas decorations that somehow made even the kitchen look like a postcard. There were fresh garlands with white twinkle lights above the cupboards and wreaths with those same plaid ribbons in all the windows.

  On the counter was another collection of vintage nutcrackers, along with some pretty poinsettias. There was even another potted Christmas tree in the corner decorated with all kinds of different holiday cookie cutters. Some were tucked inside the branches while others were hanging from red ribbon. There were snowman, gingerbread boys, stars, Christmas trees, and angels. Riley could tell it had been decorated with love.

  Riley picked up a snow globe off the kitchen table. Inside was a winter wonderland. She shook it so the snow spun around.

  “This is just like it looks outside,” she said, holding the snow globe up to the light.

  Luke nodded. “That’s one of my mom’s favorites. She always says it reminds her of Christmas Lake.”

  Riley carefully put the snow globe back down. “You must have a lot of wonderful memories here.”

  “We do,” Luke said, his voice softening a little. “And we have a lot of loyal guests who have come year after year, especially at Christmas, that have made their own memories.”

  “Are any of your regulars coming to Christmas Camp?” Riley asked.

  Luke nodded. “Yes, one couple was selected. I put in a good word for them. They actually got married here on Christmas twenty-five years ago, so I thought they’d be a good fit. Plus, Beva loves your books.”

  “I like her already,” Riley said with a smile. This was her opening. “You know, I’m sure Beva and the rest of the Christmas Campers would be very disappointed if you had to cancel all of a sudden, with only a few days before the camp is scheduled to start.”

  Luke frowned. “I know. I’ve thought about that. But the only thing worse than canceling on our guests is having them come for an experience that disappoints them.”

  “Disappoints them? What do you mean?” Riley asked, confused. “This place is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Almost every room is incredibly decorated. Anyone who loves Christmas will fall in love with this place.”

  “I’m not talking about being disappointed in the lodge,” Luke said.

  Riley bristled. “So then you’re talking about the guests being disappointed in . . . me.”

  Silence.

  Riley quickly covered her hurt with annoyance. “I’ll have you know,” she said, marching right up to him until they were toe to toe, “your Christmas Camp sold out because my readers are coming to see me. They are my fans . . .”

  Luke met her challenging stare. “And they were promised an experience where they could relax and reboot and embrace the true meaning and magic of Christmas, and to connect with one another and with you.”

  “So?” Riley demanded, warning herself to stay calm but not able to help herself when her voice became louder. “I’m here. What’s the problem?”

  “Frankly,” Luke said, “your attitude. That’s the problem. How do I know if everyone shows up here for Christmas Camp that you won’t get upset about something and just storm off again?”

  “That’s not fair,” Riley said. “You can’t just judge me by what happened with that one interview. That was a unique situation. You don’t really know me.”

  “You’re right,” Luke said. “And that’s the real problem here. I don’t know you, and that means I don’t know how you’ll act. After almost a hundred years of taking such good care of our guests, I don’t want anyone’s last experience here to be a negative one and ruin our legacy. I take full responsibility for this being on me. I should have never agreed to do this without knowing more about you first. Mike insisted that it would be easy and . . .”

  “Let me guess,” Riley jumped in, “a win-win for everyone.”

  “Exactly,” Luke said.

  “Look. I get it,” Riley said. “I would be nervous, too, but I can promise you I’m a very reliable person. I love my readers. I would never take off and leave something I was hosting.”

  Luke gave her a skeptical look.

  Riley held up her hands in her defense. “Again, you can’t judge me on just that one incident. I’ve never walked out on an interview in my life before that. But that reporter . . . he just went too far.”

  “Agreed.” Luke said. “What he did was wrong. I would have been furious, too. But I have my family’s legacy to worry about. Especially now that we’re looking to sell the lodge. We were doing this Christmas Camp as a last positive event for the lodge, something for our guests to always remember . . .”

  Riley nodded, excited, and smiled back at him. “And I think that’s an amazing idea. Honestly, I do. This place is obviously the perfect location to host any event that has to do with Christmas. If you cancel now, not only are you going to be disappointing a lot of people but it’s going to be a PR nightmare for both of us, and that’s not going to help you sell this place.”

  “Or help you sell any of your books,” Luke added.

  “Exactly,” Riley agreed. “So, as much as I hate to agree with Mike right now, I think he’s right. I really do think this can work for both of us. Your guests will be able to have one last special memory at the lodge, and for the people who have never been here, they’ll have a chance to experience how special it is before you sell. Wouldn’t your mom want that?”

  Luke walked over to the kitchen window and looked out, even though it was too dark and snowy to see anything.

  Riley joined him there. She took a deep breath. She knew this was it, that her only hope was just to be completely honest with him.

  “Luke,” she said in a voice that, for the first time, sounded the way she felt . . . scared. “I need this. I really need to do this Christmas Camp.”

  When he turned around, he gave her his full attention.

  She looked into his eyes. “The truth is my last book isn’t selling well.” She looked away as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, hugging herself for comfort. “If I don’t do this Christmas Camp, I’m done. My publishing career is over. So this Christmas Camp means everything to me.”

  When she looked back at him, she couldn’t read his expression. “Please, Luke, I promise I won’t disappoint you or the people who come to Christmas Camp. I care about them, too. I’m just asking that you give me another chance.”

  She held her breath as she continued to hold Luke’s gaze.

  Comet had come over to join then and was now sitting at Luke’s feet. His big brown eyes gazed up at Riley when he barked.

  Riley glanced from Comet to Luke and then waited for what felt like an eternity for Luke to stay something.

  “I think you need to go,” Luke finally said.

  Riley’s heart sank. “Really?” her voice cracked.

  Luke nodded. “Yeah. You need to go get some rest because if we’re going to do this Christmas Camp together, we have a lot of ground to cover in the next two days.”

  When Riley let out a huge sigh of relief, she felt her heart start beating again.

  “Thank you so much!” she exclaimed, and without thinking, she gave Luke a heartfelt hug. “I promise you won’t be sorry.”

  When Luke didn’t hug her back, she quickly backed away and laughed nervously. “And I promise you I won’t do that again. I’m just really grateful. You’re literally saving my career, which is basically my life.”

  “Well, don’t thank me yet. Let’s see how this goes,” Luke said. “I’ve never run a Christmas Camp before, but Mike says you’re Miss Christmas so I’m looking forward to hearing all of your great ideas about what you want to do. He was supposed to send me your list, but he never did. You can just give it to me tomorrow morning, and we’ll get started.”


  “A list of activities?” Riley asked, confused. “Do you mean the activities you’ve set up for us to do that I need to approve?”

  Now it was Luke’s turn to look confused. “No, the other way around. Mike said you had a list of all the activities set up for me to approve.”

  When her eyes grew huge, he gave her a sharp look. “Is everything okay?” he asked.

  Riley quickly recovered. “Yes, of course. Everything’s great,” she lied. Her mind was whirling. None of this was adding up. Mike had told her everything would be taken care of and all she had to do was show up at Christmas Camp and interact with the guests, but now Luke was saying he was waiting for her to give him a list? She didn’t have a Christmas clue as to what kind of holiday activities they should do.

  When she absentmindedly rubbed her throbbing temple, Luke looked concerned. “You’re sure everything is okay?”

  Riley forced a smile. “Yes, all good,” she said. “I was just thinking that you’re right. I need to get some rest so we can start bright and early tomorrow morning.”

  “Great,” he said. “I’ll look forward to hearing all your ideas tomorrow. I know we got off on the wrong foot, but if we’re going to do this right, we really need to work together.”

  “Agreed,” Riley said, having no clue what she was truly agreeing to.

  “I can show you to your room if you’re ready,” Luke offered.

  Riley could only nod and then follow him out of the kitchen.

  When Comet looked up at her she mouthed the word, Help!

  She just needed to stay calm, she could figure this out. She was an award-winning reporter. She could certainly hop on Google, do a little research, and figure out some Christmas activities for the weekend.

  But when Luke opened the door to her guestroom, she didn’t even pretend to be okay.

  “Whoa!” she blurted out without realizing it.

  Inside her room were dozens of Santas. From a life-sized Santa cardboard cutout in the corner, to a collection of figurines on the dresser, to all the pillows on the bed, there were Santas everywhere. There was even an elaborate eight foot red-and-gold velvet Santa chair next to a real Christmas tree with Santa ornaments and a quaint stone fireplace. Hanging from the wooden mantle above the fireplace was just one red felt stocking that had Riley’s name embroidered on it.

  But it was the bed that Riley couldn’t stop staring at.

  It was a red Santa sleigh—an actual sleigh—that had been converted into a bed. And above the bed was a sign that read, Always believe.

  Still in shock, Riley instantly covered her mouth with her hand to keep herself from blurting out anything she’d regret, because the only thing she believed right now was that if she had to sleep in that bed, she would go Christmas crazy.

  “It’s really something, isn’t it?” Luke asked, walking over to the giant Santa chair.

  Riley was relieved that he’d apparently taken her horror for wonder.

  “It is . . . something,” Riley said, forcing a smile that made her cheeks hurt.

  Luke sat down in the Santa chair and smiled back at her. “When my mom, who is a huge fan of all your books, heard you were going to host the Christmas Camp and that you were Miss Christmas she insisted on redecorating this room just for you.”

  “Wow,” Riley replied. She didn’t know what else to say.

  Luke stood up from the chair, walked over, and picked up one of the Santa figurines. It was about six inches tall, ceramic, and had an old-world charm about it. The Santa was holding a Christmas tree.

  “She even included some of her own favorite Santas, like this one here, that my dad gave her. She wanted to make sure you were surrounded by . . . What did she say? Oh yeah, lots of Christmas love. She said you’re going to be like Santa Claus bringing our guests so much joy and making their wishes come true, so you needed your own special room.”

  “Well, this is . . . special. That’s for sure,” Riley said. “But it’s so special, if you want to save it for one of your favorite guests, I completely understand . . .”

  “My mom would never hear of it,” Luke said. “She was so excited to do this room for you. She knows you’re writing your first Christmas novel, and she wanted you to have lots of inspiration. That’s why she even made you your own stocking.”

  When Riley walked over to the fireplace and touched her name on the stocking, her Grinch-like mood softened a little. “I’ve never had a stocking with my name on it. This was very thoughtful of her.” She didn’t add that she hadn’t had any kind of Christmas stocking in a long time. “Please thank your mom for me.”

  Luke nodded and smiled. “I will be sure to do that.”

  As Riley continued to look around, even though all the Santa’s were freaking her out, she could appreciate all the work it took to create the room. However, she wondered was how hard it was going be to stuff that huge cardboard cutout under the bed.

  “Do the other rooms have themes, as well?” she asked.

  Luke laughed. “No. They’re decorated for Christmas, of course, but we don’t have themed rooms. Just this special one for you.”

  “Yay, me,” Riley said, feigning enthusiasm.

  When Comet looked at her and tilted his head, she felt like he knew exactly how she felt.

  “I’ll go bring up your luggage,” Luke said as he turned to leave. “Then you can make yourself at home. Do you have more in the car? I didn’t see Harry bring in very much.”

  “Nope, that’s it,” Riley said. “I travel light.”

  “Great,” Luke said. “As long as you packed a lot of warm clothes to wear outside, you’ll be good to go. Like I told Mike, we’ll want to be sure to plan a lot of outside activities. That’s what the lodge is known for.”

  “Of course,” Riley said. She didn’t have the energy right now to get in the conversation about her lack of winter clothing.

  When Luke left, she fell back onto her sleigh bed, grabbed a Santa pillow, covered her face, and screamed. The sound was muffled and strangled.

  When Riley sat back up, the first thing she saw was the life-sized cardboard Santa staring at her. She threw her pillow at him and hit him in the stomach. But instead of falling over, the Santa started laughing.

  “Ho! Ho! Ho!” the cardboard Santa said.

  And then Santa got louder.

  “Ho! Ho! Ho!”

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” Riley said as she ran over to the still-laughing Santa.

  “Ho! Ho! Ho!”

  “No! No! No!” Riley answered back as she tried to figure out how to turn it off.

  She had Santa upside down when Luke returned with her bags. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her.

  “Problem?” he asked.

  Riley scrambled to get Santa right side up again, but this only made him start laughing again.

  “Ho! Ho! Ho!” Santa said, getting louder with each Ho.

  Luke came to her rescue and flipped the switch under Santa’s bag of toys. “Is this what you wanted?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she answered. “Thank you. I must have accidently set him off somehow. I didn’t want him disturbing Harry. You said he was right down the hall.”

  Luke nodded. “No problem.” He pointed at her luggage. “You should have everything now. Let me know if there’s anything more you need.” He picked up the Santa pillow she had thrown to the floor and handed it back to her.

  Riley took the pillow and carefully put it back on the bed. “I’m all set. Thank you for everything and for giving me another chance.”

  “You’re welcome,” Luke said. “It’s Christmas. A time of forgiveness, right?”

  She laughed a little. “Right.”

  “Well, good night then,” he said as he left her room.

  “Good night,” Riley called out after him.

  As so
on as he was gone, she marched over to the carboard Santa. “Look, Santa,” she said with her hands on her hips. “You being here staring at me isn’t going to work.” She pointed at him. “So it’s time for you to go night night.”

  She picked up the Santa and struggled to get it over to the bed. It wasn’t heavy. It was just huge and awkward.

  After she set the Santa flat on the floor, she got on her hands and knees and victoriously lifted up the red bed skirt so she could stuff Santa under the bed.

  Only, the sleigh bed was on a platform. There was no space to hide the Santa.

  “Oh no,” she groaned as she looked at Santa’s grinning face.

  With a huff, she got back up, grabbed Santa, and put him back in his original spot in the corner. But this time he faced the wall.

  “Looks like you’re getting a time out,” Riley said with a satisfied smile.

  When she turned around, she saw Comet was watching her from the doorway.

  She felt as if she had just been caught red-handed.

  “Santa’s fine. I’m just giving him a different view,” she told Comet.

  Comet looked like he wasn’t buying her Santa story before he disappeared down the hall.

  A minute later, Riley heard a phone ring downstairs. It was one of those old-fashioned rings, a strange tone for Luke to pick for his cell phone. But it meant one thing. Cell service was working again!

  She grabbed her phone and tried to get a signal but still nothing.

  When she started pacing around the room, she felt as though the Santas were all laughing at her efforts. Frustrated, she finally gave up.

  “I’ll just deal with it in the morning,” she said to herself. “I need to start researching Christmas activities.”

  She grabbed her laptop and sat cross-legged on the bed. She wanted to write down her first impressions of the lodge in case they helped inspire ideas for her novel. While she’d meant to take notes about the lodge and Christmas Lake, instead, she found herself writing about Luke, using adjectives like headstrong, stubborn, and determined. She then added good son, loyal, and cares about the environment.