The Complete Christmas Collection. Rebecca Winters

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       CHAPTER ONE

      “IS IT TRUE? The Barrett wedding is canceled?”

      Grace Clarke looked up from her phone. “Yes.”

      “Wow.” Patsy McLean, Mirror Lake Lodge’s longtime business manager, entered Grace’s office and plopped down in one of the overstuffed burgundy chairs that fronted her glass desk. “This is not good.”

      “No. It’s not.” She tossed her phone aside and eyed her friend. “I’m trying not to hyperventilate.”

      “You never hyperventilate. Not even during the clown reunion. Remember that?”

      Grace shuddered. “I still have nightmares.”

      “The big curly-haired clown had a crush on you,” Patsy reminded her. “He wanted you to wear polka dots and learn to play the harmonica.”

      “And the one with all the tattoos thought you should join the circus and live happily ever after with a man who turns balloons into animals.”

      Patsy sighed. “There are times when I think I should have gone with him.” Her daughter was in the middle of a nasty divorce and had returned home six months ago, her twin toddlers in tow, while she and her cheating ex worked out the details. Patsy and her recently retired husband were still reeling from the chaos.

      “It’s too late,” Grace declared. “No circus clowns for us.”

      “Speak for yourself, sweetie. You’re still ridiculously young and so pretty. You could have all the clowns you want.”

      “I guess that’s a compliment?”

      “It is. I wish I had your figure, your skin, your age.” Patsy sighed. “Please tell me you’re going out with that real-estate agent who found the condo for you. What is his name?”

      “Brad.”

      “Did he ask you out?”

      “Not exactly. I believe his exact words were, ‘If you ever get, like, really lonely, give me a call and maybe we can hook up.’”

      “I’m sorry I asked.” Patsy eyed the various cardboard boxes lining the walls of Grace’s small office. “So, what happened with the wedding? Did the groom get cold feet? Did the bride run away with the best man?”

      “I’m not sure. Right now it’s a mystery.” She leaned forward and took a sip of very cold coffee from a mug that said Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail.

      “Who told you?”

      “Both of them, actually. It was pretty grim. Julie did the talking. And the poor groom just looked stunned. Like he didn’t know what hit him.”

      “So she’s the one who has the cold feet? Or another lover? Or her parents hate the groom. Or she found out he was cheating on her. Or all of the above.”

      “I don’t know what happened. They’ve been an easy couple to work with. But I guess you can never tell what’s going on under the surface.” She looked at the shipping boxes that represented months of planning. Red glass Christmas ornaments embellished with the bride’s and groom’s names and the date of the wedding, pinecones for place-card holders, fat ivory candles, canning jars to be filled with battery-operated fairy lights—all destined for a seven o’clock wedding on Christmas Eve.

      “True. But it does seem pretty dramatic, calling off a wedding so close to the ceremony.”

      “I’m going to have to look up an easy way to remove glitter-glued names from a hundred ornaments. Julie said she didn’t want any of the decorations and I hate to throw them away.” The wedding would have been absolutely gorgeous. Grace had planned on taking lots of photos to use as inspiration for other brides considering the Mirror Lake Lodge for their wedding.

      “There’s always eBay, I guess. Maybe another Mason and Julie will be getting married next Christmas.” Patsy peered at the boxes—one of the open ones was stuffed with pinecones. “What about the pinecones? I thought they were cute.”

      “I’ll save them. I can use them for something else. But the little canning jars are my favorite.” She had planned on taping the battery packs to the underside of the jar lids. “Festive Country Elegance” was her theme for this particular wedding.

      “If you still want to assemble them, we can put some on the mantels. Or maybe the restaurant will want to use them for the Christmas buffet.”

      “Okay.”

      “Speaking of the restaurant,” Patsy drawled. “Who’s going to tell Nico?”

      Grace shot her a pointed look.

      “Oh no,” Patsy said, her silver-and-red curls bouncing around her face. She threw up her hands. “That is so not part of my job description.”

      Grace wished it wasn’t part of hers, but as the events coordinator for the lodge she had no choice but to discuss the cancellation with the lodge’s most famous employee. The smoldering Italian chef would not be pleased. He’d worked on the menu for over a month, combining classic and elegant dishes to the delight of the bride, the groom and the bride’s quiet mother. They had all been thrilled with his creative ideas, particularly when he incorporated his now-famous cheese bar.

      Nico loved parties.

      He was not going to love this news.

      “He’s going to throw a fit.” Or worse, ask her to join him for a glass of wine while he flirted shamelessly.

      “No, he isn’t.” Patsy frowned. “Well, maybe a little fit. Did you see the episode when he got really angry with that actor, the one who was the villain in that time-travel movie, I think.”

      “The tall guy,” Grace said. “He thought it was funny to keep adding extra salt and pepper to the food whenever Nico turned his back.”

      “I thought Nico was going to punch him.”

      “He came close,” Grace recalled. The YouTube video of those fifteen minutes of television time had gone viral.

      “And the time the chicken wasn’t cooked properly in that restaurant he was trying to help. He told the cook to leave and never come back. In Italian, I think.”

      “‘Raw chicken kills’,” he said. Remember? And then he threw those pans out the back door and two of the waitresses were crying—and then they went to a commercial.”

      “I wonder what happened to that restaurant. I should look it up.”

      “He’s never thrown anything here, has he?” Grace had heard he was a perfectionist and an exacting employer, СКАЧАТЬ