Christmas at Fireside Cabins: An absolutely heart-warming and feel-good festive romance

by Jenny Hale

  “You don’t complain. And that’s admirable, but when you told me you’d quit your job, I have to be honest, I thought it was to chase some wild dream you’ve always had or something fanciful like that. But you quit and don’t even seem to know why.”

  “I quit because I hate that job.”

  “Then what job would you love?”

  Lila chewed the inside of her lip, thinking. “I don’t know,” she told her. “I’m sort of lost.”

  “Well, definitely something with people,” Eleanor said as her coffee mug met her lips.

  “That was one of the only things I liked about waitressing,” Lila admitted. “I enjoyed talking to the people I met—I heard about their vacations or why they’d come to Nashville. The nights I had good customers, the time would fly and my shift would go faster.” She folded her legs under her and leaned back, holding her cup with two hands to warm them. “I like it here,” she suggested.

  “If it’s people you enjoy, then you wouldn’t want to stay around here,” Eleanor said with a pout, running her finger around the rim of her cup.

  “Why?” Lila asked.

  “There’s no one here. Look around. We have a few festive events every year, but people don’t want to come to Pinewood Hills anymore. They have better things to do.” She took a thoughtful sip from her mug and swallowed. “I’ve been thinking a lot about that as I plan the work on the cabins, spending your hard-earned money. For what? Why am I trying to make this place better when no one visits? Even the coffee shop is closed now. Theo probably couldn’t make any money in that location.”

  “I think Theo is selling the coffee shop for his own reasons,” Lila told her. She pushed aside the pang that pinched her insides when she thought of him. “And there’s a lot here. The farm is adorable, there are loads of wonderful places to visit, and Main Street is adorable. I truly believe that if you can update the cabins, we could really wrap some solid PR around it, and people would come.”

  Eleanor smiled fondly at Lila. “You’re always so optimistic.”

  “I see the value in things, that’s all. Can I somehow make a living doing that?” She set her mug down on the side table and twisted toward the old lady. “You know when you have a really great cookie dough, and the chocolate chips are right there at the surface? You’re sure that it’ll make delicious cookies even before it’s baked. I can always spot good cookie dough.”

  “Fireside Cabins are a little low on chocolate chips, then,” Eleanor said.

  “But the dough’s good! We just have to add a little more chocolate.”

  Eleanor laughed, holding her mug in her lap. “I never discourage anyone who believes we need more chocolate.” She patted Lila’s arm. “I just hope that paint and remodeling will bring people in.”

  “I think you could do more than that,” Lila said. “You could beef up the trails, add more prominent historical markers, a guided tour, maybe. You could have a gift shop on the premises with trinkets to commemorate visitors’ stays, you could reach out into the community and offer the grounds to youth groups for meeting space—maybe even have an after-school club or something. I’d love to volunteer for that. But I’ll need to find a job in town first.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out for any jobs that come up, although I wouldn’t hold my breath in this small town.”

  “Thanks, Eleanor,” she said. “In the meantime, I’d still like to help you fix this place up any way I can. We don’t have to have a grand plan. We can start modest and build as we get more revenue. But we’ll get these cabins up and running.” And no matter what, she was going to make it happen.

  Twenty-One

  Lila shielded her eyes and took a step back to admire the main cabin, her breath puffing out in front of her as the snow drifted down from the heavens. She and Eleanor had spent the last week immersed in renovations, which Lila was thankful for because it got her mind off Theo and the fact he hadn’t even tried to make contact. She couldn’t believe how much they’d accomplished. After Judd had fixed the window he’d power washed the cabins, and when the painters had tidied up the blemishes with fresh stain, they’d left them all a gorgeous natural wood, their metal roofs with the new greenery and lights they’d added making them look like they were dressed up for Christmas.

  Lila and Eleanor used Judd’s farm truck to bring back a five-foot Christmas tree for every cabin porch, loading each one up with sparkling white lights and red ribbon. Judd had offered them free of charge to say thank you to Lila for watching Rex. They’d also placed an evergreen wreath on every door and old silver farm buckets of pinecones lining each step.

  Christmas music rang out over the hills. Eleanor had dug out speakers that had been used for events in the cabins’ heyday, and they’d just finished getting them all hooked back up. The grounds were a blanket of white, the twinkling lights on all the porches like stars in the night sky. They’d shoveled all the walkways and replaced the gravel, lining each one with topiaries, their buttery glow meandering up and down the hills.

  “It’s amazing,” Lila said, taking it all in.

  They’d both worked so hard. While Lila had been busy weeding, laying new mulch in the freezing cold, and coordinating the work on the outsides, Eleanor had been inside the cabins, showing the decorators where to focus their attention and cleaning the carpets. Lila had spent some of her money to buy every cabin a tiny Christmas tree for the interior in addition to the full-size ones on the porches, and she’d decorated each one with red beads and white snowflake ornaments, still hoping to push the PR and get a few new lodgers in for the holiday season. Trudy and Rex had come over throughout the week to help Eleanor with the interiors and Judd had been on duty outside.

  “It takes the sting off for a minute, doesn’t it?” Eleanor said, rubbing her hands together as she admired the scene.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, we’ve gotten a good start, but we still don’t have any revenue coming in. I have to cover my personal expenses, like food and healthcare. There’re things like merchant services and the website to pay quarterly; kitchen equipment, new linens for every cabin, business supplies, entertainment—we’ve made it look great, but we haven’t scratched the surface with the rest of it. The thought of selling it now and getting your money back has crossed my mind…”

  Lila stared at her aghast, uneasiness swelling in her gut. “Now that we’ve got the cabins mostly done, we can take a look at the business side of things and make a plan.”

  “It’s all a bit overwhelming. Chester used to take care of all that.” She fluttered her hands in the air. “But I won’t dwell on it now. We both need to get cleaned up and rest so we can enjoy the beautiful work we’ve done.”

  “Maybe we’ll get a Christmas surprise somehow,” Lila said, trying to be hopeful. “Christmas is full of them, right?”

  Eleanor raised her eyebrows and smiled. “You never know!”

  Lila was on the sofa, curled up with the afghan, after a long hot bath. She’d soaked in the citrus and aloe bubble bath Piper had left, the zesty scent of it still on her skin. She’d spent the whole time thinking long and hard about what she really wanted in life. What she’d loved about working with Theo was getting to talk to all the customers. She kept wondering if there was some place here where she could do that and be around people, make them feel like they were family. And her mind kept coming back to Fireside Cabins.

  She’d started a fire and finished her leftover bowl of stew while she researched on her iPad just to see what it took to run a property like Fireside Cabins. It was an absolutely crazy idea—she had no background in how to run an inn—but somehow she felt compelled to do it. Even if Eleanor were up for it, could Lila somehow take it over? Maybe get a business loan to see them through? Would she be approved for something like that? Probably not. Especially with no job. She could ask her friends to pitch in money… They couldn’t sustain it, though. And she would never really want to ask. Even though it seemed completely impossible, she c
ouldn’t help thinking that Fireside Cabins had been just waiting for her to come along. And it was the first time she’d considered what she wanted, instead of someone else. She just had to figure out how to make it work.

  If only she could talk to Theo about it. She closed her eyes and summoned up the image of the little creases that played at the corners of his eyes when he was listening to her, and her chest tightened. It had been over a week since she’d heard from him. He hadn’t been to see Rex again. Was he okay? She reached over and grabbed her phone, opening up a text to him, unsure of what she even wanted to say. So much had been left unspoken between them. If anything, she needed some kind of closure. She abandoned the text screen and hit the call button. She’d had enough messaging; she needed to talk.

  Lila waited for Theo to answer. She fully expected to get his voicemail, so when she heard the gentle “Hello,” in that familiar deep voice of his, her breath caught in her chest.

  Lila had two options here: she could yell at him for leaving and not at least warning her first, and press him to explain those letters she’d read, like she wanted to do—or she could follow her gut, which told her something had to be seriously wrong to make him just disappear. She closed her eyes, summoning the feel of his arms around her as they’d slept on the sofa. The tender way he’d held her—that wasn’t somebody who was a fraud and a thief. And given how hard it had been to crack his shell, being vulnerable like that surely hadn’t been easy for him to do. “I miss you,” she said in a whisper. The words fell out of her mouth before she could stop them.

  The end of the line was so still that fear shot through her as she sat, worried he’d hung up. She checked her phone screen to see that the line was still connected. Finally, he spoke. “I didn’t want you to miss me,” he said, and she could hear the ache in his voice. “I tried not to let you in…”

  “Why?”

  “Lila, you don’t want to get involved with me.”

  His statement sent a tiny wisp of doubt through her mind. Was the bad press about him true? “You’re not giving me a choice at all. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on and let me decide?”

  “There are things that make what we started between us… impossible. You deserve better.”

  “Look, is this something about stealing money? Because—”

  Theo cut her off. “What did you say?”

  “I read an article… Well, Piper read— It doesn’t matter. They’re saying you did some pretty crazy things. Tell me about what happened with the embezzlement. Are you in any danger? What’s going on, Theo?”

  “You know…” He trailed off. “I’ve got to go.”

  “Wait,” she said in a panic, but the line went dead. “Hello?” Nothing. She immediately called him back, her heart racing.

  “Yes?” he said, less angrily than she thought he would, but she still felt a wave of relief.

  He answered.

  “I like to fix things,” she said. “That’s what I do. You will literally send me to the crazy house if you don’t let me help you with this.”

  “You can’t fix this.”

  “How do you know if you won’t let me try?” She scrambled for a way to show her solidarity with him, to let him know she could help him deal with whatever this was. What could she offer? Then suddenly, it occurred to her that if she was really on Theo’s side, she might want to mention Smash staying at the cabins. “Did you know your dad stays at Fireside Cabins?”

  “What?”

  “Eleanor said he often rents a cabin here. She didn’t know about the connection to you.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “I heard he knew where I was—that’s one of the reasons I left. But I had no idea he’d been to Pinewood Hills before.” Then he whispered, “He wants the money. That’s why he’s here.”

  “Should you come clean and give it to him?” Even as she said the words, they sounded wrong to her.

  The line fell silent again. After an incredibly long pause, he said with regret in his voice, “Lila, I don’t think we should talk anymore. I’m sorry.”

  “Is it because you did it?” she asked, her voice coming through in a crackly whisper, her emotions getting the better of her. “Because if you didn’t do it, I don’t understand why you won’t let me in, Theo.” She just couldn’t make herself believe that he’d do something like that. She closed her eyes, the phone pressed against her ear, remembering how sweet he’d been with Rex, the way his fingers had rested tenderly in her hand, his safe embrace when he’d taken that horse ride with her… She wasn’t sure why, but his silence suddenly hit her. “I believe in you,” she said.

  “What are you talking about?”

  She heard him swallow on the other side of the line.

  “You didn’t do this. I don’t believe it. And I need you to tell me what you’re thinking,” she pleaded.

  He cleared his throat. “I didn’t take the money. They all think I did, but I’ve stopped caring what the public thinks. I shouldn’t have to prove anything to anyone. And you believed me when I hadn’t even defended myself. I’m wondering how you can read me like you do. You’re the first person to ever do that.”

  “I need to admit something to you,” she said. “I went into your office, and I found a note about how there’s nothing to worry about legally, and no one can be charged with a crime. What was that?”

  “What the hell, Lila!” he boomed. “That wasn’t something you’d just stumble upon—it was in my filing cabinet!”

  “I know. I’m so sorry. I was just curious.”

  “Those were my personal files. You certainly know a lot about me. Where else did you snoop, huh?”

  “Theo. Listen to me, please. I absolutely shouldn’t have gone through your things, and I feel terrible to have done it. But that letter sounded like a cover-up of some sort, and I’m telling you that even having read that, I don’t believe you’ve done anything wrong. Because, while I don’t know the situation you’re in, I know you. And I just couldn’t believe you’d ever do anything to hurt someone. I’m so sorry I went into your files. I’ll never do that to you again. I’ll just ask you my questions outright.”

  There was silence on his end.

  “Does your dad know the truth?” she continued. “We need to tell him you didn’t take anything,” she suggested. “I can find out from Eleanor when he’s coming back…”

  “Lila! No, no, no. You can’t tell my father anything. He cannot know that there’s any way to get in touch with me. I do not want him in my life, and—believe me—you don’t want him in yours. And, as much as it hurts, I can’t have you in my life either because it’s just too risky.”

  “You’re talking in circles,” she said, frustrated. “Where are you? I need to see you. I want to talk to you, face to face.”

  “Lila, let it go.”

  “No,” she said emphatically. “I need to know you’re okay.”

  “If you let me live my life and leave me alone, I’ll be okay.”

  It pained her to hear that. She sat on the line without speaking, trying to keep the tears from forming; the only sound was his soft breath on the other end. If he didn’t want her in his life, then she’d have to live with that choice. She wasn’t going to beg him. “If that’s what you want,” she said at last, defeated.

  “It’s what I want. Goodbye, Lila.”

  She couldn’t bring herself to reply, so she just sat there, the ache in her chest making her feel like she couldn’t breathe.

  “I hope you meet someone great,” he said, his words sounding genuine.

  Then he hung up the phone.

  Twenty-Two

  The wooden cabin floors were cold under her feet as Lila padded over to turn on the Christmas tree, shivering in the icy air while stifling a yawn. She hadn’t slept well at all last night. Instead, she’d tossed and turned, wondering what he’d meant by it being too risky to be with her. She’d thought about everything she’
d wanted to say to Theo now that she’d processed everything. It was pretty clear at this point that he didn’t want to see her, and Lila wasn’t going to try to force the situation. But she couldn’t help the ache it caused her.

  Lila’s cell phone intermittently lit up on the counter separating the living area and the kitchen. She went over to view the notification and realized it was a missed call from Theo last night after she’d gone to bed. With tingling electricity shooting through her, she grabbed the phone and dialed his number. It was early, but he’d gotten up much earlier than this to run the coffee shop, so he should be awake…

  There was a click on the line and she stood still, ready to talk. But she stopped short when she heard the automated recording: “We’re sorry. The number you have reached is no longer in service. Please check the number and try your call again. Thank you.” The call ended.

  Lila dropped the phone, her gaze on the window but not processing the view. She felt sick, empty. She suddenly realized how serious he was about not letting her into his life. He didn’t want to be found. Defeated, Lila slumped down on the sofa in a daze.

  After a few restless attempts to nap, to alleviate the stress and her lack of sleep last night—neither of which was improved by the effort—Lila grabbed her iPad. Overcome by confusion, she decided to do an internet search for Theo, to see if she could get any information that would help her better understand the situation. She typed in his name and scanned the list of articles, clicking on one that interested her: “The End of an Era—Perry Dynasty Collapses.”

  Lila began reading.

  Smash Perry suffers another relapse only weeks after leaving his most recent stint at a rehab facility, which was organized by his son Theo Perry, in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. Sources close to the singer tell us he’s currently resting in his Brentwood mansion, but it’s rumored that he is trying unsuccessfully to get sober at home after a public disagreement with the facility, regarding the quality of his care. Reports suggest that his latest relapse is due to the fact that his only son is being investigated on allegations of fraud. Despite putting out a debut record in his teens, Theo Perry asserts he has no plans to continue the family musical tradition, a claim that has evidently caused a rift between father and son.