Christmas at Silver Falls: A heartwarming, feel good Christmas romance

by Jenny Hale

  “And that, my dear, is where we are at an impasse.” Suddenly, Gran stopped and took a closer look at Scarlett. “There was something in your face just now…” She squinted her eyes as if she were trying to see whatever it was. Then, abruptly, her mouth snapped shut and there was recognition. What she’d seen, Scarlett had no idea. “There’s more to this than what’s on the surface,” she stated.

  “What are you talking about?” Scarlett said. Gran was speaking in riddles, it seemed.

  “I see it,” she said. “That mother hen look you get when you want to protect those that you love. You’ve been adamant that Charlie’s intentions are honorable, and I know he’s shown moments of greatness lately, but there are so many other things from his past that make me mistrust him. I’m worried that your affection for him is clouding your judgment. You’re head over heels.”

  “No, Gran… He’s a changed man.”

  “Aren’t they all,” Gran said, skeptical.

  “Then tell me what he’s done in the present to make you mistrust him?” Scarlett challenged. “Nothing. He’s been the picture of generosity. Because that’s who he is. I’ve seen him shed tears over Amos and how he treated him. He feels an incredible burden for what his resorts have done to people. And now, he just wants to use what he knows and what he has for good. I need you to see that. Not only for the inn’s sake, but for mine as well. I am falling for him, and I would love your blessing.”

  Gran tapped the table, thinking.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Janie said, coming in with Trevor. “But I caught a bit of your conversation—I’m so sorry. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.” She squatted down to get on eye level with Gran. “I hated him,” Janie said. “I would’ve never thought I’d ever want to be in his presence. But he bought me a car.” Her astonishment was clear in her tone. “And he went on his own to the location where my car had been towed, got out Trevor’s safety seat, and had it installed for me. People without hearts don’t do those sorts of things. And I have no ties to this inn. He doesn’t need to impress me. But after everything, I believe he didn’t mean to hurt anyone, and he has a kind heart.”

  Janie took in a sharp breath and let it out. “I don’t know where I’ll go next or what I’ll do,” she said. “I don’t have a job or a home to go back to. But I would trust Charlie to help me find my way.”

  Gran looked thoughtful for a long pause. Then she smiled to herself and nodded as if she’d made some sort of decision. She stirred her oatmeal, scooping a bite onto the spoon, but then set it back down while Scarlett waited to see what she was thinking. “How are your managerial skills?” Gran asked. “I need a front desk person. You could live here at the inn and work for me.”

  Janie lit up with interest but Blue interjected, “Mom, we don’t have enough to pay her. That’s why we let Esther go.”

  Gran covered her lips with her frail fingers, looking out at them with caution. “Well, Charles swears he can make us enough money, right?”

  “You’ll do it?” Scarlett said, jumping up, throwing her arms around Gran, and making her grandmother giggle. “You won’t be sorry, I promise,” Scarlett said, giddy with excitement. Then she hugged Janie, making Janie laugh in surprise. “Thank you for believing in him,” Scarlett said to her. She looked over at her dad who hadn’t said anything yet. He had a lighthearted disbelief in his eyes.

  “I can’t believe I’m allowing this,” he said. “Let me state now that I’m very worried about using all Gran’s money, but from what she says, she’ll use it anyway if we don’t. I’ll run it by Beth and Joe just to be sure they’re on board, and then you can call Charlie. You might just have found the answer we all needed.”

  Beth and Joe had been overjoyed at Charlie’s idea, and they all called him together on speakerphone. Charlie said he’d draw up a formal plan after he saw the funds and the family could give him their thoughts. So, later, when Scarlett found Aunt Beth sitting on the sofa across from the fire chewing her nail when she came into the living room, she couldn’t imagine why her aunt’s manner had changed so drastically.

  “Is everything okay?” Scarlett asked.

  “I’m a little nervous,” Beth admitted. She patted the cushion next to her and Scarlett sat down. “Sean told me on the phone just now that he has a daughter.”

  “Oh?” Scarlett crossed her legs and leaned back, waiting to hear why exactly Aunt Beth was nervous about that.

  “Her name is Amanda, and she’s twenty-one.” She folded her hands, squeezing them together. “What if this goes further? I can’t be a stepmom—have you heard all the stories about horrible stepmothers? Just look at Cinderella. She’ll hate me.”

  Scarlett found her worry so preposterous that it was funny. “I doubt that. You’ll win her over with your alcoholic snow cream recipe.”

  Aunt Beth laughed despite herself.

  One year, they’d been out of ingredients for eggnog, and the roads were so bad that they weren’t able to run into town. Desperate for a Christmas drink, Aunt Beth combined rum, cinnamon, cloves, cream, and vanilla with the snow outside. The twins had been so impressed by her presentation in a candy cane-striped flute that they wanted some too, and Aunt Beth had to make non-alcoholic ones for them. Gran hadn’t believed that it could possibly be any good, but when she tried a sip, she insisted on making one. Before they knew it, the whole family was drinking snow rum slushies.

  “Aunt Beth, you’re really great, and it would be impossible for Sean’s daughter not to love you.”

  “That’s very sweet,” she said, and her fingers, which had been fiddling with her hoop earring, now stilled in her lap. “Thank you for making me feel better.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “You looked like you were heading toward the front door. Where are you off to?” Aunt Beth asked.

  “Well, I’ve got the numbers from Gran for how much money we’ll be able to spend. I’m going to run them by Charlie so he can get started right away making a plan for some of the upgrades he thinks we need.”

  “That’s the best news I’ve heard all year.”

  “I can’t wait to hear what Charlie has in mind,” Scarlett said, her heart full.

  Scarlett sat quietly while Charlie pored over the information she had brought to his cottage once more. She’d rattled everything off at a hundred miles an hour, telling him how excited she was, and how Gran had already offered Janie a place to live and a job. Before Scarlett arrived, Charlie had done some preliminary work, looking into the layout of the property, zoning ordinances, and historical features of the structure and surrounding grounds that had to be maintained. Scarlett waited beside him on the sofa while he scratched down lists, opened and closed files, and checked and rechecked numbers.

  “You weren’t kidding when you said your grandmother had lost money,” he finally said, setting the stack of papers he was holding on top of another pile of documents on the table. “She’s gone through almost her entire savings already.”

  Anxiety swelled in Scarlett’s stomach. She hung on every word, waiting for the verdict. Charlie had been silently focused for hours, and she hadn’t wanted to distract him with any questions, but now that he’d finally emerged from his planning, his expression didn’t look optimistic.

  “She barely has enough to cover the bills for the next year.”

  His assessment was like a kick in the gut. They didn’t have any way to fix the fact that there wasn’t enough money. At the end of the day, the changes would require funds, and they didn’t seem to have what they needed. “What can we do?” she asked, feeling helpless.

  “She could take out a business loan to cover the cost of the upgrades. I can do an analysis for her, to set out the options.”

  “She’ll never agree to that.”

  “She’ll make it all back and then some—I’m sure of it,” he said. “In fact, I’m so sure that I’ll put my own money on it. All my savings.”

  “What?”

  “My investment would he
lp your family to keep the inn, Ms. Farmer and Trevor would have a place to live, and Ms. Farmer would be able to have a job.”

  Scarlett wanted to be thrilled about this, but she was considering what would happen if his plan didn’t work, and all those things didn’t happen as a result. This was a major investment for him, and he seemed certain of himself, but what if something went wrong?

  “If she’ll trust me to do so,” he continued, “I’ll invest with a payout rate that’s comfortable for her, but she’ll have to give me the authority to make every decision, since it’s my money on the line, and if I lose it, I have to live with a fireplace clothesline and a kitchen with no running water,” he said playfully.

  Scarlett didn’t laugh, the anxiety of the situation getting the better of her.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked.

  “I trust you,” she said, stopping to chew on the inside of her lip as she considered how to voice her concerns. “But have you worked with historical property before? You know the restrictions to development?”

  “No and yes,” he said, clearly smiling to put her at ease. “I haven’t worked under the constraints of historical properties, but when it comes to making long-term decisions to create accommodations that are profitable and desirable, I’m your guy.”

  “But what if it doesn’t work?” she finally worried aloud.

  “That’s not an option.” He leaned in close, their faces inches apart, and grinned at her. “You can count on me. I’ve got this.”

  Scarlett couldn’t help but smile. Charlie was going to help them turn things around; she just knew it. “I’m so thankful for you, Charlie,” she said, and she meant it. “I can’t wait to see what you can do.”

  Scarlett joined the others in the kitchen for a family meeting to discuss the plan for the inn. Gran had asked Janie to come too, since she’d be part of the White Oaks family soon enough.

  Once everyone was assembled, they all looked to Scarlett, eager to hear what she and Charlie had drawn up. “There’s good news and bad news,” Scarlett said. “Which do you want first?”

  “Bad news,” Gran decided. “That way we can end on a good note.”

  “All right. The bad news is that we don’t have enough money to fund the number of renovations and upgrades required to drastically increase guest numbers at White Oaks.”

  There was a collective groan followed by looks of bewilderment.

  “But,” Scarlett continued, silencing everyone with that single word. “I have good news. Charlie is willing to loan us the money. We just have to pay him back.”

  There was a rumble of chatter all at once, but Scarlett interjected. “And…” She waited for their attention. “There’s one more thing.” Scarlett avoided Gran’s anxious stare. “If Charlie funds it, he said he needs to be involved in all the decisions.”

  Gran huffed. “I knew there was a catch,” she said. “What if he wants to take control of the inn, and we’re falling right into it, Scarlett? I just don’t know if I trust him to make decisions that I can live with. Have you seen the look of his resorts? They’re so flashy…” She shook her head. “I don’t want that.”

  “He’s done research on the property, and he’ll work within the historical constraints,” Scarlett explained. “I don’t think he’ll do anything we don’t agree with, but because he’s investing the only money he has left, he needs to have the final say.”

  “What other options do we have at this point?” Blue said. “We could put it on the market, but Charlie is offering up his own money and we’ll get to see what the changes could do for us.”

  “But what happens when Mom retires?” Uncle Joe said. “None of us are prepared to take over the business.”

  “We were facing that before we decided to sell,” Aunt Beth returned. “I think we should take our chances and see what happens. What do we have to lose?”

  “How about we do a vote?” Gran suggested.

  They all looked back and forth between each other.

  Gran said, “All for renovating and allowing Charlie to decide the fate of our inn? Janie, I’d like you to vote as well.” She counted: “Beth, Scarlett, Blue, and Janie. All opposed? Alice, Joe, Heidi, and myself. It’s split right down the middle.”

  “Would it help if I had him share the specifics of his plan with everyone, so we can decide if his vision works with our own?” Scarlett said.

  “Given the opposing views, I think it would be helpful, yes,” Gran said.

  “Okay, I’ll let him know,” Scarlett said, wondering if this would actually work. But she had to try.

  Twenty-One

  After she texted Charlie the news, Scarlett needed to clear her head and at least attempt to defuse the edginess pulsing through her after the family meeting.

  If Charlie didn’t come through for them, the blame could all fall on her shoulders. She was sticking her neck out by supporting his claims, going on blind faith, which was unlike her. She didn’t make big decisions lightly, and she worried that she was grabbing at anything that provided the tiniest bit of hope, out of desperation. To make matters worse, something this big could divide her family, and if that happened she’d never forgive herself. Scarlett wanted to take a step back from it all tonight, so she went to Love and Coffee to digest everything and have a little quiet time.

  “Oh, Scarlett, you walked in like a ray of sunshine,” Loretta said from the table near the register. She sat by herself behind a cup of coffee and an empty plate, the crumbs hinting at a blueberry muffin, while Sue wiped down the counter with an interested eye. “Get a drink and join me.”

  Happy for the diversion, Scarlett asked Sue for the seasonal latte and a cinnamon roll, and joined Loretta.

  “I’d never thought I’d hear myself say this,” Loretta said when Scarlett sat down with her pastry, the espresso machine hissing behind the counter. “I need advice for what to do with Preston.”

  “What do you mean?” Scarlett asked, scraping her fork through the cinnamon roll.

  Loretta stirred the remnants of her latte with a silver spoon. “I’m sort of terrified.” She lifted the mug to her mouth and took a sip before continuing. “I’m an expert at finding the right people to match, but my work ends there. What do I do now that I have that match? What if I fail miserably?” She set her mug down with emphasis. “I don’t want to fail with him, Scarlett.”

  “You won’t,” Scarlett insisted. “Just be yourself. You’re the person he fell in love with, so as long as you stay true to yourself, you’ll have the best shot at being the right person for Preston.”

  Sue set Scarlett’s latte down in front of her in a white mug with a heart drawn in the foam artistically.

  “What if it still doesn’t work out when I really want it to?” Loretta worried.

  Scarlett immediately thought about Charlie. “Sometimes two people just aren’t in the same place, and while they could be perfect for each other, their puzzle pieces don’t line up because they’re working on two different pictures.”

  Loretta’s eyes grew round. “Do you think Preston has a different picture?”

  Scarlett snapped out of her reverie. “Oh,” she scrambled, realizing she’d moved off topic. “No. It’s just that some people have that issue… What I meant to say was that you and Preston are in the same place in life. He really likes you and you feel the same way about him. There’s nothing coming between you, so if you and Preston have the same idea of what you want in life and your timing is right, there’s no reason things shouldn’t work out.” She picked up her mug, holding the warm porcelain in both hands, thinking again about Charlie.

  “I’ve been going over the percentages of my couples who end up having lasting relationships and I’ve got a long-term match rate of sixty-eight percent. Given the fifty percent divorce rate, I’m above average for finding people who are suitable for each other.” Loretta’s gaze dropped down to her nearly empty mug. “But that percentage won’t help me. Because I didn’t even see this coming. I
was with Preston on so many occasions and I never once realized how he felt. I didn’t match us. How did I miss it?”

  “Not everything is planned. When you find someone by chance, nothing is certain but that first meeting, Loretta. After that, it’s up to the two of you to write your story. You both have to give it a hundred percent and then see what happens. You can’t live your life trying to avoid a broken heart or you might miss out on the one person who’d never break it.”

  Scarlett heard her own words as well, and the truth of the matter was that Charlie wasn’t ready to give his hundred percent, and maybe he never would be. If only things could’ve been different…

  After finishing her latte and reading the first four chapters of a novel from the take-a-book-leave-a-book shelf at Love and Coffee, Scarlett got a text from Charlie. He had a preliminary rough timeline for the changes to the inn along with estimated itemized costs, and he asked if he could run it by her before taking it to Gran. She was beginning to get hungry for lunch, so she asked him to meet her at The Bar for a light bite to eat.

  “I created a plan as if I were acquiring the inn for my own company. I started with the regular amenities and renovations, and then scaled it back based on our budget,” he said as they sat down.

  Cappy handed them each a menu and took their drink orders.

  Charlie opened his laptop and slid it between them. He hit a button and an enormous grid came into view. Scarlett could hardly understand everything that was on it, but Charlie broke it down for her. “So, there are different phases to the renovations. We would start with a few major changes, see how the numbers perform, and then, once we’d assessed revenue, we’d move on to other modifications based on the numbers—all the while using the collective data from my previous resorts to guide each phase. Every location is different, though. They sort of take on their own personalities.”