Welcome To Winterville: A Small Town Holiday Romance

by Carrie Elks

  It was amazing how long it took everybody to pack up their folders and leave the room. At least five of them asked for a quick word with him, and he pointed them all toward Willa to make an appointment. He didn’t have time to talk. Hell, he didn’t have time to deal with whatever the hell Kevin and Elizabeth had messed up, but it was his family’s money, and it was his job to make it right.

  “Okay,” he said, when it was only the three of them in the room. “Talk. Tell me about this land.”

  Elizabeth grimaced. “I was tasked with finding some land in West Virginia that would be suitable for building a new ski resort. And this place looked perfect. It has main roads leading up to the summit, has all the utilities already installed, and there are towns nearby where we can recruit workers. I really thought it would work.”

  “But?” Josh raised his brows.

  “But the only place we can build the resort is on the Main Street. And that’s already full of businesses that lease their buildings. As you can imagine, there’ll be uproar when we try to level all those places to the ground. And I know that you hate adverse publicity.”

  “Have you checked the leases?” Josh asked. “Can we evict the tenants?”

  Elizabeth nodded. “We can, but I called a couple of the businesses last week, pretending to do a survey. I didn’t tell them who I was or why I was calling, but all the business owners told me how much they loved being part of the town. That they weren’t planning on going anywhere soon.” She grimaced. “I can’t see how we can evict them without there being a lot of backlash.”

  Josh sighed, leaning back to run his fingers through his thick hair. Bad publicity was poison for a business like his.

  “I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said again. “The owners said it would be no problem to level the ground and build a resort there. I took their word for it and assumed the buildings were all empty.”

  “Rookie mistake.” Kevin shook his head. “Never believe anybody, especially when it comes to money.”

  “How much are we talking about here?” Josh asked, raking his hand through his thick hair. Kevin wrote a number on a piece of paper and slid it over to him.

  “Shit.” Josh looked at the zeros. All of them. “Can we pull out of the contract?”

  “We already signed.” Kevin swallowed. “The lawyers say it’s water tight.”

  If his grandfather was here he would be shouting. Josh was cooler than that, but the fury was still pulling at his empty stomach. This was a mess of epic proportions. “So what do we do next?” he asked, as much as to himself as to them.

  “I think we should visit the town,” Elizabeth said, glancing at Kevin. Her hands were still shaking. “It’s the only way to see the scale of the problem. And maybe there’s an angle we can take to make it right.”

  “Yeah, I guess we should.” Kevin nodded. “Not that I have time to visit Winterville right now.”

  “Wait, what?” Josh frowned. “We bought Winterville? As in the Candy Winter town?” An image of snow and twinkling lights escaped from his memories. The smell of hot chocolate and burning logs and soft lips that made promises against his.

  “That’s the one.” Kevin nodded, his expression grim. “Although Candy has died. She left the town to her children. They’re the ones who are selling.”

  Josh nodded silently, looking down at the paper with the numbers on it again. Welcome to Winterville. Where Every Day Is Like Christmas. He wondered if that sign still hung on the road leading to the town.

  How long ago was it since he visited that little town nestled in the side of the mountain? He blinked, trying to remember. It had been right before he moved to London, and that was eight years ago. Damn, it felt like a lifetime ago.

  He’d only been there for two days. And it was completely unplanned. He’d been driving from Cincinnati to Washington DC to deliver some documents before he left the US for London, and his car had skidded to a halt on the snowy roads.

  It had taken an hour for a tow truck to come. Once it did, he and his car had been towed up to what looked like some kind of Disneyland wannabe, a little town covered with snow and Christmas lights, full of tourists and staff who made you feel welcome.

  Including one very pretty receptionist who’d taken his breath away. At least, until his car was up and running and he could hightail it out of there.

  Kevin and Elizabeth were looking at him expectantly, as though he could solve all their problems. He nodded slowly.

  “I’ll talk to Willa. Book a few days out of my schedule and we can go see what the hell’s going on there.”

  Kevin did a double take. “You’re coming too?” he asked Josh.

  “Yes I am. I want this sorted out before the end of the year.” Not least of all because if his grandfather found out about it he’d throw a fit. Better to give solutions than problems. That’s what he’d been taught from a young age. “Talk to the sellers and arrange a meeting with them as soon as you can, then liaise with Willa over details,” Kevin said to Elizabeth, who looked almost green at the thought of it. “I guess we’re taking a trip to Winterville.”

  “Darling.” Josh’s grandma wrapped her arms around his waist. The top of her head barely reached his chest. “You’ve grown again.”

  “I stopped growing at least a decade ago,” he said, his voice teasing. “You must have gotten shorter.”

  “Hush with that kind of talk.” She shook her head. “I hear you’re going on a trip. Or at least that’s what your grandfather tells me.” She lifted her hands, cupping his cheeks. The way her arms stretched up it was almost like she was saying a prayer. “Oh, I’ve missed you, sweetheart.”

  It didn’t escape his notice that his grandfather already knew he was going on a business trip. That’s what happened when you took over the family company. The old man hated being retired, and somehow always knew what was going on at Gerber Enterprises. Josh had long since stopped trying to work out who the mole – or moles – were.

  “Is that the boy?” a gruff voice called out, as if on cue. At almost thirty-two, there was nothing boyish about Joshua Gerber III at all. And yet that’s what his grandfather always called him. Josh had no idea if that was because it gave him a power trip, or because he was jealous of Josh’s comparative youth.

  A little of both maybe. The old man had always been tetchy, ever since Josh was a young child. He’d moved in with his grandparents at the young age of three, when his parents had died in an accident. He could barely remember them, apart from when his grandma showed him photographs.

  “Yes, Josh is here. I’m just making him a drink.” His grandma shook her head. “And stop shouting. I can hear you perfectly fine.”

  His grandad grunted. “Send him in when you’re done. I need to talk to him.”

  “Six years he’s been retired, and he still thinks he knows everything.” She rolled her eyes.

  And didn’t Josh know it. In the time since he’d taken over the business, his grandfather had tried to interfere at every turn. Josh had learned to fend off his efforts where he could.

  Sure, he’d been trained to run the business from an early age. After his parents died, Josh had been the focus of all his grandfather’s efforts. Working at the company during summer vacations once he was old enough, then during college, and finally being sent to run the London office for a year to prepare him to take over the reins.

  Whether he wanted to or not. Because it was his birthright.

  “What did you get him for his birthday?” Josh asked his grandma, as she fussed with the coffee machine.

  “I thought about buying him a personality transplant,” she said, deadpan. “But then I realized he’d have to have a personality to start with.”

  Josh bit down a laugh. “You’re on fire today.”

  “Yeah, well. He’s grouchy as hell today. Doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday, doesn’t want anybody here. Keeps telling me you’re hiding something from him. He’s not exactly a delight to live with.”

  “Then lea
ve him.” Josh gave her a pointed look. This wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation.

  “You know better than that. I love the old grump, really.” She passed Josh a steaming mug of coffee. “Anyway, speaking of grouches, how’s your love life?”

  “Grouches?”

  “Willa told me you’re not going to the Christmas party this year. I don’t know how you expect to find a wife if you don’t socialize. Did you know that almost a quarter of people meet their future spouse at work?”

  Josh leaned on the counter, shaking his head. “Okay, first of all, why are you and Willa discussing the Christmas party?”

  “Because unlike you, I’ll be going.” His grandma gave him a pointed look.

  “Well, second of all – and this is related – if I find a future spouse at work, then I’ll be opening the company up to a lawsuit. And if you think Grandad is grouchy now, he’ll be impossible to live with if I mess up at work. Remember what he always says?”

  His grandma sighed. “I know. Never mix business and pleasure.” She looked up, her eyes soft. “But I want you to find somebody. To be happy. You deserve it. And I deserve great grandchildren.” She raised her eyebrows.

  He pulled her close, pressing his lips to her hair. “You’re way too young to have great grandchildren.”

  “And you’re way too good at smooth talking your way out of trouble. So when are you going to settle down?”

  He gave her a lopsided smile. “When I meet Miss Right, you’ll be the first to know.” It was a complete lie, but he hoped it soothed her anyway. It wasn’t as though he had any time for relationships.

  No woman liked being second to work. He’d learned that the hard way.

  “Yeah, well don’t take too long. Some of us have an expiration date, you know.”

  “Nah. You’re going to live forever.” Josh grinned. “It’s all that champagne you drink. It’s pickled you from the inside out.”

  Ten minutes later, after finishing his coffee, Josh walked into his grandfather’s office. The old man was sitting completely upright in a wing backed chair. A cane was propped against it, though his grandfather hated using it.

  Putting down the papers he’d been reading, he looked over at Josh, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

  “Happy birthday,” Josh said, carrying his gift over. It was beautifully wrapped, the dark blue paper shining beneath the office lights.

  His grandfather looked at it. “Socks?”

  “Gloves, actually.”

  “Willa always did have good taste. Put it on the desk with the rest of them. No doubt your grandma will open them later.”

  Josh didn’t take offence at the casual dismissal of his gift. His grandfather hated birthdays and holidays. Anything that would once have taken him away from the office. Maybe that’s why Josh put no effort into choosing a present. So much better to task his assistant with finding the perfect gloves.

  “I hear you have a project in trouble.” His grandfather looked up at him, his face impassive. The moles were obviously working overtime.

  “It’s nothing to worry about. Just a small snafu with a purchase. I’m heading there tomorrow to meet with the sellers. I’m confident it’ll be cleared up within a few days.”

  “Hmm. Whoever started that project should be fired.”

  Josh ignored the bait. “I’ve got it covered,” he said again. “You don’t need to worry about anything.”

  “It’s not me I’m worried about. It’s your investors. Our investors. They’ve put a lot of money into this transaction. People come to us because they can trust us. This is not a good look.” His face was flushed, his voice animated.

  Josh was unblinking. “It’s okay,” he told the old man. “Calm down or Grandma will be in with the blood pressure monitor.”

  “She needs to stop fussing.”

  “Maybe you do, too.” Josh raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Hmmph.” His grandfather waved his hand. “You can go now. You’ve done your duty, and I’m getting tired. No doubt you’ll need to get back to the office.”

  “That’s where I’m heading now.”

  “Good man.” The older man’s voice deepened. He really did look sleepy. It wasn’t a surprise, the number of medications he was taking. Pills to keep his heart beating, others to stop his blood pressure from getting too high, and then there were the painkillers and the diuretics that he always cursed.

  “Happy birthday,” Josh said, giving him a nod. He couldn’t remember ever actually hugging or kissing his grandfather, and he definitely wasn’t planning on starting now. The old man was right, he’d done his duty, he could leave with his head held high.

  After another few hours at work, he’d go home and pack for Winterville. The last time he’d visited that place he’d been a different person. A younger man, with hopes and dreams of being something more than what his family thought he would be.

  Now he’d grown up and he knew who he was. A business man. A bachelor. Somebody with a few close friends and a hundred thousand acquaintances. A man who drank too much coffee to keep himself going during the day, and one too many glasses of whiskey at night.

  He’d long since given up thinking about the boy he’d once been.

  Even if sometimes he didn’t recognize the person he’d become.

  3

  “I can’t believe we’re all here together again.” Alaska beamed at her cousins. “Apart from Kris, of course.”

  “And North,” their cousin Gabe, pointed out, dryly.

  “Yeah, but he’ll be down in ten minutes. He just needs to take a shower.” Everley grimaced. “He stank, didn’t he?”

  Gabe laughed. “You could say that.”

  Holly leaned back on the sofa, her heart feeling warm as she looked at her cousins.

  It was good to be with them all again. The last time they’d all seen each other was at their grandma’s funeral, and that had been such a difficult, sad time, they hadn’t had the opportunity to reconnect.

  It wasn’t a surprise that it was near impossible to get them all in one place at the same time. Holly lived in Chicago, and though it was only a two hour flight away, she’d been crazy busy for the past few months finishing up a case she’d been working on.

  Gabe was as busy as she was. He’d competed at the past two Winter Olympics as part of the US Snowboard team. The only reason he wasn’t training this year was because of a surgery he’d had to undergo earlier in the year on his Achilles’ tendon. He was slowly regaining his fitness, and after Christmas he was hoping to start up training once again, ready to compete the following year.

  Everley didn’t get to spend much time here in Winterville, even though it was her home base. She was a performer – a singer and actor like their grandma – and she went where the work took her.

  And Kris – the youngest of the three boy cousins – was working in Paris, where he lived with his wife and their daughter.

  Only Alaska and North were full time residents of Winterville. And from North’s face when he stalked into his ranch house ten minutes earlier, he wasn’t enjoying that fact right now.

  Holly bit down a smile as she remembered how he muttered to himself before he headed to the bathroom to shower off the stench. From what she could make out, he’d discovered a huge pile of deer droppings in his Christmas tree farm, and while cleaning it up he’d managed to slip and fall straight into it.

  And the resulting stench was terrible.

  “I don’t understand why he’s so angry,” Alaska said, her brows knitting. “White tail deer are common around here. And like us, when they have to go, they have to go.”

  “Because he fell and got peppered with deer crap.” Gabe lifted a brow. “It ruins his image of being a cool mountain man.”

  North walked back into his living room, wearing a pair of faded jeans and a gray sweater, rubbing at his hair with a black towel. He was a good looking man, according to the adoring women of Winterville and beyond. Tall and built,
with a light beard that enhanced his strong jaw, he’d broken hearts all over the Allegheny Mountains when he was younger.

  He sat down on the edge of the table and looked at them, still rubbing the back of his neck. It was funny how they all turned to look at him.

  Even after all these years he was still the ringleader.

  “Feeling better?” Gabe teased.

  North gave him a dark look. “Next time you get to clear up the crap.”

  Gabe pointed at his ankle. “I can’t, I’m injured.”

  “I thought you were better.” Alaska frowned. “You went skiing yesterday.”

  Gabe shook his head, widening his eyes in an effort to quieten her. Holly had to bite down a laugh.

  “You went skiing?” North asked, his brows knitting.

  “Just trying out the ankle. I’m gonna have to rest for a few days now. Don’t want to overdo it.”

  “You’re gonna have to help out in the shop is what you’re gonna have to do. Have you seen my grocery bill since you moved in here?”

  They were like a couple of old women. Really handsome, funny manly women. Holly met Everley’s eyes and they grinned.

  “Can’t Holly help out at the shop?” Gabe asked, his voice wheedling. “She’s got some free time on her hands.”

  “Hey, I’m taking some vacation time, buddy.” Holly lifted her hands up, as though to fend him off. “Some of us have been working our asses off.”

  “I heard about your court win.” North smiled at her. “Congratulations.”

  “It wasn’t my win,” Holly pointed out. “I just provided some expert testimony.”

  “They couldn’t have done it without you,” Everley pointed out. “I followed the court reports. Your testimony swung it.”

  As a forensic accountant, Holly was frequently called in to help with court cases. Especially high profile divorce cases, where money was being hidden in an attempt to lower payouts.

  Her job was a lot more difficult than it sounded. Trying to find money that people had hidden behind long and complicated transactions through shell companies or in tax havens could take months. Months to track down. Months of scrutinizing spreadsheets and bank accounts until her eyes felt like they might drop out. And she didn’t always have months to follow the trails.