Chapter 9
Mason stood in the lobby, stunned. She had practically shoved past him to get away. Had he done something wrong? He moved over to one of the armchairs by the fireplace and stared at the lights on the tree for a long time. He’d thought they’d had a great time together. He’d had a great time, anyway. He grimaced at his stupidity and got up, stomping to his room. He thought he may as well check out tonight and began slapping his things into his suitcase.
No, he needed to have Amanda sign the contract in the morning. He wanted to firm up the meeting he’d arranged with Mona about the pizza commercials. And he wanted to give Holly one last chance.
If she was in the breakfast room the next morning, things might end on a better note. Or not end at all. He was disgusted with himself for continuing to hang on the way he was. Where had his pride gone? He’d never chased after anyone who wasn’t interested in him before. It was because he couldn’t believe she wasn’t interested in him.
He’d gone from hurt to anger and back to hurt in less than the space of an hour. Now he was just tired. Pinning all his hopes on the morning, he stuck his head under his pillow and forced himself to get some sleep. At five o’clock, he gave up and went to the breakfast room. As if elves really did work there, bagels, orange juice, and freshly brewed coffee were all waiting. But no sign of Holly.
He sat and stared at his coffee cup for an hour, when Amanda strolled in. She nodded to him, grabbed an orange juice and sat down to read over his contract. She nodded again, signed it, and trudged out without a word. Clearly not a morning person.
Another hour passed and Mona peeked in and wished him a merry morning. He wanted to be annoyed by all the unseasonal holiday cheer, but he wasn’t. He honestly liked it. He’d fallen for the magic. Speaking with Mona and settling the time and date for her to come into the city and meet with Alonzo made him snap to reality somewhat. He was a grown man with a successful business. He had friends and a family who loved him. He didn’t need to wait around like an abandoned dog for a few crumbs from Holly. Or anyone. But especially not Holly.
His pride was back and he was grateful for it. Anything was better than the disappointment. He was done waiting around, sipping cold coffee. He followed Mona to the check-in counter and checked out. He drove back to the city without a backward glance at the rolling hills and fall foliage. He hoped seeing the first glimpses of the city would wash away whatever spell he’d fallen under.
Back in his apartment, he stared out the window at his moderately nice view. It was better than the view at his office at any rate. As long as he didn’t compare it to the view from the Feliz Navidad suite window, it was fine. Laughing humorlessly to himself, he clicked around on his laptop until he found a Christmas playlist and put it on repeat. The spell wasn’t broken, not by a longshot.
***
Holly dragged herself out of bed at nine the next morning, outrageously late for her. No matter how much cold water she splashed on her face she couldn’t get rid of the puffiness under her eyes. At least the redness had gone away.
She’d started crying at the first floor landing and hadn’t stopped until the wee morning hours. Leaving Mason flat had opened the floodgates and she’d had the world’s biggest pity party. The way he’d looked had nearly killed her. But she knew it would be far, far worse to let it develop in to something more and have the rug pulled out from under her.
Eventually he’d get sick of all the travel. He’d grow tired of her not being able to reciprocate. He’d resent that she’d want to spend her few vacation days with her family instead of jetting off to some island. It wasn’t going to be perpetual Christmas that drove away her boyfriend this time. It would be trying to save perpetual Christmas.
She tiptoed past her mother’s room. It would have been a miracle if her mother hadn’t heard her last night and she didn’t want any questions. It still showed on her face, but it was well and truly out of her system. Or so she told herself.
She checked the computer at the check-in area, missing the days when she could just glance at the wall behind the counter, see what keys were there and know instantly who was in or out. They’d upgraded a few years back. Too many guests either lost or kept the old-fashioned skeleton keys as souvenirs and they were expensive to replace. And they’d had a few people express concern about the security in online reviews, which she took very seriously. Still, it took a while for her to log in and see that Mason had indeed checked out.
The ping that signaled they had a new reservation sounded after she logged in. It was one of her favorite sounds. It repeated, then repeated again. Okay, three reservations. That was great. It kept pinging. She muted the speakers and pulled up the calendar. Something had to be wrong. From that night through to the end of October they were almost completely booked. And the room numbers on the dates kept changing color. Black meant empty, red meant full. Before her eyes, the remaining black numbers turned red. She clicked over to November and saw that many of the room numbers were also already red. Her excitement turned to bitter disappointment. Something had to be wrong with the system.
“Mona,” she called. “Something’s wrong with—”
Mona burst in from the small office behind the check-in area. “Did you see it?” she asked, bouncing with excitement. Her eyes goggled when she saw the November calendar was half full. “Father Christmas,” she said with a low whistle. “It’s actually working. She’s a miracle worker.”
“Who? What’s working? Mona, I think we need to call the IT person. This can’t be right.” She pointed at the computer.
“Amanda, that girl who took over the stage this morning. Her mother got here at seven and they’ve been bossing everyone around since.”
Holly groaned. “I’m sorry about that. I promised her she could sing. I didn’t know it was going to be such a big deal. But that’s the least of our troubles. The computer system is fried.”
Mona grappled her by the shoulders and pushed her into the desk chair. She minimized the reservation system, which was still flashing red like a herd of Rudolphs. She pulled up a browser and tapped out an address.
“Watch,” she said, turning the sound back on. “This is our miracle. That girl can do whatever she wants to the stage.”
It was a video of Amanda, in the lobby. “Hey guys,” her voice came through tinny from their ten year old speakers. “I’m in the most amazing, rad, brilliant resort you’ve ever seen.” Amanda turned the camera and panned the lobby, focusing on the tree Holly and her mom had just redecorated. “I mean, look at this place. It’s Christmas all year long. I can’t handle it, I love it so much.”
“When did she do this?” Holly asked.
Mona shrugged. “Who knows.”
The scene in the video cut to Amanda’s room and she excitedly zoomed in on all the decorations, exclaiming over everything.
“I’m glad I gave her the other suite,” Holly said.
“All our rooms are great,” Mona said loyally. “Here, pay attention to this last part.” She leaned over and turned the volume up higher. Behind the video they could hear the ping of the reservation program continuing to go off.
“Listen up,” Amanda said, her pretty face in close-up now. How was she doing all that herself? “I’m going to be singing here tomorrow—” she looked down and grinned. “I mean tonight. One night only so you better get your booties here to see me. And book a room. This place is my new favorite so who knows when I’ll be back. The White Christmas Inn.” She pulled the camera back and then zoomed it in on her face again. “Oh yeah. The food is the best. I’m talking gourmet, people. See you tonight, love you all.”
“Wow,” Holly said, stunned. “Could the reservations be because of that? Do you think the system isn’t broken, after all?”
Mona pointed to the screen, her finger making an indent. “See that one hundred thousand? That’s how many people have viewed it already. And look here. See that one million? That’s how many followers or whatever they’re called she has. I’m betting there’s nothing wrong with the system.”
“Mary and Joseph,” Holly said, goosebumps making her rub her arms. “It is a miracle. We need to see if she wants to sing more nights, don’t you think?” Holly found it difficult to breathe.
“I’d say so,” Mona said drily. “I think you better warn the kitchen what they’re in store for tonight, too.”
“Oh gosh, Emile.” Holly took one last joyous look at the reservation calendar then took off for the kitchen.