The Christmas Crush

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

“What’s the most coffee you can legally sell me?” Elena Voss asked Mel, the barista on duty. Mel rolled her eyes, then smiled, used to Elena’s outlandish requests. Begging for shocking amounts of caffeine at the caf é next to the Sparkle Cookie corporate headquarters was a regular habit of hers. Baristas and customers alike were familiar with Elena stumbling in, a groggy expression clouding her features.

“Same as it was yesterday, Elena. Twenty-five ounces with five extra shots of espresso.” Mel tucked a hunk of her rainbow-hued hair behind her left ear. She tapped the register screen, adding caramel syrup to the order without Elena having to ask. “Up late painting again?”

“How’d you guess? Besides needing a near criminal amount of caffeine?”

The barista raised a pierced eyebrow.

“Might be the dried paint smeared on your chin.” Mel took a paper towel from the handwash station, dampened it at the sink, and handed it to Elena. “Here, use this while I make your banned-in-all-fifty-states coffee.”

“I don’t really have paint dried on my face, do I?” Before Mel could answer, Elena ran her hand across her jaw and, sure enough, felt flaky bits of gouache. She started to scrub it off as she stepped out of line. Good thing Mel had said something. She could hardly show up at this morning’s strategy meeting covered in shades of green and baby blue. Her boss, Derick Cunningham, would have a field day with that mistake, calling her out in front of everyone.

Steam rose as Mel pulled the espresso shots into Elena’s reusable travel mug. Jug might be a more accurate word to describe her cup, since it held half a gallon of liquid. She’d designed it herself, using infusible ink to permanently affix a field of flowers on the surface. Too bad Derick had pressured her to add a vinyl sticker of the Sparkle Cookie logo. He expected his team to be walking billboards for the cookie company.

While she waited for the lifesaving liquid, Elena rummaged through her leather tote bag. Her fingers ran over the smooth, circular metal of her compact. She snuck a look in the compact mirror. All clean, and her makeup still looked fresh. Derick demanded the Sparkle employees always be perfectly presentable, and he set the standard himself with nary a hair out of place, even on a windy day.

At least her outfit wouldn’t cause any issues at work. She wore a lavender cashmere sweater despite wishing it were a more festive color, like a deep cranberry. Once again, Derick was to blame, since he required everyone to dress in company colors. The light purple didn’t bother her in springtime, but it felt downright bah-humbug in December. Besides, she preferred jewel tones; she thought they looked best with her long, dark hair.

“When are you going to paint full-time?” Mel asked, stirring caramel syrup into the coffee, long spoon clinking against the travel jug.

“My dad would freak out. I barely repaired our relationship after I chose a cookie corporation over joining his firm.” At the time, working for Sparkle’s marketing department had seemed like a good compromise between her artistic ambitions and her dad’s obsession with professional careers. Lately, though, it seemed like Derick wanted her to churn out cookie-cutter images for the website. She never got a chance to flex her creativity. A flower without sun or water, wilting away.

“I know all about that problem, believe me.” Mel screwed the lid on the mug. “You should’ve seen the look on my mom’s face when I said I planned to work here to have time for my band gigs.”

Mel passed Elena the toasty mug, and she wrapped her hands around it. “Thanks, Mel, for the coffee. And for being a listening ear.”

“Promise me you’ll pace yourself with that. Don’t glug it all down at once.”

Elena didn’t like to lie, so she said, “I’ll do my best.”

Downy flurries sprinkled around Elena as she trotted from the cozy caf é to work. The receptionist at the lavender front desk nodded, too harried to say good-morning to a fellow employee when Elena walked in. Elena had gotten used to the chilly workplace atmosphere at Sparkle Cookie, but it still bothered her. Last week she’d brought in eggnog lattes, foamy and spicy with nutmeg, to surprise her coworkers. After a quick “Thanks,” everyone had turned right back to their computers, sipping their drinks in silence.

A shiver ran over her. She gripped her coffee jug tighter for warmth. Yeesh, is Derick planning to increase profits by refusing to heat this place?

Derick had promised that if this quarter’s sales improved over last, the staff would earn a holiday party. There might be a chance to socialize then. Sadness sat heavy in her chest at the thought of numbers on a spreadsheet determining her level of seasonal cheer.

Sparkle Cookie company guidelines forbade decorations for any holiday, or even birthdays, which left the halls looking grim despite their lavender paint. She didn’t want the blank walls and impersonal cubicles to remind her of growing up in her parents’ house, but they did. How many times had Dad been too busy with work to join them in trimming the tree? Her mom worked full-time at the firm too, and often didn’t have the energy after writing briefs all day. Eighty-hour work weeks didn’t leave much time for holiday traditions.

Shaking away the painful memories, she put on a smile as she entered the conference room, determined to stay positive. She nodded hello to Derick’s assistant, Sarah, and Priya, her only work buddy, as she took her seat at the long oval table. Sarah’s fingers waited poised over her laptop keyboard to take meeting notes the minute Derick arrived. Alan from accounting whispered “Hi” before Derick stalked into the room and everyone froze.

Derick wore a slate-gray suit and lavender tie. He seemed to own a hundred similar ties; Elena could only tell them apart thanks to years spent studying color theory. As usual, he wore his blond hair slicked back, shellacked into submission with some product that made the whole room smell like cedar. Something about his manner always reminded Elena of a piranha. Maybe it’s the hangry eyes , she thought. Or that sharp grimace.

“All right, team.” Derick shot up the cuff of his dress shirt, glanced at a gold watch. “I have eight o’clock exactly, which means we’re starting. Alan, that better not be a yawn you’re suppressing. If you can’t handle late nights, don’t have a newborn.”

Alan sat up a bit straighter to prove he was wide awake before he lost his job.

“We’ve got a major issue brewing with our New Hope location, set to open at the end of the month,” Derick continued. “It’s a disaster out there. Have a look at this disgusting mess.”

Derick clicked a button on his small remote, and an image lit up the large projection screen on the west wall.

What Elena saw knocked the breath right out of her.

She didn’t see a mess; she saw magic. A wide shot showed a town right out of a Christmas village: a winding creek running through snowcapped fir trees, a gazebo decked with greenery, and a cheerful main street. Derick clicked again, moving to a closer view of Main Street. Brown and red brick buildings with wide windows, multicolored lights strung neatly around them. A fresh snowfall made everything seem iced, as smooth as a frosted cake.

Through a bakery window she noticed a tree covered in whisks, wooden spoons, and cookie cutters. At the florist next door, red and white poinsettias filled the window, an abundance of flowers. A wreath with the most beautiful silver bow Elena had even seen decorated the door of a bookshop with steamy windows. She could almost smell the pine-fresh air.

Derick said something Elena didn’t hear. She yearned to paint that street, paint that town. Her fingers curled like they could grip a brush right now. She imagined a series of canvases she could take out every year to hang on her walls for the holidays. One of winter sunlight streaming on the white gazebo, glittering on the creek. Another of Santa shopping along Main. One of her standing hand in hand with … with …

Well, she didn’t have anyone special whose hand she could hold while strolling New Hope’s streets. In fact, she hadn’t even been looking for a partner. Everyone on the dating apps or who she met on nights out with Priya seemed like they didn’t understand her. They all tried to impress her with flashy professions, going on and on about finance or medicine. She tried to change the conversation, asking if they preferred Monet to Van Gogh. Men met this question with depressingly blank stares.

Dating hadn’t even been on her radar lately.

So what was it about that street, that town, that made her want someone she could share a hot cocoa with in front of a stone fireplace? Logs crackling, warmth from the flames. The feeling came from nowhere, and she shook her head, trying to concentrate on Derick’s words.

“One of you needs to go to New Hope, crash their upcoming town hall meeting, and convince them Sparkle Cookies is going to be a great addition.” He glared around the room. New-father Alan didn’t have a moment to spare, and he visibly tried to avoid Derick’s gaze. “The meeting is in two days, but I know we can work with short notice.”

“They don’t want us there?” Elena asked, before she remembered she hadn’t been paying attention. She gulped. Priya stared at her with large, horrified eyes.

“Try to keep up, Voss,” Derick snapped. She shrank back into her faux-leather conference chair. It wobbled uneasily on its wheels. “They’re worried we’re going to ruin their small-town, local-business vibe. They’ve been whining on our social media pages. It’s not the image we want. Who’s going, or do I have to make one of you?”

Not wanting to seem greedy by leaping at the chance to escape Derick, Elena hesitated. Obviously, Alan couldn’t leave his wife and baby, but did no one else on her team want to visit a town straight out of a holiday movie? When Priya didn’t make a move, Elena put up her hand. “I’ll go.”

For a moment Derick regarded her, speechless. He quickly regained his composure.

“I wasn’t expecting such eagerness from you, Voss. Nothing much has been coming from you since the #iSparkle idea.” Elena ignored his insult. That hashtag had driven social media engagement, and she felt proud of her work. Even her dad had been impressed when she told him. She leveled her gaze right back at Derick until he continued. “Okay. Keep up this level of enthusiasm and you might earn that party for the whole team, Elena. The rest of you, get to work crunching some numbers Elena can throw at these bozos. They need to learn how the economy works.”

Anger flared hot in Elena’s cheeks at Derick’s dismissive attitude toward New Hope. But this was her job, this was how she paid the bills and avoided having to work for her dad. And this job was about to give her the opportunity to visit that beautiful town.

“It’s only a forty-five-minute drive from here. Keep track of your miles for Sarah, and she’ll reimburse you. And don’t screw this up.” Derick put his hands on the polished tabletop, glowered across at her. His shoulders hunched in a menacing stance, a viper about to strike. Elena heard Sarah’s breath speed up. Priya mouthed Be careful . “Don’t assume you’re getting a free Christmas vacation out of this. If you can’t convince those townies to stop dragging us online, you can go upstairs to the CEO yourself and explain to her why you failed,” Derick said. All three of her coworkers sat still as statues, afraid to draw Derick’s attention to themselves.

Did she feel intimidated? Obviously. Her mouth went dry when Derick threatened a meeting with the CEO. But she also felt something she hadn’t felt in forever. She felt the town might live up to its name.

It might offer hope.