Lights from the town hall spilled down the steps as Emily ascended them. Even from here she could hear numerous voices coming from inside. It sounded like the whole town might have turned up to hear the zoning board's decision about Raven's Inn. It shouldn't surprise Emily that every local would come. Even with the late announcement and the scheduling so soon after Thanksgiving, the people of Sunset Harbor cared so much about their town to make the time to attend all meetings.
She opened the door and saw that every available seat was taken. Raven Kingsley was all the way at the front, chatting with Mayor Hansen and his aide, Marcella. That didn't bode well, Emily thought to herself. If Raven had got them on her side it would only be a matter of time before the rest of the town were turned over as well.
She felt a tug on her arm and turned to see Amy and Harry.
"I'm so glad you came," Amy said. "There's been some rumblings in the underground that Raven's going to get the go ahead today. The zoning board aren't going to challenge her tearing down the old house in favor for something more modern. It looks like it will all come down to the residents."
"We have to fight this," Harry said. "A hotel could spell disaster for the inn, and my restaurant. Who's going to want to come all the way to our side of the harbor when there's somewhere newer and cheaper in a more central location? With ocean views? Think of all those random business bookings we get at the moment. We'd lose all that custom, I'm sure."
Harry's concerns made Emily worry even more than she had previously. She didn't want to stand in the way of Raven, especially after she'd confided in her about her bitter divorce. But she couldn't just stand by and have her own livelihood destroyed in such a manner. Raven, from all she'd heard, wasn't the type to take any prisoners. She had that ruthless New York business mentality-kill or be killed. Emily wasn't much of a fighter. She really could've done with Trevor by her side right now!
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," Emily told them. "I don't want to stop her from doing her job just because I'm scared."
"Then do it for your family," Harry said. "For your friends and town. No one wants an ugly building on our oceanfront, and we don't want our beloved inn to go out of business either. It's not good for anyone."
"How are most people voting?" Emily asked.
Amy pointed to the corner, at the Patels. "Against, of course." Then over to the Bradshaws. "Against." She pointed next to Birk and Bertha. Birk owned the gas station and was the first person Emily had met in Sunset Harbor. "I think they're for. More cars coming in to town means more customers, as far as they're concerned."
Emily chewed her lip in consternation. The reality of a new rival inn arriving in town was starting to feel very real to her. The way Mayor Hansen was guffawing at something Raven had just said made her feel even worse.
Harry nudged her then. "Look, the meeting's about to start."
She turned towards the stage and the small wooden podium. The room fell silent as Mayor Hansen took his position. He banged his gavel, unnecessarily considering everyone was already paying him their undivided attention.
"Welcome everyone," he said. "We're here for the postponed discussions about Raven Kingsley's proposition to clear the dilapidated ocean side lot and build a new hotel there. You may or may not know already that the zoning board met earlier this week and voted unanimously for the plans to go ahead."
Emily looked at Harry and Amy. They were both grimacing. Emily felt her own face mirroring their expressions.
Mayor Hansen carried on. "Of course, we're a small town and the views of our residents are as equally important as the zoning boards. More so, in fact, now that we've lost our dear friend Trevor Mann."
He pressed a hand to his heart. There was a light-hearted ripple of laughter through the audience as everyone recalled Trevor's fierce, sometimes menacing protectiveness over the town.
"I believe many of you had a chance to speak to Raven over the thanksgiving break," Mayor Hansen finished. "So I'm looking forward to hearing all of your opinions. I suggest we here from Emily Morey first, since a new inn would have the greatest impact on her. Emily, would you like to take the floor?"
All eyes turned to her. Emily felt that familiar sensation of being put on the spot. And she really was in a bind. She didn't want to trash Raven's dream just because it might make things a little trickier for her. It wasn't in her spirit. But at the same time, Harry and Amy's tense expressions from beside her reminded her that there were people counting on her. All her staff, her family. They'd expanded the inn massively, having the luxury of no competition. At the very least Raven's new venture would mean some cut backs for Emily's inn, including staff reductions.
"I…" Emily began, feeling her throat becoming dry.
She looked over at Raven sitting on the stage beside Marcella. For only the second time since she'd met her, Emily saw a genuine smile on her face. Like Emily when she'd first arrived, Raven had encountered hostility and suspicion from the locals. Emily was probably the one person she counted as a friendly acquaintance.
"I'm for," Emily suddenly blurted. "I think there's a market that Raven's inn could capture. She caters for the business and corporate end of the market, with conferences and the like. I cater more towards familie, weddings and festivities. There's room for the both of us."
She spoke very quickly, trying to get her explanation out before her voice was entirely swallowed by the uproar. But it was useless. Everyone was speaking loudly over one another, directing frustration towards her, as if she were the one who'd come up with the plan in the first place, rather than the person who was going to be the most affected by it should it come to fruition!
And even worse were the thunderous expressions on Harry and Amy's faces. They looked like she'd just said the worst thing in the world, like she'd let them down terribly. But it just wouldn't be right or fair to sway everyone to her side, to tell Raven no. It would be downright mean spirited.
All she could do now was hope that enough other people voted no so she wouldn't have to deal with the outcome of her generosity.
Emily stepped back, seeking the shadows. But in a small town like Sunset Harbor there was no hiding. She'd made her bed, now she would have to lie in it.
*
"What the Hell was that, Emily?" Amy demanded once the town meeting was over. "Anyone would think you wanted to go bankrupt and ruin the town!"
Her friend had let her go less than five paces from the town hall before launching her attack, stopping her on the first step. The weather had grown colder since they'd been inside and Emily shivered from the sudden drop in temperature.
But despite the cold, her cheeks were warm with embarrassment. Emily hated making a public scene, especially since half of the town were filling out of the hall behind them.
"Can we talk about this later?" Emily said under her breath.
"No!" Amy exclaimed. "I want to know what's gotten into you. Why are you lying down like a lapdog for Raven Kingsley?"
"That's hardly what's happening," Emily refuted, stung by the ferocity of Amy's words. "Just because I don't want to trash her dreams doesn't mean I'm bending over backwards to accommodate her."
Amy placed her hands on her hips. "Funny, 'cos it's certainly coming across that way. I mean just the other day you were telling me all your woes about laying off staff over winter and not having any bookings. What do you really think will happen when you have a competitor like Raven Kinsgley offering cheaper rooms, cheaper food, a better location? You may as well just fire Harry now."
"Ames, please calm down," Emily said, softly. She tried to reach for her friend, but Amy pulled away. She wasn't a crier, never had been, but Emily noticed that her face was red from the strain of holding it together.
"I just don't understand you," Amy said, turning her face away. "I don't understand what you're doing."
Emily had no words. It was hard to explain herself, beyond the fact that she wanted to be a decent human being and spread kindness. She'd seen the way Chantelle had resolved her issue with Laverne over Halloween and had been humbled by the child's capacity for care and forgiveness. The only may she could make sense of it now was that dragging someone wasn't right, no matter what.
"Even the Raven Kingsley's of the world deserve a chance," Emily said. "I'm sorry if you feel like I've betrayed Harry, or even that I'm letting myself and my family down, but I simply cannot stoop to that level, to trash someone's dream like that."
Amy stared at her, still incredulous, like her words just weren't registering. "I think you're going to regret that. Once Raven drives you out of business."
"How about when that happens, you can say 'I told you so,'" Emily said, the comment halfway between a joke and a dismissal.
Amy shook her head, looking beyond disappointed. It was painful for Emily to have her best friend so mad at her, but she wasn't going to back down under the pressure. She knew what was right in her heart and that was the only thing was going to let that guide her actions.
"I'm going home," Amy said.
"No, Ames," Emily said, reaching for. "It's the tree lighting ceremony. Your first one in Sunset Harbor. Come on, let's just put this behind us for the rest of the night, okay?"
Amy shook her head again. "I can't. I'm sorry. I don't feel like watching a stupid tree ceremony when our livelihoods are in danger. Doesn't feel like much to celebrate." She looked around her, searching for Harry.
Emily felt crushed. She and Amy had had their fair share of spats during their years of friendship but this particular one felt very raw and painful. Amy's rejection hurt.
Harry appeared then, moving away from a very solemn looking conversation with the Bradshaw's who owned a restaurant in town. He came over, his usual boyish grin completely absent, and placed his arm around Amy.
"Shall we go home?" he asked her, his tone morose.
Emily's heart sank. "Harry, come on," she said. "It's the tree lighting. Come over to the Inn for mulled wine, then we can all go together."
But Harry shook his head. He was hardly looking at her. "I think we want a quiet night in."
Amy didn't raise her eyes again either. Instead, the two of them shuffled off, heads bowed, leaving Emily alone on the steps, watching them go with a downturned mouth.
*
After her spat with Amy, Emily couldn't help but approach the town tree lighting celebration with an air of trepidation. What if everyone decide to give her a piece of them mind as Amy had? The thought of the tense atmosphere that had built during the meeting spilling onto the streets and poisoning the joyful celebration was a real concern.
But when they arrived and climbed out of Daniel's truck--Chantelle clipping leashes onto the dogs before hopping down from the back seat--Emily quickly realized she needn't have worried. All she saw were the same old friendly faces, smiles and greetings. Whatever feelings the locals felt about her speech at the meeting, it appeared as if they were going to put them aside for the rest of the evening. Unlike Amy, they seemed willing to leave their animosity towards her within the four walls of the town hall.
In typical Sunset Harbor tradition, the tree lighting wasn't just a tree lighting, but instead a street party, an excuse to celebrate. Emily looked around at all the stalls that had been set up, selling an assortments of winter-themed items from Christmas decorations to candles, flavored liquors and ugly Christmas sweaters. Chantelle, of course, was immediately drawn to the sparkly, garish sweater stall.
"We should all get one of these!" she exclaimed with excitement, picking up a bright-green sweater made to look like a uniform for Santa's elves. "What do you think? Daddy, you suit green."
Daniel looked at Emily with an amused expression. "But do I suit it better than red, is the real question?" he asked, holding up a sweater designed to look like a fireplace complete with shiny flames.
Chantelle immediately discarded her elf sweater and cooed at the shiny fabric. "Okay this one is better. We should get one for Nana Patty incase she comes. And one for Papa Roy, too, because you never know, and I don't want him to feel left out."
Emily felt a stab of grief in her chest at the mention of her father. She was certain he'd not come to Christmas, even when he did finally pick up her calls. He'd made it quite clear in his previous letters that he wanted to remain independent, to live out his remaining days in the hillsides of Greece rather than wasting his time traveling back and forth across the globe, or enduring a cold winter in Maine. Emily recalled now one of the comments he'd written in one of the letters she'd recently received. It was a bittersweet one, poignant enough to be committed immediately to memory. 'Should I mind that I've almost certainly seen my last snowflake? Because I do not! If my days are numbered, I'd like nothing more than for every single last one of them to be sunny."
"Can we, mommy?" Chantelle said, breaking through her thoughts.
Emily cleared her mind and looked down to discover that Chantelle had found a new, gaudy collection of Christmas sweaters, this time with sequined reindeers on a backdrop of candy cane stripes..
"Of course," she said, smiling. "Let's get those."
"And the elf ones for Evan, Stu and Clyde," Chantelle added, with a decisive nod. "They're daddy's little helpers after all."
Emily laughed. "Great idea."
They bought the sweaters and Emily put them away in her bag. She spotted Owen then, and waved. He came over, smiling shyly. Once he reached them, Chantelle hugged him.
"So have you and Serena started packing?" Emily asked, trying to remain enthusiastic about their move to Singapore, rather than sad for herself to be losing two such wonderful friends.
"Not yet," Owen replied. "We're not leaving until the New Year."
"Good," Emily said, relieved. "It would be awful if you didn't get to meet Baby Charlotte."
"I agree."
"Hey, Owen," Chantelle said, gazing up at him from where she was hanging around his waist. "Did you know we're doing A Seussified Christmas Carol this year for our Christmas show?"
"You are?" Owen said, looking excited. "That's a great one!"
"Maybe I could have a few singing lessons with you?" Chantelle asked. "I know you're not my teacher anymore but it would be really nice to practice with you a couple of times, like we did last year with the nutcracker."
Emily spoke up then. "Love, Owen's very busy at the moment."
"I don't mind," Owen said. "I mean, I'd love to. Honestly. When is the production?"
"Friday 18th," Emily said.
"Isn't that the same night as Roman's cocktail party?" Owen asked.
Emily shook her head, recalling the pretty invitation from Roman that was pinned to the corkboard in the study. "That's on the Thursday. It's going to be a busy week!"
"Sure is," Owen laughed. "Well anyway, if we did one lesson a week, we'd be able to fit in three before the performance day. How does that sound?"
Emily thought he looked genuinely pleased to have a few more lessons with Chantelle before he left for good. And Chantelle, of course, looked thrilled.
"Yes please!" she cried. "And you'll come and see the performance as well?" Chantelle asked.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Owen told her.
Just then, they noticed the crowds were moving, facing in the direction of the stage that was set up in front of the twenty foot Christmas tree. Roman and Mayor Hansen were climbing the steps.
"What's Roman doing up there?" Chantelle asked, giggling.
"I think he's the special guest," Emily replied, laughing also. It seemed so strange now that they knew Roman personally to think of him as a famous pop star, the sort that turned up for Christmas Tree lighting celebrations!
Mayor Hansen started speaking into the microphone and silence fell. Then there was a sudden gasp of noise as everyone realized that snowflakes were falling from the sky. All eyes turned upwards, distracted completely.
"Excuse me," Mayor Hansen said, frowning. But then his expression changed, and he turned his eyes up also, watching the first snowfall of winter.
There was a moment of perfect silence, like the snow had paused everything. Emily felt in that moment as if she were floating, as if each fluttering snowflake brought peace with it. It was a beautiful moment, made even better when she felt Daniel scoop her and Chantelle in his arms, pulling them into him protectively.
"Well, I've never been upstaged by ice before," Roman's voice said over the microphone.
Everyone in the crowd laughed, and soon people's eyes were turning back to the tree, to the stage and the celebrations.
"Happy Christmas everyone," Roman said. "Will you count with me? Three!"
Everyone joined in.
"TWO! ONE!"
Roman hit the big, red button. In a burst of twinkling color, the tree lit up. There was a collective gasp followed by rapturous applause.
"It's so pretty," Chantelle exclaimed.
"And so lucky they'd cut it down before the fire," Owen added.
Emily looked over at him, frowning. "What do you mean? What fire?"
"Didn't you hear?" Owen said, turning his eyes away from the beautiful tree and looking at Emily, shocked. "Terry's Christmas Tree farm. There was a huge fire out there. Burned everything to the ground. Even his house."
Emily gasped. "But we were there just the other day! I don't believe it."
Jason, the local firefighter, was standing a little way ahead of them and he turned then and addressed Emily in a hushed voice.
"We got called up there," he said. "It was that much of a blaze that they needed to call on other local crews to help. Such a tragedy. His whole business and his home destroyed right before Christmas. And you know he's got no family in the area. Never married. No kids."
"Where is he staying?" Emily asked, feeling greatly saddened by the shocking news.
Jason told her; "He's in a hostel, I think. Temporary emergency accommodation until he can make other arrangements. What those other arrangements will be, though, I've no idea…"
"We'll have to put him up at the inn," Emily said immediately. "We can't leave him in a hostel for Christmas!"
She looked to Daniel appealingly.
"Of course," Daniel said without missing a beat. "We have the space. The more the merrier."
"Do you have a way we can get in touch with him?" Emily asked Jason.
"Of course," Jason said. "If you call the fire department up there they should be able to put you in touch. Here." He scribbled the number down for her.
Emily wasted no time. She grabbed her cell phone and called the fire service division and got the number from them. Then she called the hostel where Terry was staying, and was put on hold as they went to find him.
"Hello?" came his voice over the other end of the phone, sounding confused and tired.
"Terry, this is Emily, the manager from the Inn at Sunset Harbor. We came and bought a tree of you just the other day."
"I can't do refunds," Terry said quickly. "My business is all up in the air at the moment and.. And…" He sounded close to tears.
"Oh no, you misunderstood," Emily told him, hurrying to rectify the situation. "We heard about the fire on your property and we wanted to offer you one of our rooms for the festive period."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. Emily wondered, suddenly, if she'd overstepped the mark. Terry lived alone with no family, after all. Perhaps he'd chosen that, in the same way her father had. By offering him a room, had she offended him by implying he was lonely?
But then Terry spoke.
"You'd do that?" he asked. He sounded stunned. "Really?"
"Absolutely," Emily said. "We have space and we love spending time with people. I mean, that's obvious. We wouldn't have opened an inn if we didn't! But honestly, we'd be delighted to have another guest."
"I…I don't think I'd be able to pay you anything," Terry stammered. "I mean, the business, I don't know what's going to happen with the insurance and how long it will take or whether I'll even be able to start again and…"
"You wouldn't have to pay a cent," Emily told him, interrupting his nervous monologue.
There was another long silence. Finally, in a voice that cracked with emotion, Terry replied, "I don't know what to say."
"How about, 'see you tomorrow'?" Emily suggested.
"Yes. Yes, okay. I'll see you tomorrow! Thank you, Emily!"
They ended the call, and Chantelle grinned up at her mom. "This is going to be the best Christmas ever," she said. Then suddenly a look of worry appeared on her face.
"What is it, honey?" Emily asked, concerned.
"Quick!" Chantelle cried, tugging on Emily's hand. "We have to get Terry a Christmas sweater!"