By the time December arrived, Rosie was spending all her spare time at the Duchess. Early mornings, late nights, weekends, whatever it took. Today, her anxiety was higher than usual because the hotel was hosting their first “family Saturday.” Since she hadn’t asked guests to register for the event ahead of time, she didn’t know how many people to expect. At least twenty families with small children were currently staying at the Duchess, but they might have other plans.
She’d arrived at the hotel at ten, fully intending to help the Damsels set up, but due to an unexpected glitch in their central reservation system, she’d spent an hour dealing with IT. Then, while waiting for the system to come back online, she’d had to help the front desk deal with reservation requests and checkouts. By the time the crisis was resolved, she had less than twenty minutes before their family event was due to start. She hustled over to the breakfast room, grateful to see all the Damsels there, along with Laurel’s intern and three high school students, who were acting as “helper elves.”
Charlie ran over to Rosie. “Thank God you’re here. Is the front desk back online yet?”
“It is now,” Rosie said. “Thanks for getting everything ready.”
“No problem,” Charlie said. “I’m so nervous. What if no one shows up?”
A queasy sensation settled in the pit of Rosie’s stomach. Given Charlie’s perpetual optimism, her anxiety wasn’t a good sign. “What makes you think no one’s coming?”
“I don’t know.” Charlie twisted her hands together. “This morning’s IT outage made me anxious. Like, maybe the universe isn’t smiling on us. And it’s pouring rain outside.”
“Here I thoughtIwas the pessimist,” Selena said. “Personally, I think we lucked out with the weather. With all this rain, families will be looking for things to do indoors.”
“Plus, the marketing team did everything they could to promote today’s event,” Laurel added. “TheTimes Colonistran a short piece about it yesterday.”
“I’m just grateful we’ve gotten this far,” Rosie said. “Why don’t you all show me what you’ve done?” She’d rather focus on their accomplishments than on their fears that the hotel’s first family event would be a failure.
Charlie led her to one section of the breakfast room, where the tables were draped in seasonal vinyl tablecloths. “This is the craft corner for kids to make different ornaments.”
As Rosie scanned all the supplies—containers of Popsicle sticks, markers, cotton balls, beads, buttons, ribbons, and felt—she hoped Charlie hadn’t spent too much. “Wow. Where’d you get all this stuff?”
“Most of it came from Drew’s sister, Kate. She was going to help us out today, but she already had plans. So, last week, when you had to attend that motivational seminar with Preston, she stopped by and dropped off everything. We totally bonded.” Charlie showed her another table. “This one’s for the gingerbread people, plus icing and candy for decorating them. I can’t believe how many you made.”
“Most of the credit goes to Isabella. She organized all of it and invited our cousins to help.” Thanks to Rosie’s sister, the cookie-baking session had turned into an impromptu holiday party, complete with tunes, cocktails, and gossip.
Laurel joined them and pointed to the buffet station that ran along one side of the room. “In case anyone needs refreshments, we’ve got plenty of snacks: peppermint bark, bags of white chocolate pretzels, candy canes, and three kinds of Christmas cookies, plus we set up a hot cocoa dispenser and two carafes of coffee.”
“And…” Charlie gestured to a tall photo booth in the corner. “Ta-da! Selena got this at half price. Look at all the fun props!” She held up a giant gingerbread man.
Selena gave them a smug smile. “The breakfast cook’s brother runs a party rental place. He gave me a great deal.” Next to the photo booth was a box of light-up necklaces. She grabbed one and slipped it over Rosie’s head. “There. Now you look more festive.”
Rosie’s throat swelled up with emotion. She’d known about most of their activities, but the photo booth was a wonderful surprise. “Thanks. You’ve all done such a great job. I talked to Preston earlier, and he’s going to stop by in a bit.”
“What about Drew?” Selena asked. “When’s he coming?”
“He’ll be here at three thirty, dressed in his full Santa outfit.” Hopefully, by then, they’d have enough kids in attendance to justify his presence.
“We’ve got Santa’s area all roped off.” Laurel led her to a corner of the room where a handmade sign reading, “Welcome to the North Pole,” stood next to a wooden throne lined with plush red cushions. “The set director of VOS Musical Theatre loaned me this throne. It’s from their fall production of the musicalCamelot.”
“I love it,” Rosie said. “Thanks, everyone. I know this has been a ton of work.”
“Make sure you thank Drew for pitching in as Santa,” Selena added. “And I’m talking a real thank-you, not a sisterly hug.”
Heat bloomed in Rosie’s cheeks. “We’re only pretending to date, remember?”
“So you say, but you’ve been hanging out with him a lot.”
Rosie nodded, not wanting to admit the depth of her feelings out loud. Even as her work life grew increasingly demanding, Drew’s presence helped keep her spirits up. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to date him for real.
But it wasn’t an option. He hadn’t hinted—not once—that he wanted more from her than friendship and a fake girlfriend. Not only was he still recovering from Evelyn’s betrayal, but his issues also went much deeper. Every time he opened up about his dysfunctional parents, Rosie’s heart ached for him.
When a knock came at the door, she went to answer it, hoping Preston hadn’t decided to pop by early. She didn’t want him to show up until a few families were in attendance.
A petite Latina woman with wildly curly hair and a huge smile greeted her. “Hey, there! Are you Rosalina?”
“Just Rosie, thanks. And you’re…Sofia?” Last week, she’d gotten a message from Sofia—a popular food and travel influencer who’d decided to visit the hotel. Though Sofia had arrived last night, Rosie hadn’t gotten the chance to meet her yet.
