“No. I wouldn’t want to take away from where the attention should be—the artists.”
“But it would bring people.”
I resisted the urge to drag her in closer. “I’m involved with Amber, not Ambrose. She’ll be here as my girlfriend not a PR stunt, Madam Mayor.”
Amber stiffened at my side and glanced up at me.
“Tate, that’s not what I meant, and you know it.” The mayor sniffed.
“Does this mean you’ll be sticking around for a while this time, Amber?” Michell asked, smoothly changing the subject.
“It’s good to be home, let’s just say that.” She slipped away from me. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I have a friend heading up to meet me.” She went onto her toes and kissed my cheek. “Careful, those two will eat you alive,” she said under her breath.
She crossed the driveway, an extra swing in her walk that nearly made me growl. Then she started running when a black monster of a Jeep drove up the road between our houses. She opened the door and I could hear her laughter from where we were before she climbed in and the engine revved before turning back around.
The woman behind the wheel was as startlingly beautiful as Amber, but she was everything dark to Amber’s light. From the ink color of her hair to the wing of her exotic eyes. She gave me a sassy wink and threw her head back in a wicked laugh before the Jeep headed back into town.
I turned back to Mitchell and Candice.
Mitchell’s shrewd eyes were narrowed as he watched the Jeep drive away. “She looks familiar.”
I wasn’t stepping in that landmine. “Let me show you around. Our artists would love a shout-out in the paper as well.”
Mitchell nodded, his genial smile back in place. “Of course. We can do that.”
If they were going to disrupt my day, I would be getting something out of this. “We aren’t quite ready for show and tell, but if you’ll forgive the areas that aren’t quite ready I’d be happy to show you around.”
“That’s what we’re here for.”
The junior reporter was snapping pictures as we climbed the walk to the smaller sign inside the village. A pair of Christmas trees flanked the archway. They were large and decorated in cool white twinkle lights that cycled through a soft glow. Welcome to Wonderland was hand-painted by one of the first artists to sign on with me.
“Phoebe Valentine made our signs for the village. She’s a muralist by trade, but does very cool signs in between her bigger projects.” I pointed at the playful blue and white arrows pointing to the various destinations in the village. “She even made us afont that I trademarked for us. I made sure to use as many local businesses in the creative aspects of Haven Winter Wonderland. Her brother has helped Valerie, our social media coordinator, to create a fun website which will have a list of artists and their schedules with us.”
I held a hand out for them to walk ahead of me.
“We’ll head out to North Star Lane which is the main street for all the vendors. We have a mix of three different size retail spaces for all kinds of artists. We’re doing everything from the entire season to two week rentals.”
Nerves sprang and coiled in my belly. I’d been working on this for over a year and now it was finally coming together.
Mitchell scanned the winding lane. “Twenty-five is it?”
I nodded. “We have twenty-three retail spaces right now and two will be for food and refreshments. We’re having a few guest food and beverage trucks as well on the busy weekends.”
“Impressive.” The mayor’s calculating gaze skimmed over the well-made sheds. “This will be bringing a lot of people here, Tate.”
“That’s the plan.”
“I wasn’t sure when you brought this wild project to me at the town hall. I didn’t even know how to create a permit for this place.” She slowly turned around. “It’s far exceeded my expectations. I was expecting little wooden structures like Mark Whimsey’s Christmas Village.”
I laughed. That place had been around since I was a child. “I should be offended.”
She chuckled. “Well, you are the creative one; I am more about spreadsheets and ledgers.”
“Well, I’m hoping the ledgers will come along as we see how the season shakes out.”
I took them around the trail to the larger, office-sized shed that I’d ordered to use for refreshments.
“This is Reindeer Run. It’ll be a stopgap for the Haven Wonderland of Lights which will leave from here and travel around the back pasture.”
