Page 53 of The Naughty List Agreement

She chewed her lower lip and then shook her head. “Okay. If it’s a flop, I get one day off a week from working with you.”

“You’re renegotiating?”

“Always.”

“Deal,” he said. To him, there was no risk. Christmas and singing went hand in hand. He’d spread some extra cheer and impress Cora.

“Thanks, Nick. You’re always there when I need you,” she said, a somber note in her voice.

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“I’m not sure.”

The more time he spent with Cora, the less he seemed to understand about her.

As requested, snow was falling around them as she stepped up to greet the townspeople of Pine Falls who’d come out tonight. “Thank you for joining us for the annual tree-lighting ceremony. Even though we are here at the festival grounds, this tree is for the community of Pine Falls. Thank you to everyone who supports the festival either directly by working here or indirectly by providing essentials to those who do. Without the townspeople of Pine Falls, Winter Wonderland would be just another seasonal event,” Cora said.

Each year she had to come up with new ways to intro the tree and welcome everyone. This year she was focused on the town and residents. The more national attention they received, the more important it was for the town to stay committed to the festival.

“To show how important the community is to us, we decided not to have a band this year. Instead, Nick Bari has volunteered to lead all of us in Christmas carols after the tree lighting. If you have ever sung in a choir or group before, we’d like to invite you up to the risers to join in, but I hope everyone will stick around afterwards when we will all sing together.

“And one last announcement before I hand things over to Mayor Richards for the tree lighting. There is a coffee and hot chocolate booth near the entry gates. For tonight only, the drinks will be half-price and I hope you will all check out this year’s updated version of the marshmallow latte or our new mint hot chocolate. Thank you, everyone.”

There was a round of applause and Cora gave a little curtsy, then handed the mic to the mayor before taking her place next to the other board members.

“Thank you, Cora. Pine Falls is lucky indeed to have the reigning Queen of Christmas at the helm of our Christmas festival. Each year, as December starts and the nights get longer and darker, we look to the light of our community and of course the seasonal trimmings to remind us that we aren’t alone.”

Mayor Richards held up the remote trigger for the lights.

“I think it’s time to count it down. Ten, nine, eight…”

When he reached one, the lights sprang on. Cora held her breath, waiting to see that all of them worked and when they did, relief coursed through her. The spontaneous applause made her smile.

“Gorgeous as always. Please let the Pine Falls Gazette get an official photo before you come up with your family to snap as many as you like.”

“We have festival photographers on hand as well,” Cora called out.

“Thanks for that,” Mayor Richards added.

“Let’s all go down in front of the tree,” Cora said, directing everyone on the dais to the spot where the newspaper photographer waited as well as one of the festival ones.

“This is nice,” Nick said, taking a spot behind her. He put his hand on her waist and after that she was aware of nothing else.

They were told to look toward the left and everyone did.

“Nice. We’d like one of Cora with Santa under the Winter Wonderland entrance gates. You both look so festive.”

Cora looked around but their Santa wouldn’t be here until tomorrow. Then she realized they were referring to Nick.

He gave her a big grin. “We are a bit matchy-matchy with the Santa hats.”

“And the red coats,” she joked.

They posed next to each other and the photographer looked up. “There’s mistletoe. How about a kiss?”

“What do you say?” she asked Nick.

He leaned his head toward hers. “Yes.”