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There was a moment of silence before he said, “Oh, hi. I was hoping you’d call.”

Not wanting to eavesdrop, she carried the bag of soaps out of the kitchen and placed them at the bottom of the stairs. She’d take them up shortly.

A short time later, she heard, “I don’t know. Let me ask her.” He lowered the phone. “Did you have anything special in mind for dinner?”

It was an unusual question. And so she hesitantly answered, “No. Why?”

“Would you like to go to dinner with me to meet last year’s Christmas puppies?”

Her brows rose. She certainly hadn’t expected that sort of invitation. It sounded fun, but she didn’t want to intrude. “It’s okay. You go ahead and go.”

“Candi specifically asked if you would go. It would give you a chance to meet more Kringle Falls residents.”

He had a good point. It would be nice to meet some more people, especially if they were as nice as Holly. Maybe she’d work up the nerve to ask if anyone knew her mother or maybe they could tell her about her grandparents.

The next thing she knew Shaun said into the phone, “She’d love to come. What time did you say?” There was a slight pause. “Okay. We’ll see you then. And you’re sure about us bringing Mochi?” He nodded his head. “Okay. See you then.”

After he lowered the phone, Leah asked, “Why did you say that I’d be there?”

“Because I could see it in your eyes that you wanted to accept the invitation.”

She didn’t like that he could read her so clearly. “But I didn’t agree.”

“You know you want to. It’ll be fun. And it’s not like you have any guests keeping you here.”

“But you should have waited for me to make up my mind.”

He sighed. “Do you want me to call her back and cancel?”

She immediately shook her head. “That would be rude. Just next time wait for an answer.”

“Understood.”

“What time is dinner?”

“Since it was late notice she said seven thirty. Does that work?”

She glanced at the wall clock in the kitchen. It meant she had an hour or so to find the Christmas decorations.

“Okay. I’ll see you in a little bit.” When he sent her a quizzical look, she said, “Didn’t you say that you had some emails to respond to?”

He nodded. “I did.”

She headed for the stairs and picked up the scented soaps. There was a walk-in closet on the second floor where the supplies were kept, from linens to cleaning supplies. Her grandmother had a good idea about centralizing everything to turnover the rooms on the same floor. It certainly made the task easier. But the rooms were already cleaned, so once Leah placed the new soaps in the supply closet, she moved to the next door.

When she’d first arrived at the inn, she’d found the door locked. The surprising thing was that the key for it wasn’t on the same key ring as the keys for the guest rooms and the supply closet.

She’d asked Jane for the key, but was told she didn’t have a clue where it might be. In fact, Jane had never been in the attic. Not even to get the Christmas decorations.

Leah had been searching for the key ever since. Her efforts had turned up exactly nine keys to try. She pulled the keyring from her pocket. One by one she tried them. And one by one they didn’t fit the lock.

She was down to the last two keys. She looked at the keys, hoping that one of them would work. One key was silver and the other was gold. She looked at the lock. It was a faded gold, so she decided to try the gold key first.

The breath hitched in her throat as she slid the key into the lock. All the while she was thinking: Please work. The wish played on repeat in her mind.

The key slipped fully into the lock. Her hope rose, but she still didn’t know if the key would turn in the lock. Please work.

She gave the key a twist. It refused to move. She wasn’t giving up. She put a little more force into her effort. And then the lock gave way.