around the desk. “Can I help you with your bag?”
“No, thank you. I can manage.”
“Upstairs. First door on the right.”
Katie climbed the wooden staircase to the second floor. Just as Megan had said, the Holly room was right at the top of the stairs. Evergreen, Spruce, Poinsettia and Mistletoe were the names of the other rooms she could see from here. She rolled her bag on the wooden floor. The door to the room was propped open, so she brought her bag inside and closed the door behind her.
It was much bigger than she’d expected. She had plenty of room to work. Delighted, she left her bag sitting where it was and toured through the room. Chairs in front of the windows and a desk against the wall offered two great options to nestle in for writing, should inspiration strike. The bed was covered in layers of fluffy linens of red and white. Two pillows were wrapped like presents in front of the heaping pile of fancy pillows. A huge poinsettia took up the better part of a round table in front of the window. The king-size bed looked so comfortable with the pillows piled on top that she was half tempted to forego unpacking and stretch out for a long nap. Maybe even until tomorrow.
She laid on the bed face down and let the quiet hang around her for a moment before turning over and staring at the ceiling.
As much as she wanted to just lie there in the pretty room and absorb the joyful environment, it nagged at her that she’d kind of left Mom hanging when her phone had died. Mom was probably wondering what the heck was going on. She got up and plugged her phone in, and set up her notebooks, pens and laptop on the desk. A tiny red glass vase held a single sprig of holly. She tapped the edge of her finger against one of its bright-green pointed leaves. The berries were so glossy they didn’t look real. Just like the rest of the town, it seemed too perfect to be true. Yet it was. She shifted the tiny bud vase, letting the sprig lean as if pouring inspiration toward her workspace.
Since the battery on her phone was now at least charging, she made a quick call to her mom, but it went straight to her voice mail. Because living out of a suitcase was too distracting, she unpacked her clothes and hung most of her things in the pretty mahogany glass front armoire on the padded silk hangers provided, then slid the empty suitcase into the closet. She liked being settled in for the long haul, even if it was only for a week. That was certainly long enough to come up with some good ideas for the next book, and even get some plotting done.
Excited to check out the rest of the B&B, Katie took her charger, phone and laptop downstairs. A few people chatted in the living room, but the den was empty except for the warm fire blazing an inviting orange. She closed her eyes and wrote whatever came to her mind, and the ideas were flowing. She’d never even considered writing a story set at Christmas, but it was beginning to feel like there was something to be told here.
She was in the zone, her fingers hitting the keys as fast as she could to keep up with the thoughts rolling through her mind. Her phone rang, breaking her concentration. Mom? She took the call. “Hi, Mom. Sorry. My phone ran out of battery.”
“I figured. I don’t mean to rush you, but I’ve reached out to just about everyone I normally rely on and—”
“You know,” Katie cut her off, glancing down at her scribbles in her notebook, “I was thinking there might actually be a story here.”
“In Vermont?”
“Well, it’s this town. You should see this place. This inn is gorgeous. I’m feeling very spoiled at the moment, and kind of liking it, I’ll admit. Every business here in Evergreen has some kind of Christmas theme. There’s even this Christmas time capsule—”
“You’re hired!” Mom’s voice was as certain as if an auctioneer had just banged a gavel to punctuate the sale.
“Okay, Mom? Slow down.” Katie paused, allowing herself to absorb it, too. “At least let me send you a pitch or something. We’ll see if you like it.”
“I already like it,” her mom said. “Christmas town turns Christmas profit.”
Not what I had in mind…at all! But the assignment