Christmas in Evergreen Tidings of Joy - Nancy Naigle Page 0,3

is pretty much that way, and that’s where all the action takes place.”

“All right.”

“Okay. See ya.” He turned to go to his car, feeling the teensiest bit of rejection.

“I guess, uh…” He turned just in time to see her do a playful jazz hands as she said, “Merry Christmas!”

Everyone around her responded with a rousing “Merry Christmas!” that practically knocked her off her feet.

“Oh! My goodness,” Katie said. “Wow.”

“Welcome to Evergreen,” he said. If that surprised her, she would be in for a real eye-opener after spending a little time here.

She was still juggling her big leather tote bag for her ringing phone.

It’d be nice to run into her again. Maybe even over hot chocolate and a fresh kringle at the Kringle Kitchen one morning.

In a small town like Evergreen, it wasn’t a stretch to think they would bump into each other.

And with that, a mental list of ways to improve those odds ticked off in his mind.

Chapter Two

Katie finally silenced her phone as she pulled it out from the depths of her tote bag. With her feet firmly planted in the middle of this overwhelmingly Christmassy town, she answered it. “Hey, Mom.”

“Katie, hi. You made it okay?” Mom had probably been tracking the train and knew the second it had arrived here in Evergreen. That woman had a plan for her plans.

“I did. I just got off the train. I’m walking toward town this very minute, in fact.” In the distance, a jazzy version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” played. She sucked in a deep breath of fresh winter air.

“Is it wonderful?”

“The air smells like pine. There’s a light snow falling. Not gonna lie, I already feel pretty relaxed. Everything okay there?” She grabbed the handle on her suitcase, her other hand holding her phone to her ear while rolling her bag down Main Street.

Mom gave her a play-by-play of her day so far, which wasn’t all that uncommon. They talked all the time, but Katie didn’t need all of Mom’s aggravations seeping into her vacation-time, and it was already stealing her Christmassy vibe.

Katie half-listened to her mom as she looked at the cute shops and a tiny white church. Potted spruce trees decorated with shiny red bows flanked the tall double-doors. It couldn’t hold more than fifty people from the looks of it. The sharp pitch of the roofline over the entrance rose to a point that seemed twice as tall as the church was wide. A bell tower showed off a trio of shiny bells that hung in random positions as if they’d stopped ringing mid-swing.

Who knew places like this—so much like the ones in the miniature Christmas villages that were so popular—actually existed? She made a mental note to visit the church while in town.

“I won’t say it’s been my best day,” her mom went on. “Now, I need to find a writer to help fill the cover story for our next issue.”

The cover story? “Oh, dear. Wait.” She made herself concentrate on the phone call. “I thought you brought on that sports reporter who was going to do the story about inventing a new extreme sport—”

“I did. He broke both of his hands in the process.”

“Yikes. That is extreme. So you’re—”

“I’m wondering if you want to throw your hat in the ring.” Mom’s words had come across more as a challenge than an opportunity. Mom had made it no secret that she’d much prefer Katie come work at the magazine rather than chase the dream of being a novelist, even though her debut novel had received wonderful reviews. She knew Mom meant well, but it still stung.

“You want me to write a cover story?”

“Well?”

Katie couldn’t lie. The cover held appeal, but she needed to focus on what she really wanted, and that was to write her second novel. If she didn’t get down to work soon, she might lose the readers she’d already won over with the first book. It was hard to build a good following in such a flooded market. If she was going to succeed in making a living as a novelist, she needed to write.

In the heavy sigh that came across the line, Katie could picture the stress lines pulling across Mom’s forehead. It was so hard for Katie to not pitch in to help her, but she’d been putting her own dream aside for so long now.

“I’m really in a jam here.”

“But I just started a vacation.” With her phone still to her ear, she turned around. There were so