skeptical frown. “I have a lot of work to do.”
“Trust me. This will be well worth your time.”
Kathryn sighed. “Fine, but you need to buy me lunch while we’re out. I’m starving.”
I grinned. “Deal.”
Kathryn drew her coat tightly around herself and buried her chin in her knitted emerald green scarf as we passed under the entranceway arch of the Vancouver Christmas Market. I’d paid for our tickets and was now on the hunt for a booth we could visit that would provide lunch. With any luck, a full belly would improve Kathryn’s mood and she’d be open to receiving my idea about our clients and their ad campaign.
“Do you like chili?” I asked.
Kathryn nodded and shivered.
Praise the lord.
I led her through the throngs of people in line for other booths to order churros, cider, hot chocolates, maple syrup frozen on popsicle sticks, candy canes, pizza, and other goodies. We found a spot in line at a food truck serving chili and poutine, and when we got to the front of the line, we ordered two bowls with a bun on the side. It wasn’t cheap, but nothing in the city ever was. We brought our meals over to a covered tent set up with electric heaters to keep it warm. Kathryn immediately relaxed as we took our seats and took the lids off our chili bowls.
It smelled glorious.
While she ate, I tried not to look her in the eyes. Apparently, that was a dangerous thing for me to do.
“Hey,” I said softly. “I wanted to apologize for the other night. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable and I’m not really sure what I was thinking. I just—”
“It’s fine,” she said stiffly. “Seriously, it’s fine. Let’s just pretend it didn’t happen. Okay?”
That wasn’t what I wanted. “Okay,” I said.
We ate our lunch while Christmas carols poured through speakers all around us and children chased each other from tent to tent with red and green candy-cane-stained cheeks.
Kathryn watched them, expressionless, and scooped chili onto her buttered bun. “Tell me about this idea of yours, Collinder.”
This was it. Where Kathryn was concerned, I had to choose my words carefully. I had to treat the conversation like I was pitching to a high-level client who possessed the patience of a Chihuahua.
“All right,” I began. “I know Christmas isn’t your idea of romance, but I think even you can admit that people are crazy about being in love over the holidays. It’s present in fiction and real life. Most Christmas songs are love songs and Christmas movies almost always have a love story in them.”
“Get to the point.”
“I want to host a dating event here at the market and represent it as a night for new and long-term couples alike. We could present it as a chance for new couples from your matchmaking app to get to know each other amidst the charm of the market as well as an opportunity to rekindle that old Christmas spirit and love for Sylvie’s couples. It may not sound like much right now, but when you’re done eating, I want to walk through the market together. Pay attention to the couples. To the way people are with each other here. It’s different. The lights and the music and the overall Christmas cheer. It does something to people. And we’d be fools to let an opportunity like this pass us by because we were too busy sending emails and writing pitch lines.”
Kathryn dabbed her lips with her napkin. “You want to spend precious work hours walking around the Christmas market like Mr. and Mrs. Claus?”
“Yes,” I said simply. “Indulge me. Please?”
Kathryn tossed her napkin into her empty chili bowl and crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine. I’ll indulge you. But I expect the full deal experience. I want to know what people do here for fun because from where I’m sitting this is altogether too busy, too loud, and too sparkly.”
I chuckled. All I needed was a shot and she was giving it to me. “Let’s start at the beginning. We’ll do it right. Prepare yourself to be wooed by Christmas, Kathryn Rouche.”
We both stood and I caught her hiding a smile in her scarf as we brought our lunch trays to the garbage bins outside the tent.
Chapter 17
Kathryn
I hated to admit it, but Ethan might have been onto something with his idea of hosting an event for our applications at the Christmas market. I did what he asked and paid attention to the couples in the