Christmas getaway for tw.., p.1
Christmas Getaway for Two, page 1
part #1 of Christmas in Arbor Shores Series
Christmas Getaway for Two
A Christmas In Arbor Shores Novella
Nomi Summers
Copyright © 2019 by Nomi Summers
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Write from the Heart Books
P.O. Box 66202
St. Pete Beach, FL 33736
Cover Design by Elizabeth Mackey Designs
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Also by Nomi Summers
Stay Connected
Chapter 1
“I just don’t know where you find all these cute clothes, Harper,” Chloe said over her shoulder as she rifled through her best friend’s closet, pulling out a black, A-line skirt and holding it up to her frame as she posed in front of the full-length mirror.
“The mall,” Harper responded absently before turning her focus back to the computer screen in front of her. She couldn’t be bothered from her intensive online surfing.
“What are you doing over there, anyway?” Chloe plopped down on Harper’s bed.
“I’m looking for a weekend getaway for Blake and me. Things have just been … off lately. I can’t put my finger on it, but I just know a romantic getaway for two in a snowy town somewhere out of the city is just what we need. I want to surprise him with it.” Harper continued sifting through each of the online search results in order, determined to find the perfect place to rekindle the dying spark in her two-year relationship.
“And how exactly do you plan to pay for that? Weren’t you just telling me you maxed your credit card on your latest shopping spree? Again?”
“Listen, Chlo’. You know I have to keep up with what’s trending for my blog, and that means always looking my best.”
“Ah, yes, the rough life of a fashion blogger. How could I forget?” Chloe teased.
“No, I’m a lifestyle blogger,” she corrected her friend. “It’s not only fashion. I cover hot spots as well, and anything that’s trending. I’m revered for keeping my followers in the know.” Harper finally looked up, only to shoot her friend a look. One of her biggest pet peeves was when people didn’t take her career seriously. Especially when they referred to her as a fashion blogger.
“In that case, don’t popular social media influencers get free vacations? Why don’t you put your online reach to good use and ask for a comp? With all the followers you have, you could bring a lot of exposure to any location you decided to feature.”
Harper looked up at the ceiling and tapped at her bottom lip with a perfectly manicured red nail. “I like how you think. I just wouldn’t feel right asking for a comp on such a high-ticket item like a vacation.”
“Well, how else are you going to pay for it?”
“Good question.” Harper hadn’t yet taken the time to consider that part of her plan. She had been so wrapped up in finding the perfect place to surprise Blake with, the how hadn’t exactly occurred to her. She made a decent living as a lifestyle blogger, but she also had a decent shopping habit to boot, and on top of it, the cost of living in Chicago did not come cheap.
Then, after sifting through pages of searches, somewhere stuffed back on page seven—or maybe even eight—it caught her eye. The headline read:
Looking for a Romantic Getaway this Holiday Season? Evergreen Manor Awaits. Voted Arbor Shores, Michigan’s Most Romantic Vacation Destination.
Harper clicked the link, and when the webpage loaded, she couldn’t believe her eyes. It was perfect. A Victorian-style inn tucked away in a small town in Northern Michigan, just a day trip north of Chicago, but far enough that she and Blake could get out of the city and enjoy some quality alone time. This was just what they needed. Hope swelled inside of her for the first time in a long time. She began scrolling the inn’s website until she found the rates. But, as quickly as her smile had formed, it dropped from her face.
“What? What is it?” Chloe asked.
“The nightly rate for the month of December is $275? That’s ridiculous. It would cost over a thousand dollars just to take Blake there for an extended weekend,” Harper pouted and snapped her laptop closed in frustration.
A smile that spelled mischief formed on Chloe’s face. Harper watched as her friend sprang from the bed and scooped the laptop out from in front of her.
“What are you doing?” Harper asked with a bit of trepidation. If she knew her gregarious best friend, she had a feeling Chloe was up to no good.
“Just let me handle this.” Chloe opened the laptop and quickly recovered Harper’s search. In another quick swoop, she’d snatched Harper’s cell phone from the nightstand next to the bed.
“Chlo’…” Harper warned, but her warning fell on deaf ears. Chloe had already begun dialing.
“Yes, may I speak with the person in charge of booking media features, please,” she said into the phone.
Harper leaned forward on the edge of her seat. Should she be mortified or excited by her friend’s antics? It was too late to stop Chloe at this point, so she might as well go along with the plan and see what might come of it. What did she have to lose, anyway?
“Hi, this is Harper Hayes,” Chloe started. “You may have heard of me; I run the popular website, Harper’s Happenings. My blog receives 1,100 unique hits per day, and I have a social media following of over one-hundred thousand fans.” That part was true. Harper did have one heck of a following online, and her tribe loved her. She was considered a macro influencer, who not only was paid to endorse products on her website, but was often gifted products to try out and review as well. But never anything like a vacation for two. If Chloe could pull this off, it’d be a miracle.
“Oh, well that’s okay you can look me up after we get off the call.” Chloe continued, “The reason I’m calling today is because I’m looking for an inn to feature this holiday season. In exchange for four-day accommodations for two, I’ll write an article featuring your inn to be published within a week of my departure. Since it’s still early December, this means massive exposure for your business for the holiday season.”
Harper stared at her friend in disbelief, and Chloe offered her a reassuring wink. If only she had half of Chloe’s gall. Was this plan of hers actually going to work?
Harper’s heart raced as she waited in anticipation.
On the other end of the line, Owen Sanders knuckled the receiver a bit harder. The nerve of this woman. Not only did he not have time for this, but he was put off by the audacity of this social media whoever-she-was. How dare she call and ask for free accommodations.
“Do you realize it’s December, the busiest time of the year? What makes you think we even have an opening at our inn, much less one that we will award for free to a blogger?” he asked. Truth was, even with eight guest rooms, the inn was practically empty for the coming weekend, but that was beside the point.
“I’m sorry, perhaps you misunderstood me. I’m not just a blogger, you see, I’m an influencer. That means a positively featured article shared to my audience could do wonders for your business, and—”
Owen didn’t need to hear another word. She’d lost him at ‘blogger.’ “We’re not interested. Thank you and goodbye.” He slammed down the receiver with a bit more force than needed, just as his mother approached the front desk behind him.
“Who was that, Owen?” Delia Sanders prodded.
“No one. It was just a solicitor.”
“Well, from what I heard it sounded like someone wanted to feature Evergreen Manor in an article.”
“No. Well, yes, but not really. She was a blogger. And she wanted free accommodations in exchange for the feature. Can you believe that?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I can. That’s one way for us to get some exposure for the inn. This is our slowest season yet and the phone isn’t exactly ringing off the hook.”
Owen rubbed at the back of his neck before heading for the coat rack to put on his jacket. The sad reality was, since his father had passed away two years ago, the inn had never quite been the same. Walt Sanders had taken great pride in Evergreen Manor, and once he’d died, Mrs. Sanders went into a time of mourning, unable to keep up with the demands of running the inn on her own. That’s when Owen had returned to his hometown to step in and help. He had just gone through a bitter divorce after his wife abandoned him and their daughter, Bella, and he threw himself into helping her run the Manor to keep himself busy. While his mother typically did the cooking and took care of the guests, he performed more of the behind-the-scenes duties such as maintenance and balancing of the books. But his experience crunching numbers told him the inn was in trouble, and they couldn’t afford to comp a guest for the weekend.
After college, Owen had st
“I think it’s a bad idea. We don’t need some entitled blogger coming through here free of charge. I’ll find a way to revamp sales.”
“When your father was alive, we often had journalists come through here to feature our inn. That’s one of the things to which I attribute our award-winning inn.”
“Journalists and bloggers are not one and the same. I’ll call the local paper and see if they can do something for us this season. The woman who called isn’t the person for us, Mom. Please trust me on this.” Owen planted a kiss on his mother’s forehead and slipped his arms into his coat sleeves, looking for any reason to end the tiresome conversation. “I need to go shovel the front walk; the snow’s been coming down like crazy all morning, and it’s expected to keep up through the night.”
Owen slipped out the door and was met by a blast of cold air and heavy snowfall, leaving his mother alone at the front desk.
Chapter 2
Harper abandoned the idea of featuring Evergreen Manor after Chloe’s pitch was so rudely snubbed.
“Ah, well, thanks for trying, Chlo’,” she sulked, and just as she rose from her desk to join her friend on the bed, her cell phone began to buzz.
Chloe grabbed it and looked at the screen before passing it on, wide-eyed. “Harper! You’re not going to believe this. He’s calling back!” She held out the phone.
But by now, Harper had lost interest and wouldn’t take the assignment if it were offered to her. How dare he turn down her feature. Most people begged to be reviewed on her blog.
“Nope. Not interested.”
“What? Don’t be silly. Either you answer or I will,” Chloe warned with a pitched brow, and this time Harper knew to take her friend seriously. She snatched the phone from Chloe’s hand and answered.
“Harper Hayes,” she said dryly, awaiting a response from the other end. He must’ve looked up her blog online and was calling back with a change of heart. She straightened her shoulders and geared up for his apology.
“Hello there. This is Delia Sanders, owner of Evergreen Manor. I believe you just spoke with my son, Owen?”
“Uh … yes. That was me,” Harper went along with it.
“I do apologize if my son was short with you; he had a guest waiting to check in at the desk, but I’d be interested to hear more about your offer. I retrieved your number off the caller ID.”
“Great.” A sly smile tugged at the corners of Harper’s lips, and Chloe perked up in anticipation. “I was calling because I’m the founder of Harper’s Happenings, and I’m looking for a romantic getaway to feature to my audience for the holiday season. In my search for the perfect inn, I found Evergreen Manor online. I was wondering if you’d be interested in a featured article in exchange for four-nights’ accommodations for two?”
“When exactly will this feature be published, and what’s the reach?” Delia asked.
“I’d like to come this weekend, and then you’ll be featured the following week. This will allow ample time for the article to circulate to my reach of over one-hundred thousand viewers and should bring some new business to your inn this holiday season. But, if you’re not interested, I’ve already found a B&B in your town that’s—”
“No! No need to call any other inn. We would be happy to have you as a guest at Evergreen Manor this weekend. Accommodations for two, you said? When shall we expect you?”
“Yes, I’ll be bringing my fiancé,” Harper indulged, “so that we can get a feel for just how romantic your inn is. It will only add to the feature. We’ll be arriving Thursday afternoon, and we’ll be leaving early Monday. The name, again, is Harper Hayes.”
“I have your reservation down, and it just so happens, I have our best room available for you this weekend, Ms. Hayes. We’ll see you on Thursday.”
“Now that’s the girl I know and love!” Chloe squealed as Harper ended the call.
“I can’t believe she agreed to it. Chlo’. You’re a genius!”
“Right? My only question is, why haven’t we thought of this before? I see a Caribbean vacation in our future.” Chloe spread across the bed, hands behind her head, as if to imitate lounging on a beach.
“Well, let’s just see how this one goes first. Now, to surprise Blake with the news.”
“When are you going to tell him?”
“Tonight. We’re meeting for dinner in about an hour. Which means I need to find something killer to wear.”
“Well, my dear, that shouldn’t be hard to do,” Chloe teased as her eyes motioned to the closet filled with designer outfits and a wall of shoes most women would kill for.
“I just need to get us back to where we were a year ago. Reignite the spark. This little inn should do the trick. You know, the website said it was voted most romantic …”
“So I’ve heard,” Chloe interrupted, sounding bored with the conversation. “Listen, I have to run. Wear that little red dress you got at Saks last week. That’s sure to get Blake’s attention.”
“Great idea. Thanks, Chlo’, you’re the best.” She met Chloe with a peck on the cheek before her friend dashed out the door.
Harper glanced at her watch: 5:45 p.m. She had just over an hour until she had to leave to meet Blake at the new bistro in Uptown. Just enough time to make herself look extra stellar for their date.
Harper entered the bistro and checked her coat at the front, rubbing her hands together in an attempt to warm them as she surveyed the restaurant. She spotted Blake as he was signaling to the waitress to bring him another drink. Uh-oh. That meant he’d likely been there for a while, and that would mean he’d be annoyed he’d been left waiting on her once again. It wasn’t her fault she was always late. Punctuality was not her strong suit.
Just as the waitress reached the table, so did Harper.
“I’m so sorry, hun,” Harper made her way straight to Blake and leaned in for a kiss, but Blake held up a hand to stop her as he turned to the waitress.
“Another bourbon for me, and a glass of chardonnay for the lady,” he ordered. There was just something about Blake Andrews. He was handsome and powerful—his presence made women swoon—and Harper used to love when he’d order for her. But lately, something about it had started to cause her blood to boil.
“Actually, I’ve heard you have great martinis here. I think I’ll have one of these gingerbread ones with the crushed cookie rim,” Harper told the server with a smile as she pointed out the drink on the menu.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Blake stared at her for a moment, jaw pulsating, but didn’t say a word as Harper started in with her excuse as to why she was late. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I was trying to find somewhere to park when this old lady cut me off and took my spot, even though she could clearly see that I had my blinker on—”
Blake cleared his throat. “Harper, I have something to tell you.”
Harper opened her napkin and spread it neatly across her lap. Knowing Blake, he had already ordered an appetizer for them. She could tell by his tone he was in a mood, and she wanted to shift the conversation for the moment. Whatever he had to say, surely it could wait until after dinner. She had been looking forward to their night together all day, and she could hardly wait to share her news. If he was upset about her being late, surely, he’d get over it as soon as he found out about the romantic vacation she had planned for them. It was just what Blake needed anyway. As a prominent Chicago attorney, he worked long hours and could use the break.
