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“You get ready for bed. I’ll clean up the pizza and be right up.”
Holly nodded, the exhaustion etched on her face. You couldn’t plan when your business was going to take off. You just had to hope you could handle the volume when it came. In the future, she’d need more of a stockpile before events like this. But we had plenty of time to plan.
After I cleaned up, I hurried upstairs, hoping Holly was still awake. Despite how tired I was, I wanted to celebrate. I’d missed connecting with her today in the workshop. But when I reached my bedroom, it was dark, and Holly appeared to be asleep.
I sighed and got ready for bed, too. After Christmas, things would slow down. It was just a few more days. Then we could relax.
Over the next few days, we got into a rhythm. Anyone who wasn’t scheduled to work on the farm or at the shop helped with packing and shipping. I managed the runs to the post office, and Holly focused on painting. She didn’t have time to work on the glass creations, but she’d have plenty of time for that after the holidays.
For the first time, I was looking forward to the holiday itself. After that, I was sure we’d be busy helping to plan Sarah and Knox’s wedding.
It made me realize how isolated I’d been the last few years, and I suspected it had everything to do with my father’s death. While my brothers were more involved in the family, moved home, and changed jobs, I retreated into myself.
I knew I owed my mother an explanation and maybe even my brothers. But I wouldn’t tackle that until after the holidays, and maybe even after the wedding. I didn’t want to detract from the family or the events surrounding the holidays.
On Christmas Eve, Holly came with me to ship the last few boxes. There was no hope that they would get there by Christmas, but a lot of people kept their trees up at least through New Year’s, so they’d still get a chance to display them.
We stood in the long line at the post office, and when we handed the boxes off to the worker, we both breathed a sigh of relief. On the way out, I held the door for Holly as she said, “I know I should be thankful for the sales and the money coming in, but I’m just exhausted.”
“We should take a nap before we head over to your mom’s.”
“I’m so glad you’re coming tonight. It will feel like old times.”
I grinned despite the exhaustion setting in. “That’s what I’m hoping for. Let’s get a greasy breakfast and head home to sleep.”
Holly linked her hand on my elbow and leaned into my side. “That sounds perfect.”
We’d skipped over the usual getting-to-know-each-other dates because we were so familiar with each other. There were a few things that had changed—we were wiser and more mature—but for the most part, we were the same people at our core.
We got a seat inside the mostly deserted restaurant.
When the hostess handed Holly the menu, she said, “Everyone must be doing last-minute shopping.”
The waitress nodded. “We don’t expect many diners today. We’ll probably close around two.”
“We’ll be out of here well before that,” I said as she moved toward another couple at the door.
We ordered eggs, hash browns, and bacon, then sipped our coffee while we waited for it to be cooked.
“As exhausting as the last few days were, it was exhilarating, too, you know? It felt good to know that so many people wanted my ornaments.”
“And you’ve gotten emails inquiring about the glass ornaments you mentioned in your newsletter.”
“I didn’t think I had time to write the email, but I’m glad Marley pushed me to do it. It’s a great way to keep in contact with my customers. It’s taking me a minute to get my head around the idea that people want to hear from me. They’re interested in what I have to sell.”
“As a business owner, you have to get over the ickiness of sales. You’re providing a product they want.”
“That’s a nice way of thinking about it.” Holly looked out at the window and then turned her attention to me. “It’s nice having you as a resource. You’ve been through something similar, and you know when to freak out and when to chill.”
“There aren’t many times where freaking out is necessary. You don’t have to fulfill a ton of orders. You control how your business runs. If you only want to work on certain days, then you can control that. If you only want to take on so many orders, you can put on your website that they’ll sell out after a certain number of orders.”
“Marley mentioned that keeping a running inventory would produce a sense of scarcity for the customers. Buy it before it’s gone.”
“You can play with that. See how it goes. Some people won’t like it. But it’s been proven to work.”
“I’m so lucky to have you and Marley to give me advice, and your family to help with shipping.”
“You’d do the same for us if we needed your help, and you were one of the first artists to consign your work to the shop. This isn’t a one-way relationship. We’re there for each other.”
