Page 26 of The Christmas Highland Lodge

I remembered the Styleses saying all four were already reserved for over the Christmas period, but if we could start securing bookings for Valentine’s weekend and possibly towards Easter, that would really kick things off.

I toyed with my pen. If we could produce a few alluring, teasing fliers to hand out in the crowd, that might stir up some interest. If we could be proactive, we might even be able to secure a few reservations there and then or at least get some interest and enquiries going forward.

It would feel like we had hit the ground running then.

My pen skittered over the blank page. I would type up all these notes this evening after dinner and then I would feel more organised ahead of Wednesday morning’s meeting. I also thought it would be an idea to try and come up with an umbrella brand name for all four cabins, something appealing and escapist.

I cringed at my frantic handwriting. Imagine how embarrassing that would be if I couldn’t read my own notes in front of my new employees!

I would take a folder to that meeting with everything typed out and printed off.

Revamping and making over the cabins would be just the start. My brain had been addling itself, trying to come up with a wide assortment of marketing and promotional suggestions.

As well as the Easter egg hunt in the surrounding woodland that I had suggested, I also thought about hiring out little daffodil-yellow boats on the loch. And Halloween could see a fancy dress party, find the magic pumpkin and orange lanterns strung through the naked tree branches, against the backdrop of inky black sky.

We could even hire a children’s entertainer or magician to dress up as a wizard (nothing too frightening for the little ones) and have them recite stories and perform magic tricks and spells.

I laughed out loud at my rampaging enthusiasm. I had Christmas to concentrate on first! Still, the Styleses knew how obsessed I was about this time of year. It was important to let them see that I wasn’t a one-trick pony and that I was capable of coming up with inventive suggestions for other important months of the year too.

I was chewing over other whacky ideas for the lodges, when something caught my eye out of the shop window.

A strange, unoccupied vehicle I’d never seen before had appeared and was parked up on the pavement. It was a bronze Land Cruiser Invincible and was glinting under the winter sun.

‘Whose is that?’ I muttered to myself. ‘Bloody cheek parking there.’

I hovered by the window for a few moments, but there was no sign of the driver. It was causing difficulty for a few shoppers, who were attempting to negotiate their way around it.

A couple more local residents gave it disapproving looks as they edged past. A young mum with her little boy strapped into his buggy was negotiating her way past it now.

Another five minutes rolled by and it was still residing there, with no returning driver.

I marched back over to the counter and fetched one of the loud pink post-it notes from the shelf. I snatched up a pen and wrote:

Who is the clown who has parked their car here?!

Sorry, but you are blocking the pavement.

Christmas Crackers.

With the note in my hand, I breezed out of the shop and stuck it under one of the windscreen wipers.

I returned to my notebook and was about to jot down initial ideas about a name for the log cabin enterprise, when the shop doorbell rattled from side to side, as if indignant at being woken up.

Mellow winter sunshine spilt through as it swung open.

A tall, broad-chested figure, clad in an olive-green fleece and sporting a knitted black beanie hat, appeared out of the corner of my eye.

I didn’t pay too much attention at first. I glanced up from my notes. His back was facing me. I saw him reach out and pick up one of the rose-gold hearts, inscribed with the words Festive Love from the nearest shelf.

He looked at it as though it were about to bite him and then thrust it back and muttered something. He did the same with one of the elf snow globes.

I stopped my note-taking.

He angled himself around, staring at the interior of Christmas Crackers, as though he’d come face to face with a three-headed gorgon.

I downed my pen. ‘Can I help you?’

His challenging eyes were a shade of bitter chocolate. He had long, sooty lashes and a dark beard. He was very attractive.