Page 55 of Snowflakes and Ice Skates

Holiday Breakaway

One

Jessica

I rolled my shoulders and discreetly stretched my neck. This meeting was only supposed to take an hour, but we just passed the three and a half mark. These women could talk more than anyone else I’ve ever met. They acted like it had been months or years since they’d seen each other, but I knew it couldn’t have been more than a day. For the first forty-five minutes, they chatted and gossiped about the guys on the team before changing the topic to why I was here. The Utah Fury’s Christmas Party. An annual charity event that Chloe had planned on her own in the past but was now using Dani’s company. Our company.

Even though my title was her assistant, I was treated more like her partner. It helped that I was her only employee so she bounced all her ideas off me.

“Everything is set except for the theme,” Dani announced while looking at her tablet. We circled this topic dozens of times but could never settle on anything. “It’s only a week away, so we need to decide today.”

We managed to send out invitations and post reminders around the office and locker room without actually having this settled. It wasn’t the most traditional way to plan, but we were making it work. After all, the client was always right, and our client––well Chloe––wouldn’t make up her mind.

“Then we should just stick with the tried and true,” Taylor suggested tentatively. She worked in the front office as a graphic designer but somehow got roped into being on the planning committee by Chloe.

“We’ve done the winter wonderland theme too many times.” Chloe groaned.

“What about more of a Candyland theme?” Taylor offered. “But we’ll keep it to just holiday treats.”

I appreciated her effort. We were all scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas Chloe wouldn’t immediately throw away.

“Like peppermint candy canes and chocolate bark?” I added, hoping we could settle at least one major topic.

“That’s too similar to what we did two years ago,” Chloe said with a dismissive wave.

I closed my eyes. It wasn’t like there were many options. She wanted to keep it holiday-themed, but the list was only so long. She wanted something new, revolutionary, but if we hadn’t thought of it now, it wasn’t going to happen.

“Santa’s workshop?” Dani suggested.

“Too specific for Christmas. We don’t want to isolate anyone,” I reminded her. Half of our ideas were rejected for that purpose. I understood. Not everyone celebrated Christmas, and we needed to be sensitive to that, especially since this was an event open to the public. The team wanted to be as inclusive as possible.

“What about a beach theme? Like Christmas in July, but we won’t call it that. More like an opposite party?” Taylor spoke slowly as if she was waiting for someone to interpret her.

Chloe shrugged. “Eh.”

Eh? Eh? What was that supposed to mean?

I pulled out my phone and searched for ideas again, looking for the most obscure themes that hadn’t already been brought up.

“How about ‘A Few of Our Favorite Things’? We can have each player’s favorite thing about the holiday season either on display or available. Like a movie playing or some food or games?”

Chloe shifted in her seat, sitting up straight. “I love it.”

I almost sagged in relief but remained professional. Finally, progress.

“That’s great, Jessica.” Dani shot me a wide grin.

“We can gather the list of the players’ favorite things,” Taylor offered while looking at Chloe.

“Dani and I have the decor and caterers to focus on.” Chloe pursed her lips. “Can you and Jessica split that up?”

I nodded when Taylor checked with me. “Of course.”

I didn’t necessarily need an excuse to talk to any of the players. Interning with the team meant I was around them enough that the novelty wore off. Most of them were pretty normal, once you got over what they did for a living. Plus, Chloe didn’t allow fangirling in the front office. She sniffed out the people that were working there for the wrong reasons and made sure they didn’t last long. We were hired to work for a thriving company which happened to be an NHL team. But she was all business first. I was lucky that she took me under her wing and trusted me with planning some of the team’s events. Her reference was the reason Dani interviewed me in the first place.

When I first applied at DG Events, I had no idea who Dani was dating. Chloe mentioned she had a friend that was opening an event planning business and said she would pass my name along to the owner. After the interview, Jake Jones, Dani’s boyfriend, stopped by the office, and I put the pieces together. She was the wedding planner. I heard stories about the memorable trip to Mexico, but not enough to put the pieces together.

Dani liked that I had experience with high-profile clients, and four months later, here I was back in my previous office working once again with the Fury.