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“I grew up on a tree farm,” he pointed out, “and my dad knows a little bit about wood.”
She scrunched up her nose, as if she were annoyed she couldn’t argue with either of those things.
“You finally managed to get rid of that recurring fungus on the blue spruce. I’m impressed,” he told her honestly. She was a huge pain in his ass, but she was a great tree farmer.
Noelle nodded. “Well. I can’t have my trees sick.” It wasn’t warm, but it was probably the warmest interaction they’d had in years.
Miriam looked between them. “You know, the two of you might really get along if you let yourselves.”
They both snorted. Miriam shrugged.
“Do you need to bring on help?” Hannah asked. “Because we might need to paythem.”
He nodded, drumming his fingers on his thigh. “I’ll definitely need somebody to sous-chef for day-of events. I have a friend, Nafil, who I know is off ship right now because he keeps texting me to meet him in the city for drinks. Maybe we can build him into the budget with the Davenport bill?”
“You have friends?” Noelle asked, feigning shock. “You should go meet him. And then not come back!”
He stuck his tongue out at her. He did have friends, even if coming back to Carrigan’s felt like he’d cut himself off from the real world. This wasn’t Narnia; he still had cell service, and he should probably start responding to some of the several “Hey dude you fell off the face of the earth” texts soon, before he actually didn’t have friends anymore.
Nafil would be excited to hear about this cool project, anyway. Because it was incredible. His girls were transforming their home into something new, and big, and exciting. He didn’t deserve to be proud of them, but his heart didn’t know that.
“Okay,” Hannah said, obviously trying to shuffle him out. “That should be everything you could ever need.”
For reasons he couldn’t explain even to himself, he wasn’t quite ready to leave. Maybe it was because Hannah was hot when she was being In Charge. He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“Before I put together a pitch for Delilah, or really do anything for Carrigan’s, no matter how temporarily, it would help if I had a better understanding of the vision you all have for Carrigan’s All Year. Not the business model—I understand ‘use the big farm and hotel to host things throughout the year instead of only at Christmas’ idea—but, I don’t know, sell me on Carrigan’s All Year like I’m a brand-new person who doesn’t understand the magic of Carrigan’s.”
“You don’t,” Hannah said a little sadly.
Levi raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I know it’s magic. I’ve just never been convinced the magic is benevolent.”
“Ooh, can I do the pitch?” Miriam asked, bouncing up and down in her seat. “I’m so good at the pitch.”
Hannah waved at her.
Miri took a deep breath, like she was preparing to sing an opera. “OKAY.” She threw her hands out wide. “For sixty years, Carrigan’s Christmasland has been a place families treasure, returning year after year to participate in traditions and bask in the atmosphere of a true Christmas spectacular. Couples have met, fallen in love, gotten married, and brought their children out to our farm to build snowmen, compete in the gingerbread house contest, swap cookies, and make ornaments that stay on our Carrigan’s trees fortheirgrandchildren. It’s a place where dreams come true, sometimes even dreams you never let yourself admit you had. But, until now, Carrigan’s Christmasland only held events to showcase its special brand of magic during the winter holidays. Now, with the newly launched Carrigan’s All Year, you will be able to discover our little pocket of wonder in the Adirondacks for your class reunions, weddings, family weekends, and everything in between. If you have an event you’d like to host in the most beautiful place in the world, with incredible food, unmatched service, and a vintage atmosphere you have to see to believe, Carrigan’s All Year is the place. It’s the magic of Carrigan’s, all year.”
She finished with spirit fingers, and Hannah and Noelle clapped.
“Well?!” she asked him.
“Santorini, Greece, is the most beautiful place anywhere,” he said. “But it’s a very persuasive pitch.” It made his heart raw, knowing this Carrigan’s had always existed and he’d never thought he was invited to visit there. He looked up at Hannah. “Is that how you see it, too? This beautiful, magical place?”
Hannah scrunched up her eyebrows, her eyes showing her confusion. “Why else would I have worked so hard to save it?”
He shrugged. “Family legacy. Obligation to Cass.”
“If I wanted to carry on a family legacy,” she said, “I would have gone to work for Rosenstein’s Bread and Pastry. I felt obligated to Cass for giving me my safe haven, but I wouldn’t have made Carrigan’s my whole life if I didn’t love it for its own sake. I thought you knew that.”
Their eyes were caught, and he forgot Miri and Noelle were there, as they both tried to tell each other things they didn’t know how to say. He shook his head. “This is the wrong time to talk about this.”
Hannah shooed him out. “You’re right. We have real work to do.”
He left the room feeling off balance. He was supposed to come back home changed and show them all who he’d grown up to be, but Carrigan’s wasn’t supposed to change without him. Miriam was happier, more present, more alive. Hell, Miriam washere. Noelle was smiling more and grunting at people less. She did still look at him like she was considering ways to drop him down the well without contaminating the water supply, but that was comforting, to be honest. Hannah was the boss of everything she was destined to be. Meanwhile, he was in limbo.
He was not the returning hero, and he hadn’t won his girl back.
Like all of Carrigan’s under the girls’ management, the scope of events the kitchen needed to serve had ramped up fast. He estimated they needed a complete overhaul of the ovens and a walk-in refrigerator, at least, if they were going to viably transition to a large event destination. The part of him that loved a kitchen challenge wanted to sit down with Hannah to do a deep dive into her books.
