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“Hey, Melanie, Roni. How are you?” Hannah greeted them as she came out her door into the reception area.
“Great,” they each said as they followed her into her office and took a seat in the two chairs in front of her desk.
“As I was saying earlier on the phone, we have a little problem that we were hoping you could help us with,” Melanie said.
Hannah smiled and clasped her hands in front of her on the desk. “Sure, if I can help, I’d be happy to.”
Melanie quickly told her about the idea of combining a light festival with the Caroling Kickoff in the town park. “We need a way to draw more people to the downtown area and thought that might be the best way.”
Hannah’s eyes widened with surprise and doubt, but soon filled with interest. When they were done explaining their idea, she leaned back in her chair, rubbing her chin. “Well, what you are talking about would take a lot of work and logistics. But we have a whole year to plan it, so we could probably make that happen for next year. If not, then definitely the year after.”
“A year.” Roni pushed forward to the edge of her chair. “Oh no, we want to do it now. This year,” she said, nodding her head for emphasis.
Hannah’s perfectly arched eyebrows rose. “This year?” She gave a little laugh. “That’s impossible.”
Roni winced and sighed loudly, trying not to whine. “You don’t understand, Hannah. If we have to wait a year, half of us might be out of business. The Riverwalk is stealing all of our customers. We need to find a way to bring people back downtown.”
Hannah’s brows pulled together and she shook her head. “I understand your fears, and trust me when I say we are fully aware of the problem, but I don’t see how we could possibly throw together a light festival for this year. How about if we throw a street fair?”
“A street fair?” Roni asked.
“Yes. That we can do. I’ll fill out the paperwork. You want it for the same night as the Caroling Kickoff?”
“That would be great,” Melanie said, obviously resigned to the idea.
Roni looked at her.No. We need to fight.
Melanie glanced her way and gave a small shake of her head.
“All right,” Hannah said. “I’ll fill out the paperwork and talk to the police chief about blocking off Main Street to traffic. What do time should we do it? Twelve to eight p.m.?”
Roni tried not to let her disappointment show.
“That would be great, Hannah,” Melanie said, getting to her feet. “We can’t thank you enough.”
“Absolutely. I love the Caroling Kickoff and have seen the lack of traffic at our downtown businesses as the Riverwalk takes off. The mayor and the entire town council is ecstatic about the success of the Riverwalk, but no one wanted our downtown businesses to suffer. We’re all happy to help you in any way we can.”
“And the light festival for next year?” Roni asked as she picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
“Yes, I think that’s a great idea,” Hannah said. “I will definitely talk to the council and the mayor about it. There is a lot of time and money that goes into a project like that, so we’ll have to make sure we plan for everything. I’m sure you understand.”
“We do, and we really appreciate everything you’re doing to help us. We’ll see you soon,” Melanie said, leading the way to the door.
Roni followed behind her, trying not to let her disappointment show until they got into the elevator. “Do you really think a festival in the park will be enough to help?”
Melanie sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know. It has to help a little. I’m bummed about the light show, though.”
“Me too,” Roni admitted.
“But we both knew it was a long shot to be able to pull something of that magnitude off in such a short amount of time.” Melanie squeezed her arm.
“I know. It’s just so disappointing.”
“It will be fine. The festival will be great, you’ll see. So, now that we’re alone, do you want to tell me what happened with Jimmy after we left Frankie’s this morning? I heard he came by.”
Roni looked at her friend and tried to put into words how she felt about Jimmy. “Can I just forget he even exists?”
“Jimmy? The man you’ve been talking about nonstop all year?”
