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CHAPTER 1

Deep in the valleys of Vermont, there's a town called Evergreen. It's said that Evergreen is so far north that on clear days you might be able to see the North Pole. Perhaps that's why townsfolk take Christmas very seriously all year long, even going so far as to have a picture of Santa waving on the "Welcome to Evergreen" sign on the way into town.

The city of Burlington, not so far away, moves at a faster pace. The town bustles with the rush of holiday shoppers carrying their special finds and colorful packages.

At Spruce Collectibles, Lisa Palmer and her business partner, Oliver, were both hard at work. They'd been hired to stage the boutique store for its annual Christmas sale.

Lisa worked the last sparkling blue ribbon from the top of a tall Christmas tree all the way to the bottom. She tucked it deep into the evergreen branches every foot or so, then let it billow down to the next spot, an exercise in precise disarray that made the tree appear full and elegant. It had taken Lisa over fifty yards of wired ribbon to pull off the look, but it was worth it.

She'd adorned the rest of the tree with untraditional blue hydrangea and beautiful glass balls in various shades of blue: royal, sky blue, and even turquoise. Flocked pinecones and fresh chartreuse pears offered a gorgeous contrast against the dark green boughs. At the top of the tree, a brown speckled partridge in a nest of silver lace tied into the store's "Twelve Days of Christmas" theme.

Concentrating on the task at hand, Lisa tucked silver poinsettia picks between the branches to fill any bare spots. She stepped back to evaluate the tree, then turned to Oliver. "Does this line up?" She gestured to the way she'd arranged the poinsettias.

Over his shoulder, the ever-stylish and funny Oliver, wearing a burgundy V-neck cashmere sweater, turned from the display of white candles he was working on to check it out. "Yeah. Perfectly."

"Ugh." She winced and dropped her hands to her side. "Then I have to start over." She plucked four poinsettias from the tree.

"Oh, good," Oliver said facetiously. "I was worried we'd be done in time to get dinner."

Dinner is overrated. He was mocking her. "You know symmetry is just —"

"— lazy design!" they said at the same time.

"Yes, I know." Oliver echoed the sentiment with a smile. He moved one of his symmetrically arranged candles out of position. Their icy evergreen scent lifted into the air like a Christmas hello.

Nodding with satisfaction, he spun around and walked toward Lisa. "Note to self, when we open our own store everything's going to have to be just slightly off-kilter." He exaggerated the comment with hand gestures.

"Yes. Impeccably designed," Lisa said with a highfalutin' accent. She handed off a few of the sparkling poinsettias to Oliver to place.

"And locally sourced."

"Uh-huh." She giggled, then tucked another flower into just the right spot on the tree.

It was so nice to work with someone that saw things the way she did. She and Oliver were always finishing each other's sentences, and this job had come together so well she couldn't wait for the store owner, Polly, to see it.

Oliver took one poinsettia from the other side of the tree and repositioned it slightly askew. "The tree really does look great."

She took a giant step back and put her hands on her hips to give it a sweeping up-and-down glance. "Yeah. It does." She folded her arms across her chest with satisfaction.

"Wait." Oliver looked past her toward the back of the store. "Do you think we need a second tree back there?"

She glanced over her shoulder, then spun to his side. "You know what? I was just thinking that." She gestured toward the back of the store. "I mean, it would pull the eye of the customer back that way —"

Oliver said, "— and that's where the most expensive items are."

"We need a —"

"— second tree," they finished the sentence together again.

"Yeah." She tapped her fingers beneath her chin. Slightly squinting, she imagined how it might look nestled between the beautiful maple shelving units. A second tree would be perfect, but if Polly was happy with what they'd done, she'd have to let it go. The Christmas decorations had been an added "thank you" for the big contract they'd completed for her. Anything else would just cut into their profit.

A knock at the door broke her focus on the back of the store. Lisa spun around to look. "Oh! There's Polly."

The store owner stood waving from the sidewalk. Bundled in a camel-colored wool cape, she looked like she was bubbling over with excitement. Lisa felt excited herself to flaunt all the hard work they'd completed. She patted Oliver on the arm and dashed over to open the door.

"Hi. Come on in."

"Hello!" Polly didn't waste a moment rushing into the store to see what changes they'd made. She didn't even bother to put down her purse and gloves. After taking one glance, she gasped. "It looks amazing in here! Oh my gosh." She waved an arm where the register counter used to be.

"Yeah, we moved the counter to the side of the store —" Oliver started.

"Which opens up the flow from the door to the rest of the store," Lisa finished. They simultaneously gestured to the back of the store as if they'd choreographed the move.

"And you re-designed the entire shelving unit." Polly's head swiveled, taking in all the changes. "It looks great over there."

Lisa and Oliver shared an appreciative glance. Thank goodness Polly was happy with what they'd done. It was a significant change.

Polly moved through the store, zigging and zagging as things caught her eye, and then made a beeline for the tree Lisa and Oliver just finished decorating in the center. "And to top it all off, you decorated for Christmas!" She walked around the tree, slowly examining the different ornaments, still clutching her red gloves in her hand. She oohed and ahhed at the sight of the shiny decorations.

Pointing to the tree topper, she looked perplexed. "Is that a partridge?"

"In a pear tree?" Oliver said with a smile. It had been his idea. "Yes, it is."

Polly beamed.

"And we have two turtle doves." He led her over to the two frosty white-feathered birds next to the candles. "Three French hens." Ceramic ones nestled on a stack of embroidered flour sack towels. "Four calling birds, and five golden rings." He pointed toward the different size rings that now hung above the checkout.

Polly's excited giggle filled the space with even more joy.

"It's just a little service we throw in for jobs this time of year." He looked over at Lisa with a wink and a smile.

"You two are the best at redesigning stores like this. Have you ever thought of opening your own store?"

His face lit up. "In fact, yes," he blurted at the same time Lisa said, "Eventually."

The two of them looked at each other, realizing they'd just given Polly a mixed message.

"Yes." Lisa tried to correct the faux pas.

"Eventually," Oliver added.

"Well, you know I'm expanding, right? I plan to open three new stores in the new year."

"That's great. Where are you thinking?" Oliver asked.

"I'm still searching for locations, but I would love your expertise when designing them, if you're free for more work."

"Of course!" Lisa brightened. "Yes."

"Yes," Oliver agreed.

"We would love to help in any way we can." Lisa bumped Oliver's shoulder with excitement.

"Wonderful." Polly rushed around the store, reveling in every little change. "Goodness. Yes."

Lisa and Oliver shared a silent celebration at the prospect of working with Polly again. Seeing their clients this delighted was the best part of the job. The only thing left to do was stick around to make sure all the employees knew where everything was located now, and be on standby as the first customers came in for any last-minute adjustments on staging that didn't work out quite as well in real time as it had on paper.

* * *

Later that day, Polly signed off on the completed project. Lisa and Oliver headed out of the store together, ready to head their separate ways for the holidays.

Now Oliver would go back to Boston. That was his town, and he loved it. Lisa wasn't entirely sure of her plans since her parents were traveling.

She let out a big sigh as she pulled her leather jacket on over her sweater. "You know if we keep getting work at this rate, we'll be able to open our own store in less than two years." Even though they'd talked about it many times, she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it now that it was becoming closer to a reality.

"The very best in home decoration and design," Oliver said with pride. "Custom kitchenware, fixtures, and design accessories. Everything you need to turn your house into a ... home." Oliver turned to catch up with Lisa, who was double-timing it down the street. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just that ..." She sighed again. Heavier this time. Still walking she turned to Oliver. "I love what we do. We get to travel around and redesign spaces."

"I know. I know. We've made it through every business decision, every terrible date."

Lisa thought about the time she had to tell Oliver he wore too much cologne. She loved working with him — bad high-dollar cologne and all. They really could get through anything together. He was her best friend.

"Look." She never broke stride. "All I'm saying is that I'm just not sure that I'm ready to put down roots and stay in one place."

"Ah. And speaking of which ... someone has their final New Year's resolution from last year to take care of." Oliver tapped his watch. "Time is ticking."

Lisa groaned.

"Every year we make these resolution lists and every year you have the same goal —"

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Visit my hometown for Christmas. I know. I know. But what if it's not the same as I remember as a kid?" Ruining the picture of the perfect Christmas in her mind was a big risk. Memories of Evergreen had carried her for a lot of years. If she lost that, she didn't know what she'd do.

"Then either way, you'll cross it off your list."

She pursed her lips. "But I was just thinking that maybe I should wait for my parents to go."

"But your parents," Oliver said as he stepped in front of her, "are in Europe. And working. You're not. Now you can go back to your hometown."

She didn't have another valid argument. Honestly, Evergreen was her best memory, not really her parents. They might never want to go back. They'd never even talked about it.

"Let me show you." She pulled her phone up and tapped on it. Stepping closer to him, she brought up her favorite snow picture of Evergreen, taken from the highway overlooking the town below. It was a true winter wonderland.

"Look," she said. Even just looking at photo made her heart happy.

"That's gorgeous."

"Isn't it cute?" She remembered every store on that street, even after all these years.

Oliver, always the voice of reason, said, "Okay, come on. Drive off to this almost real-life Santa's village, take a quick look, and then come back to Boston in time for Christmas Eve dinner."

She cocked her head.

"And by the looks of that town," Oliver went on, "you'll be dressed up as one of Santa's elves and handing out candy canes."

Laughing, she stepped off the sidewalk toward her car. "You know, I think you underestimate how good I would be as one of Santa's helpers." She tossed her hair back as she unlocked the door on her bright green Mazda.

"I don't think I am." He pushed his hands into the pockets of his wool coat. "Now get on the road. Have fun. Enjoy ... what's the name of the town again?"

Still holding on to the door with one foot inside her car, she lifted her chin. "Evergreen."

She pulled away from the curb, waving to Oliver. He looked as excited for her as she felt. And now the idea of going back to Evergreen had her stomach full of butterflies, or maybe they were more like swirling snow angels.

Evergreen. Here I come.

Lisa navigated the busy city streets of Burlington through holiday traffic to the highway. Utility work had traffic in a snarl, and she was too far in to take an alternate route. It took fifteen minutes to go two miles, making getting out of the city for the holidays even more appealing.

Once she got out of the city limits, traffic cleared right up and the snowy mountains looked beautiful. She pressed the radio buttons until she found the Hallmark Sirius XM channel.

Light traffic, clear weather, and good old-fashioned Christmas carols. This drive had all the ingredients for a great road trip. She tapped to the tempo of the music on her steering wheel, singing along when she knew the words.

The curving mountain roads were clear, but snow piled along the sides of the road where the snowplows had done their duty to keep folks safe. The icy trees glistened as perfectly as if she'd done the decorating herself. Perfectly imperfect.

The closer she got to Evergreen, the heavier the snow. That added to her happiness. Maybe there would be a snow angel in her future. She hadn't made one since ... It had definitely been way too long.

She took the Evergreen exit from the highway, reducing her speed on the quaint country road while still belting out fa-la-la-la-las. Up ahead, a red truck with pine trees in the back stood at the stop sign. She pulled up behind it. After a moment, when the truck hadn't budged, she rolled her window down and peered around it. That's when she realized the hood of the truck was up.

Aw, man. She leaned her head out the window.

"Are you having trouble with your truck?"

"It's not my truck," a man's voice said.

What kind of answer was that? "Is it stolen?"

A dark-haired man with what looked like a day's worth of beard poked his head around the truck.

"No. It's on loan from a friend," he said with a smile. A very attractive smile, Lisa couldn't help but notice.

The truck had to be an early '50s model. Nice. She could've done without the gaudy wreath on the back, but it was a sweet ride. Who loaned that kind of vehicle to someone? They must've been a pretty good friend.

She didn't know why she had the urge to tease him, but she gave in to it. "Ohhh," she said with an exaggerated moan. "You broke your friend's truck?"

That got a reaction out of the guy. He stepped out from the front of the truck, looking on the defensive. "I didn't break it, it was already ..."

Lisa almost grinned, nearly breaking the ruse, then frowned in an attempt to look serious. "Hey, it looks to me like it —"

He shook his wrench in her direction. "You're just messing with me." His smile registered in his eyes as he laughed.

Busted. "I am. I am." She flung open her door and got out. "No. Seriously. Can I do something to help?"

He eyed her cautiously as he wiped his hands on a red shop rag. He was wearing an army green down jacket, and he didn't seem the least bit worried about dirtying the off-white sweater beneath it. "How are you with old engines?"

"Astonishingly good," she admitted. Years of hanging out with her grandfather every summer in his garage while he worked on his old cars had paid off.

The old truck looked to be in great shape. It had either been kept in a garage and treated with white gloves, or there'd been one heck of a restoration on it. The flame-red paint job was so perfect it looked like it had just come off the line. Live pine roping ran from down each side of the front quarter panels, much more alive than the truck at this moment.

He looked unsure whether to believe her. "Really?"

"Yeah. May I?" She took the wrench from his hand, noticing that his shiny red toolbox was from about the same era as the truck. Nice. "Thank you." She leaned in to look under the hood. "All right. What have we got here?" She reached in and gave something a tap. "Have you tried this?"

"Yep."

The motor was clean. Someone took superb care of this ride. The spark plugs didn't appear corroded or oily, but she tapped on the spark plug wire just the same. "How about this?"

"Twice," he said.

"Hmm. I bet you haven't tried this."

But before she could give the battery cable a good jiggle he said, "Yes. I tried that too."

"Ah, but ..." Lisa reached in to the engine and cranked the wrench against something that seemed a little stuck. "Let me just ..." She got it to budge, then stood back. Handing the wrench to him, she asked, "Do you mind if I try to start it?"

"No, go for it."

"This is a beautiful old truck." She crossed in front of him, opened the driver's door and climbed in.

"Yeah, isn't it?"

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Excerpted from "Christmas In Evergreen Letters to Santa"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Crown Media Family Networks.
Excerpted by permission of Hallmark Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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