Hi there,
Are you super excited about the upcoming release of A Silver Bells Christmas (The Mistletoe Book Club Series, Book 5)? It’s available right now for pre-order on Direct Sales on Susan’s Store, Apple Books and Nook.
A Silver Bells Christmas (The Mistletoe Book Club Series, Book 5) is Harmony’s story and I really think she deserves a happily-ever-after.
Since you’ve waited so patiently for Harmony’s story, here’s a sneak peek just for you!
*****************************************************
A Silver Bells Christmas
Copyright © 2024 by Susan Hatler
Chapter One
In my opinion, Santa’s Naughty and Nice list was the epitome of organization and I totally needed a similar tool for my current situation. Like everyone else, I loved seeing Santa’s beautiful scroll unfurling in the candlelight on television commercials during the holidays. But obviously that scroll was just for P.R. and so not the real software used for deciding who deserves gifts, who doesn’t deserve any and, of course, what gifts should go to which people and where. Such a complicated process that’s carried out to perfection every year, making me very eager to use their same technique.
Too complicated for a scroll. Please.
I desperately needed to know how Santa really organized delivering toys on Christmas Eve to the whole wide world. Because it most certainly wasn’t a billion-plus-items-long T chart. Why so secretive, Mr. Claus? Help a woman out here. Were we talking a bullet journal? An extensive planner? Kanban method? Digital notes? Come on, Nick, cough up the details already!
I, Harmony Harris, was clearly losing it.
With a long sigh, I dropped my forehead onto the wooden top of my office desk, reminding myself that Santa was not, in fact, a real red-suited guy flying from house-to-house delivering gifts and ready to give me the answers I was seeking from him.
I blamed lack of sleep for the desperate scenarios spinning around my brain.
With a sigh, I lifted my head and threw my gaze at the ceiling, staring at the colorful twinkling lights I’d put up there the week after Thanksgiving and which I would promptly take down by New Year’s Day. See, I was organized. But not organized enough.
As manager of Silver Bells Luxury Tours and The Christmas Complex, I’d tried out every organization strategy in search of the best one. Now, I was on the prowl for an even better system. Scratch that, I needed the best system. It had to be out there somewhere. The one that maximized, prioritized, synchronized, revolutionized (and looked cute, of course).
It would also be helpful to find one that would make more minutes in the hour and more hours in the day. The one that would improve everything, including me, so I could finally feel ready to ask my boss, Adam Kline, to make me his business partner.
My heart warmed at the mere thought. My dream was to become a partner. A little secret I’d shared with no one. Not with my sister, not with Faith Sterling who was a dear friend—and Adam’s fiancé—and not with Amanda Scott, my bff who knew all of my secrets.
Oh, sure, they all knew how much I loved working at Silver Bells Luxury Tours, which was the best business of all in our small mountain town of Christmas Mountain, Montana. Well, at least to me. And Silver Bells Luxury Tours had only become better since we’d inherited the renovated historic building just off Main Street from Ms. Rivera—our beloved high school’s P.E. teacher, who had passed away two years ago.
Adam had named the spin-off building The Christmas Complex at my suggestion, thank you very much. I had a lot to offer as a partner, but I couldn’t approach him until I was absolutely ready so there wouldn’t be any possible way he would turn me down. If I blew my chance at the greatest opportunity of my life then that would absolutely devastate me. So, I needed to grasp a little of Santa’s magic to take me to the next level.
In my sufficiently-for-now organized office, I glanced at the stack of papers sitting on my desk and picked up the order form for the placard that was already supposed to be displayed outside the door to my office here at The Christmas Complex. Maybe I had been procrastinating a little in sending that order form. Or, a lot. Okay, I had definitely been putting it off.
I stared at the paper, remembering when I’d first started filling the form out. Back then, I had glanced out my office window and noticed blossoms on the trees that lined Church Street below. Now, I looked out that same window and saw gentle snowflakes falling over those bare trees and yet the order form was still incomplete.
Filling out the form for the placard had started out simple enough:
Metal: Gold
Lettering: Black
Font: Monotype Corsiva
Name: Harmony Harris
Position: ____________
“Position” was the blank line that I couldn’t make myself fill in so there it sat, empty, and taunting me. Chewing my bottom lip, I stared at that last unanswered line but something inside me still refused to fill it out. Many times, I’d nearly given in and just scribbled ‘Manager’ in that empty line because there never seemed to be the perfect time to ask Adam if it could be ‘Partner.’ Mainly because I never felt I’d done my job perfectly enough to deserve that coveted title. Never had I found the perfect words to explain to Adam all I could bring to the table for The Christmas Complex and Silver Bells Luxury Tours as a partner.
There was something that had always stopped me from submitting that order form, though. . . A small bit of hope. A not-so-small stubbornness. And a tiny voice that whispered (way too quietly) that I really did deserve to be a partner.
I’d be lying if I said that order form wasn’t driving me crazy. Seeing that one unchecked item on my To-Do List at the end of every long, busy day was a productivity lover’s nightmare. I chewed on the tip of my pen, stared at that blank space, and imagined what it would be like to have a placard outside my office with the word ‘Partner’ on it—
Rap-rap-rap.
I jumped in my chair at the knock on my office door, whipped my head in that direction and saw a man poke his head inside my doorway. My eyes widened. Oh, wow.
The man’s smile was the first thing I noticed, sweet and warm even though we’d never met. Kind faces weren’t uncommon in our small town. Everyone who lived here knew everyone else and even if you didn’t live here, Christmas Mountain was so charming and beautiful it made people light up with happiness. But, even so, there was something unique and special in this man’s smile that I felt all the way down to my toes—or maybe it was the way his lips curved upward, or how his almond-brown eyes twinkled and his dark hair shimmered with freshly fallen snow. Adorable.
“Sorry to interrupt,” the man said, glancing around my festively decorated office, which looked one good shake away from becoming a life-sized Christmas snow globe.
One shake would send the tidy-but-tall stacks of papers flying into the air. Jars of paper clips would erupt like confetti. The tiny tree, silver and gold ornaments, holly, red ribbon and, of course, mistletoe would float and bob as they fell. And me, I’d be twirling in the middle of all the swirling chaos as the snowflakes fell over me, and onto my upended banana-blonde curls.
I blinked, shaking the random thoughts from my mind.
“May I help you?” I said to the handsome stranger.
“I’m looking for Adam Kline,” he said.
As the owner of the business, Adam took a lot of meetings I wasn’t included in on. It was one of the things I hoped would change when, or if, I ever asked for a promotion. I was sure I could be a real asset as a partner, if given the chance. But for now, I slipped the placard’s order form beneath Adam’s calendar and flipped to the calendar page for today.
“Hmm, let me see,” I said, my red and green candy-cane-stripe painted fingernail trailing all the way down the page. I frowned. Nothing scheduled with a man I didn’t know. Maybe Adam had added something without telling me? His schedule was jam packed, after all. I lifted my gaze to those almond-brown eyes. “Hmm, I’m not seeing anything on Mr. Kline’s calendar, Mr. . . ?”
The man entered my office, sauntering up to my desk. He was tall and when he pulled his hands from his coat pockets I saw that his fingers were long and slender as he rubbed at his clean-shaven chin. Taking a glance at Adam’s calendar, he pressed his lips together.
“I’m Mr. Doesn’t Have an Appointment,” he said, giving me an endearing side-glance.
I laughed and he grinned, his eyes crinkling slightly at the corners as he watched me tuck a blonde curl behind my ear. Kind eyes and a sense of humor? Impressive. The only jokes my ex had ever made were at someone’s expense and that had never sat well with me.
“Your name is quite the mouthful,” I said, leaning back in my office chair. “Although certainly memorable.”
“Memorable in a good way, I hope,” he said, raising his eyebrows. Unable to resist his charm, my mouth stretched into a grin and I smiled back at him. “I’m from out of town. My last name is Bailey, actually. Danish, on my mother’s side,” he added.
I nodded. “Well, Mr. Bailey—”
“Liam,” he said, his voice gentle.
“Liam,” I said, thinking that was a nice sounding name. “Would you possibly be free to meet with Mr. Kline on Friday?”
Liam’s expression seemed surprised, which I found interesting. Was he used to charming his way into appointments sooner? It wouldn’t surprise me. But his expression soon relaxed and he leaned forward a little. “I possibly would be, Ms. . .?”
Ms. Having A Much Better Day Now.
Ms. Can’t Stop Staring into His Eyes.
Ms. Rather Smitten.
“Ms. Harris,” I said, maintaining a grip on my professionalism. “But you can call me Harmony.”
“Well, Harmony, what do you have in mind for Friday? Coffee?”
“Sure, I can schedule a coffee meeting at The Sleigh Café around the corner. It has a really lovely view of the Town Square. And they make a peppermint mocha to swoon over. How about at two o’clock?”
Liam beamed and nodded. “Perfect.”
As I scribbled the appointment into Adam’s calendar, I ignored the butterflies fluttering around in my belly. I couldn’t wait to ask Adam about this upcoming appointment. For starters, how long would this man be in town? But I’d have to ask in a way that showed I had no personal interest, of course. Just wanting to be a thorough manager for the business. Riiight.
“Well, since the appointment is only two days away I won’t call to confirm, if that’s all right?” I said, regretting that our interaction was now over.
“Yes, of course,” he said, shifting his stance. “Now that we have that appointment secured, can I speak with Adam?”
I frowned in confusion. “Huh?”
“I’d like to speak with Adam now. Can you tell me where to find him?”
I tilted my head. “But I just made you an appointment for coffee on Friday.”
He grinned. “Right. For our date.”
Butterflies swirled in my stomach. “Your date with . . .?”
Liam waved a hand at me. “With you.”
My eyes widened at his joke. I burst out laughing. This guy’s humor had no end. “With me. Right. That’s a good one.”
“Yes, with you,” he said, the corner of his mouth lifting. “I’m going to order you a peppermint mocha that will make you swoon.”
I started to laugh again, but then realized he wasn’t laughing along. “You really want to have a coffee date with me?”
He raised a shoulder. “You’re single, I hope?”
“Well, yes . . .”
“Then why not with you?” he asked.
His question kind of floored me. A million answers filled my head: because I wasn’t wearing anything particularly nice today. Because I hadn’t curled my hair very well that morning. Because my mind was so filled with work I hadn’t had a chance to even try to be charming. Because I was just a manager, who couldn’t work up the guts to ask for a promotion. Sigh.
“This is my fault,” he said, in a tone that made me wonder if he sensed the snow storm rolling through my mind. “I should’ve explained that I don’t need an appointment to meet with Adam.”
I tucked my chin to my chest. “You don’t?”
Who didn’t need an appointment? How much of a big wig was this guy? I reassessed his clothes: he wasn’t wearing a suit. Just a high-quality, but simple winter outfit.
“Believe me,” Liam said, giving a firm nod. “Adam will definitely want to see me now.”
I hesitated, but finally relented because I didn’t want to be the reason Adam missed an important meeting. “All right, let’s see if we can find him.”
Liam held the door open for me and I guided him up the stairs to the second floor.
“Let me check in here really quick,” I told him.
Leaving him in the hallway, I ducked into a small lobby with a desk and then continued through a doorway that had the door propped open by a snow globe stopper. Inside the room I entered was a beautiful living room decorated for Christmas. A tall tree sparkled by a roaring fire and stockings hung on the fireplace mantel. I went to check the two high-packed leather chairs in case Adam was taking a quick, much needed break as he sometimes did.
“You know, one year at Christmas my brother and I each received one of these very snow globes as a present,” Liam said, from behind me. “I didn’t fully realize their magic back then.”
“Huh . . .?” I turned around to find Liam shaking a snow globe in the air.
He smiled at me as the little flakes swirled. “But I think I understand the magic now.”
“No, don’t, wait!” My eyes bulged as I watched him shake the snow globe that had been propping the door open but I didn’t see any magic in front of me right now. Instead, I saw the door closing and then clicking shut. Locking. “Argh!”
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Liam,” I said, trying to stay calm, even as I realized we were trapped inside now. “This isn’t an ordinary room.”
He nodded. “Yes, I can tell it’s extra festive in here.”
“That’s not what I mean,” I said, letting out an exasperated breath.
At that moment, Liam seemed to finally notice that the windows showed that it was night outside the frosted windowpanes even though it was actually only the early afternoon. He followed my gaze to the door behind him.
“Ah, I’m beginning to see what I accidentally did by closing the door . . .” He wore a boyish grin, looking excited like it was Christmas morning. “Is this one of those escape rooms?”
“Santa’s Secret Escape Room to be more specific,” I said, my brain still processing that we were locked inside. Why hadn’t I grabbed the key? I’d been distracted by this guy’s charm. Big mistake, ugh.
The escape room had been one of my ideas for the Christmas Complex. I’d put my heart, sweat, energy, and more sleepless nights than I could count into making it come to life. It had been worth all the effort since this escape room brought a lot of fun to so many people.
But now? I was stuck inside of it. Surely there was some sort of lesson in all this. . .
“I’ve always wanted to try one of these,” Liam said, pausing by the stereo. “I’ve been too busy, but they always looked like so much fun to me.”
“I mean, they are,” I said, thinking they were fun when someone had the key.
“Here we go,” Liam said, as he pressed the play button on the stereo and Dean Martin’s “Silver Bells” began spewing from speakers around the room. Humming along, he continued to search the room without rushing. “This is amazing.”
Liam’s enthusiasm made me feel like the Grinch.
“I didn’t bring the emergency key,” I said, tugging at my collar. When had it gotten so hot in there? The flames crackling in the large brick fireplace weren’t even real yet it was so very hot. Fanning myself with a staged Christmas card, I swallowed back a growing tightness in my throat. “I’m not sure how to get us out of here. Tania, my assistant, set up the escape codes this month so I have no idea what they are or how to get out of here.”
Delegating, this was one of the improvements I’d made with my management skills which I planned to mention to Adam when the time was right to discuss partnership. But now I didn’t have the escape codes. I’d relinquished control and look where had it had gotten me?
“Did you notice that, Harmony?”
“What?” I asked, noting he seemed perfectly at ease.
“The music just skipped,” Liam said, pausing his examination of the various ornaments on the tree. “Did you hear which word it skipped on?”
“This room takes an average of sixty minutes to escape,” I said, with panic tightening my chest. I had so much work to do. I’d never make partner if I fell behind in my work due to bringing some cute guy into this room without bringing the key with me.
“I think it skipped on the word ‘ring,’ Liam said.
It was a highly known fact that a partner would never lock themself inside their own escape rooms. A partner would have better foresight than to get locked in a room with a stranger. Partners didn’t waste huge chunks of the day trapped in a room with a stranger when the Christmas season was fast approaching. A partner planned buffers of time should something catastrophic happen, like a blizzard or an emergency or this.
Partners didn’t mess up at all. That’s why they were partners in the first place.
I clearly wasn’t ready, even though I so wanted to be a partner.
Pacing in front of the locked door, I said, “I have to finish the work schedules for next week, which means I’ll need to push my meeting with the Kraft team to tomorrow. But tomorrow I need to organize The Best Christmas Movie Ever Showdown for the theater upstairs and then there’s lunch with Amanda, which I’ve already pushed back twice because of work. So—”
A little jingle rang behind me and I turned around to find Liam holding a silver bell. As I watched him, he unhooked the clapper of the bell which turned out to be a beautiful gold key with Santa’s face carved at the top.
My eyes widened. “What did you find?”
“Don’t worry, Harmony,” Liam said, wiggling the key between his fingers. “I’ll get you out of here in no time. I know what it’s like to carry work pressure on your shoulders.”
Had he actually been listening to my babbling?
I almost didn’t know what to say. Whenever my ex had a problem, he would plop his feet up and put on some sporting event, expecting things to work out. Spoiler alert: they did. A better woman came into his life and he chose her. But Liam was actually listening to me and literally holding a solution in the palm of his hand.
“I recognize that key,” I said, pointing to a brick on the chimney. “I know what that opens!”
“Allow me to do the honors,” Liam said, inserting the key into the slender gold hole in the brick, turning it to the right and then a secret compartment inside the chimney revealing a luxurious velvet bag tied with a long silk sash. He opened the bag and Santa’s toys spilled from the overflowing top, tumbling across the fireplace and rolling to my feet.
“These gifts go inside the stockings,” I said, feeling a rush of excitement at how close we were to solving the escape room so quickly. “If we guess the right weights that go with the right stockings, then we win.”
“How do we learn the proper weights for each stocking?” Liam asked, as he stayed by the fireplace and picked up the toys.
“What’s that?” I asked, frantically dropping various gifts into the stockings.
“Maybe there’s a code in the Christmas cards?” Liam asked.
“A code?”
My excitement had me trying toys one after the other. When I stuffed the last stocking with a tiny model train, I heard a click. In this moment, I felt two things: one was a rush of relief that I’d found the answer. But the second thing I felt was horror because the escape hatch opened, and it was directly beneath Liam’s feet.
“Liam!” I shouted, but it was already too late.
With an echoing yelp of surprise, Liam and the rest of the toys disappeared before my eyes. Sucking in a deep breath, I had no choice but to go after him. Shaking my head, hoping this was what a future partner would do, I jumped through the trap door after him.
*****************************************************
I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek from A Silver Bells Christmas, which you can pre-order now on Apple Books and Nook.
Thanks for being here in my writing world of fresh, flirty and fabulous books. Happy reading!!
🙂 Susan
** Receive a FREE sweet romance book when you sign up for Susan’s Newsletter: https://www.susanhatler.com/newsletter **
Leave a Reply