Christmas in Pine Island: A small town holiday romance

and I have been running ourselves ragged. Even though I’ve been helping out here since I was born, being in charge isn’t as easy as my parents make it look. And it doesn’t help that I’m still terribly nervous we’ll fail the customers or my parents somehow.
We haven’t. At least not yet. But I just booked celebrities . . . talk about pressure!
Success is the only option now.
We have to be the best hosts possible to Eric King and his guests. There’s no way I can let my parents come back from the cruise they’ve taken to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary only to find out that I’ve totally let the ball drop here.
Ethan and I will just have to find a way to make it work. This is my time to prove taking over the family business wasn’t a huge mistake. And I refuse to deliver anything but a perfect stay and make Pine Island proud.
“We can handle it, right?” I ask, softly.
Ethan chuckles, though of course he’d be way less nervous than I am. Thanks to his inheritance, he’s practically a billionaire himself. He’s not starstruck by the rich and famous like I am.
“Of course we can, Chloe,” he assures me in his quiet, gentle voice. He leans over, lightly resting his arms on either side of me against the lobby desk. “Besides, the focus here is family, not fame, right? That’s probably what’s drawing them out here to begin with. But that means you and Margot have to be cool and not fangirl over the celebrities.”
“Oh no! Go-Go is coming, too!” I gush, excitedly.
The exciting news of our celebrity guests had temporarily erased all thoughts of my big sister’s visit. Margot and her husband, Owen, who’s also Ethan’s older brother, are joining us for the holiday.
“She’s going to totally lose her mind when she finds out that rockstar, Eric King and his supermodel fiancée have booked a stay. I can’t believe I totally forgot Go-Go was coming!”
This Christmas was already feeling pretty strange without my parents around, but at least Margot and Owen would bring along Ava, my sweet little niece. Ava is just the thing to distract me from my nerves, and from missing my mom and dad too much over the holiday.
Ethan groans, though his green eyes still sparkle. “Obviously you’re not going to be able to contain your fangirling if just talking about our special guests has made you forget about your sister coming home for the holidays.”
I stick out my tongue, earning another laugh from Ethan, but inside, I’m glowing. I love it when he calls the farm home. When I found out that he’d grown up in Manhattan and inherited a small fortune after his mother passed, I’d been intimidated. Compared to the life he and his brother have lived, mine felt absurdly underwhelming. But somehow, we worked: Me and Ethan, and Owen and Margot.
People often gave us strange looks when we told them we were sisters dating brothers, but I couldn’t think of anything better. Margot is my best friend. And this way, we didn’t have to sacrifice anything. We still get to spend every holiday together.
Speaking of . . . “Can you remind me when Go-Go and Owen are coming?”
“They said tomorrow, but you know Margot. Your guess is as good as mine.”
I laugh, because Ethan knows as well as I do that my sister likes to make an entrance. They met when she started dating Owen in college and her punctuality was often a problem.
I sigh. “Seriously though . . . how are we going to have time to give these guests the perfect stay and still spend time with our family? It’s so much to take on by ourselves.”
“Chloe . . . we’re not in this alone. We’ll call in some staff tomorrow.”
“It’s nearly Christmas. They’re expecting the rest of the holiday off.”
“We’ll check with the regulars. I’m sure we can get a few takers.”
My mind is already racing through every worst-case scenario. “What if we can’t get anyone to come in?”
Ethan straightens to take my hands in his and give them a tender squeeze. “It’s you and me, babe. We’ve got this. Besides, Eric and his friends are arriving soon, so there’s no time to worry if we bit off a little more than we can chew. We just need to roll with it. I’m sure if we treat them like we would any other guests things will be just fine.”
“And spending time with Go-Go and Owen and Ava?”
“Free labor,” he teases with a wink. I roll my eyes at him and he grows serious again. “You know how important family is to me, Chloe. We’ll find plenty of time for everyone. I promise.”
Slowly, I lace my fingers with his. What he says makes sense. I know how hard the holidays still are for him. Becoming part of my family has helped ease the loss of his own, but nothing will ever totally ease that pain. So I know when Ethan says we’ll make this work, he means it. Though the perfectionist within me is still agitated. I wish I’d had more time to prepare.
I just want everything to go smoothly—better than smoothly. I need to prove to my parents that I'm capable of this so they’ll take more time off. My dad’s health depends on it.
“Chloe, we’ve got this,” Ethan presses when I go quiet.
Eventually, I nod. It’s not like I have any other choice. It’s time to dig deep and show our guests the small town charm that Pine Island is famous for.
It might take a Christmas miracle to pull this off, but I have no other option.
After all, I’d been the one to convince Ethan to leave his cushy life in Manhattan to move to the middle of nowhere in upstate New York so we could take over my family business. Moving back to Pine Island was the ultimate leap of faith. Choosing the family business rather than getting a nursing job after all