Part 8 (1/2)

”Too much,” Todd muttered.

”It will add to our town's charm,” Annemarie insisted. She got as far as having everyone agree that the matter should be looked into.

The brick in Samantha's stomach grew heavier. If n.o.body wanted to fork out for something as small as a sign, they sure weren't going to be excited about coughing up cash for putting on a festival.

”We have one more piece of new business from Samantha.” Ed smiled at her encouragingly.

She'd just had to open her big mouth and tell him she had a proposition to discuss that could benefit the whole town. Now her feet weren't simply cold, they were frozen solid. Would everyone think she was being completely self-serving? They'd probably shoot her down. Heck, if she didn't need this so badly she'd shoot herself down.

People were studying her with speculative interest. Sell this idea. It's the only one you've got and it needs to fly. She steeled herself and put on her game face. ”Yes, I've kicked this around with several people.” Charley and Ca.s.s, her family-that was several. ”And I've been getting some positive response.” Especially from her family.

”Let's hear it,” Ed said. ”I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm open to ideas. Business hasn't been the best this winter.”

”You can say that again,” agreed Olivia Wallace, who owned Icicle Creek Lodge.

”We need to do some things to bring in business and make Icicle Falls more of a tourist destination throughout the year,” Samantha said. ”After all, it's lovely here all year round. We have great hiking in the summer, and in the fall when the leaves turn, it's gorgeous. Plus we're near some of the best wineries this side of Napa.”

Ed nodded. ”Amen to that. So what did you have in mind?”

”Well, it's an idea my family's been toying with for some time.” Some being the operative word. She continued, the big lie tumbling out of her mouth before she could bite her tongue. ”And it's a dream my stepfather, Waldo, had hoped to make happen.” If he'd known about it he'd have been all over it, she rationalized, willing the guilty burn off her cheeks. Waldo loved a good party, and this would be the party to end all parties. Anyway, he'd been useless to the business in life. He could darn well contribute something in death.

”G.o.d rest his soul,” someone murmured.

If they pulled this off, he could rest in peace with Samantha's blessing.

”So what is it?” prompted Ed, who was practically salivating now.

She could feel Blake Preston's gaze on her as she stood there all dolled up in the business equivalent of the emperor's new clothes and felt her cheeks go warmer. ”Well, what's the third-biggest spending holiday of the year?”

”Mother's Day,” Annemarie guessed.

”Close,” Samantha said. ”Actually, it's Valentine's Day, coming in right after Christmas and Thanksgiving, and I'm thinking we could celebrate it here in Icicle Falls, which is why Sweet Dreams would like to sponsor a chocolate festival in honor of Cupid's big day. I'm sure, as you all know, a festival can bring loads of business into a town.” Okay, there it was. Had she baited the hook enough?

Some people had caught the excitement; she could tell by the glint in their eyes. Others, like Dot and Todd Black, Mr. Alpine Neanderthal, were looking dubious.

”What exactly did you want to do?” Dot asked.

Samantha launched into her spiel, making the sales pitch of her life, all the while hoping no one would suggest there wasn't enough time to plan something like this.

”But that's only a month away,” Hildy Johnson protested. Hildy was a stocky woman whose smile was as thin as the rest of her was fat. Her husband, Nils, was a pharmacist and he took care of filling prescriptions over at Johnson's Drugs but Hildy ran everything else, including him.

And now she'd just found the proverbial fly in the ointment. ”I know it's less than six weeks,” Samantha admitted, ”but my family has already done a lot of the groundwork.” Some anyway. They'd logged in a ton of phone calls over the weekend talking about it and Cecily and Bailey were working on schedules and venues for possible events. ”We'd have to start small this year, but if we all pulled together to offer something fun and visitors enjoyed themselves, well, word of mouth would bring us twice as many people next year. And, let's face it, this is a day that lends itself well to merchandizing-lovers' packages at our B and Bs and motels, wine-tastings, romantic dinners, special floral arrangements.”

Now more eyes were lighting up. She still didn't dare look at Blake. She pressed on, throwing out enticing details like so many Hershey's Kisses.

”What about advertising? How are you going to promote this?” Hildy wanted to know. ”You can't get the word out overnight.”

”But you can get it out fast, thanks to the internet and social media,” Samantha argued, parroting Bailey's words.

”How many friends have you all got on Facebook who don't live here? How many hits are you getting on your websites?” Todd asked cynically, making Samantha want to kick him.

”Obviously, we'd need to promote other places, too,” she said. ”Radio, newspaper-”

”They all cost money,” Hildy interrupted.

Now Samantha couldn't help looking in Blake's direction. The pity in his eyes made her want to cry. Instead, she pinned on her best saleslady face. ”I realize we're racing against the clock, but if we all worked together, pooled our resources, we could bring some good business into town.”

”And G.o.d knows we could use it,” muttered Heinrich, owner of Lupine Floral.

”So, would we like to be involved in this?” Ed asked. ”What do you think, people?”

”What the h.e.l.l,” Dot said with a shrug. ”I can hang up some foil hearts and offer a breakfast special.”

”We have limited funds in our lodging tax fund,” Hildy said. ”And this.” She shook her head. ”It'll get costly. We'd have to pay overtime to the police for security and we'd have to pay for maintenance and cleanup.”

”That's what the fund is there for, isn't it?” Samantha asked reasonably.

Hildy frowned at her. ”Of course, but it's not there for every c.o.c.kamamie idea that gets thrown out at Chamber meetings. Money doesn't grow on trees and we need to be wise with ours. I think we need a committee to look into this,” she concluded.

”With only a little over a month until V Day, I think we have to decide today to either pa.s.s or jump in,” Dot said.

”Then I say let's jump,” Charley said. ”I agree with Samantha-we can start small.”

G.o.d bless you, Samantha thought, shooting her a grateful smile.

Hildy shook her head again. ”I think we should pa.s.s.”

”You can't pull this off,” Todd said.

”I think we can,” Samantha insisted. ”If the whole town supported it, we could pull it off and we'd all benefit.”

”What do you think, Blake?” Hildy asked, obviously looking for someone to side with her.

He tugged at his necktie. ”It's a big undertaking,” he said. ”You'll probably spend more money than you take in this first year.”

”There you go,” Hildy said as if that settled it.

Go ahead, stab me in the heart, thought Samantha bitterly, narrowing her eyes at him.

He refused to look in her direction. ”But if you're asking me whether I think it's an idea that, with a little more time to plan and execute, could increase tourism, I'd have to say yes,” he added. Now he did look at Samantha, who still hadn't removed the scowl from her face, and regarded her with those blue eyes of his in a way that dared her to accuse him of being biased.

She'd take that dare. He was.

”I dunno,” Todd said with a shrug. ”It doesn't do much for me. I don't sell chocolate at my place.”