A division of HarperCollins Publishers
www.harpercollins.co.uk
Harper Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2017
Copyright © Katherine Garbera 2017
Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2017
Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com
Katherine Garbera asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008277857
Ebook Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 9780008142537
Version: 2017-11-14
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk
Copyright Harper Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2017 Copyright © Katherine Garbera 2017 Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2017 Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com Katherine Garbera asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008277857 Ebook Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 9780008142537 Version: 2017-11-14
Dedication Christmas is such a special time of the year for my family. My parents were married on Christmas Eve and this year will celebrate their 50th anniversary. This book is dedicated to Charlotte and David Smith for showing me that the best things in life always start with love, laughter and family. I’d also like to dedicate this book to my family and it’s a large one, so please indulge me this list of those who I keep in my heart. Rob, Courtney, Lucas, Bobby, Josh, Tabby, Donna, Scott, Emily, Linda, James, Ryan, and Katie.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Also by Katherine Garbera
About the Author
Recipes
About HarperImpulse
About the Publisher
Christmas is such a special time of the year for my family. My parents were married on Christmas Eve and this year will celebrate their 50th anniversary. This book is dedicated to Charlotte and David Smith for showing me that the best things in life always start with love, laughter and family.
I’d also like to dedicate this book to my family and it’s a large one, so please indulge me this list of those who I keep in my heart. Rob, Courtney, Lucas, Bobby, Josh, Tabby, Donna, Scott, Emily, Linda, James, Ryan, and Katie.
Christmas was the most special time of the year. This year, Iona Summerlin had poured all of her energy into making the Candied Apple Café a Christmas wonderland. She’d started from the storefront windows all the way through the shop. Her theme had been the “magic of Christmas”. Standing underneath the iron-worked apple that hung in front of the shop and watching as one of the crew on the lighting team she’d hired placed a large Santa hat on the apple, she couldn’t help but smile.
The windows had been inspired by Frosty the Snowman and how the magician’s hat had the power to bring him to life. Iona and her design team had come up with a group of kids in one window and a group of adults in the window on the other side of the door that were both looking at a very plain shopfront. Every thirty seconds a wind blew through the scene and stockinged caps, berets, and top hats settled onto the heads of the different characters while the backdrop changed to a magical wonderland of the Candied Apple Café with different chocolates and other offerings, including their famous Minty Cocoa.
Snow fell lightly on the sidewalk outside of the Candied Apple. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas ” could be heard from the shop each time the door opened and Iona stood next to her very best friends in the world. They were being photographed for an article about the hottest holiday places in Manhattan. And Iona knew she should be satisfied, but she was already thinking about next Christmas, and the things she wanted to implement for next year.
This holiday season they were competing with the big guys on Fifth Avenue with their window scenes, so she’d pulled out all the stops to make sure their customers got the maximum holiday experience.
And it felt like her work was paying off. Two different companies had contacted her about partnering with them for the New Year. One was a luxury resort chain, which even Iona admitted was a long shot. The chain had only twenty resorts worldwide and in each resort they offered their guests a one-of-a-kind experience and retail options that weren’t available everywhere. So, signing with them would give the Candied Apple an opening into the luxury clientele market that Iona thought would be wonderful. She had a few concerns, though, given that Hayley Dunham, their head chef, was particular about who she allowed to make chocolates for their shop. So far, the chocolatiers she’d used were just herself and one apprentice.
The other option was a developer who was interested in helping them open a second location in Manhattan down in the old meat packing district, which had become a trendy food mecca.
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