Hannah made a little sound in her throat, and Noelle winced. She never knew when the sound of Levi’s name was going to gut Hannah.

“Miriam, you don’t want to be part of running Carrigan’s, right?” Noelle asked before getting up to pace.

She could fix this. She and Hannah wanted to spend their lives running this place. They’d planned it, talked about it, dreamt of it. They were good at it. Great, in fact. They could just go on running it, even if Cass had had some last-minute terrible idea.

“What on Earth was she thinking?” Noelle asked the room.

“I know what she was thinking, as I was present when she amended the will,” Elijah answered, though the question had been rhetorical.

“Although Cass was a decent, if idiosyncratic, businesswoman, traffic had dropped off sharply in the past few years,” Elijah explained. “More people are buying artificial trees, fewer are heading out into the country to have a Christmas experience. The recession happened and Cass dragged her feet on creating an internet presence for the farm. Carrigan’s used to subsist on Christmas tree income and returning annual holiday guests, but that’s not viable anymore. She was forced to take out a second mortgage, and she’d fallen quite far behind. The members of the bank board knew Cass for decades, but with her gone, they’re no longer able to honor the, uh, somewhat unorthodox verbal repayment agreement she had with them. Because Carrigan’s is an important local institution, they’re willing to work with you on repayment if you can present them with a viable plan, but there’s no way around it: the farm is in real financial trouble. Cass believed the four of you, as a team, could right the ship.”

In her shock, Noelle dropped onto the couch with a thump, startling Kringle. Cass believed what?

“She loved the ship metaphor,” Elijah continued. “She said she had a dream that Carrigan’s was a ship. Miriam was the sails, the creative wind. Noelle was the anchor that kept everyone from blowing off in wild directions. Hannah was the captain, Levi was the map to unknown lands, and she, Cass, was your North Star.”

Everyone was quiet a moment.

“She changed our entire lives based on a dream about a ship?” Hannah asked, sounding stunned.

“This is Cass we’re talking about,” Noelle murmured, and Hannah nodded slightly. It was a very Cass move.

“How am I supposed to help make any of that a reality?” Miriam asked, incredulously. “I don’t have any real money anymore, not the kind you’re talking about. I spent any savings I had renovating my store, and that’s sunk cost even if I wanted to get it back. But I don’t. I’m about to open my dream shop, I have a fiancée and a life in Charleston. Besides, I don’t know shit about trees. Or hotels.”