Ivy was busy checking Harlowe Banks’s social media on her phone. “OMG! She has one-point-two million followers on Instagram. Okay. Here’s what we’re gonna do. We’ll style up a photo of the chewies with a post that says: ‘Who has the hots for our red-hot chewies?’ And then we’ll tag her, and use the hashtag #redhotsforhotties.”

“You don’t think she’ll mind?” Nancy said, looking doubtful.

“Better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” Ivy said. “If she complains, let her know the business is in trouble and you might have to close if things don’t pick up. And in the meantime, overnight her one of your Christmas assortments. Include a note thanking her for being such a loyal customer.”

“What if she says no?” Nancy asked.

“But what if she says yes?” Ivy shot back. “My first boss always told me, ‘You don’t ask, you don’t get.’”

“Okay, I’ll do it,” Nancy said, a slow smile spreading across her face. “You really are a marketing genius, Ivy. Since I put up that window display, business has gone crazy. I had a two-thousand-dollar day today. Two thousand! That’s more than I did for all of last month. In one day!”

“I’m glad,” Ivy said, glancing down at her watch. “Oops. I’d better dash. I left Punkin with Lawrence Jones an hour and a half ago. He loved all the candies, by the way.”

“He’s such a sweetheart,” Nancy said. “Give him a hug from me.”

Ivy was almost out the door. “Wait!” Nancy called. “I forgot to check. Were you by any chance coming to the Christmas Stroll on Wednesday?”

“I’m not sure. Why?”

“I’ve signed up for a booth on the square, but Karly, who was supposed to help work that night, just told me she’s performing with the high school chorale. It’s always the biggest night of the year for me, in terms of sales, and there’s no way I can handle it all by myself. I was hoping maybe…”

“You want me to work the booth?” Ivy was taken aback.

“Never mind,” Nancy said hastily. “That was way out of line. I don’t know what came over me—”

“What would you need me to do?” Ivy asked. “I’ve never worked retail. I’d probably be more of a nuisance than a help.”

“If you could help ring up sales, that would be awesome,” Nancy said. “I only offer six of our most popular Christmas assortments during the stroll. They’re already packaged, so there’s no weighing or wrapping. I’d handle the cash sales and make change. You’d have one of my iPads, so you could run the credit sales.”

“Well…”

“It’s okay,” Nancy said, shrugging. “You’ve been so generous to me already. I’ve still got three days to figure something out.”

“If you can find somebody else, great. If not, then yeah, I’ll do it.”

The candymaker threw her arms around Ivy. “I swear, you must be the Christmas miracle I was praying for.”

“You might not think so if I end up messing up all your candy sales,” Ivy warned with a smile.