She tapped some buttons on the tablet, and when the figure flashed on the screen her eyes widened. “Holy peppermint twist!” She held up the iPad for Ivy to see. “This is amazing. We’ve done more sales in the past hour than I’ve done all month in the shop. And December is always my best month.”

“Yay!” Ivy said. She hesitated. “Nancy, it seems like it’s slowed down a little. Would you hate me if I clock out? I promised Lawrence Jones I would pick him up and bring him to the stroll.”

“You go on ahead,” Nancy said. She pointed at the diminished stacks of pink-and-white-striped candy boxes on the booth’s shelves. “I’m almost out of inventory anyway. Looks like we might even sell out pretty soon.” She gave Ivy another hug. “Make sure you bring Lawrence over to see me. I want to thank him in person for connecting us.”

Lawrence was standing on the porch of his cottage, bundled up in a heavy woolen coat with a knit red-and-green scarf wrapped around his neck, when Ivy pulled into the driveway. “I’m sorry if I kept you waiting,” she said, helping him into the passenger seat and stowing his walker in the back.

“Not at all,” he said. His blue eyes shone with excitement. “I’ve been waving at my neighbors and enjoying seeing the beautiful lights on all the houses.”

“The square is pretty crowded tonight,” she warned. “I’ve never seen so many people out and about in this little town.”

“It’s not just folks from Tarburton, you know. People come from all over these mountains for the Christmas Stroll,” he said, his head swiveling back and forth as he admired the downtown shops and streets lit up for the event.

She’d made one trip around the square and was beginning to despair of finding a parking slot when she spotted the taillights of a minivan backing out of a space on Main Street and quickly steered into the vacated spot.

“Are you ready?” she turned to ask her passenger, but he’d already opened the door and was slowly pulling himself out of the vehicle.

“I think I can do without the walker tonight,” he confided.

Ivy tucked the old man’s hand in the crook of her arm as they made their way onto the square. “Lawrence, hello!” a stocky older man exclaimed, stopping to shake hands. “I haven’t seen you out and about in quite a while. And who is your beautiful companion?”

“Gordon, this is my friend Ivy. She’s new to town. Just bought Bob and Betty Rae Rose’s old place. Ivy, this is Gordon Steinmetz. We used to be in Rotary together.”

“Nice to meet you, Ivy,” Steinmetz said, looking her up and down. “We’re glad you’re here. It’s so great to see Four Roses all lit up again this year. And it looks like you’re keeping up with all the Roses’ traditions.”

“Well, not all of them,” Ivy said.

“I saw we’ve got our old Santa Claus back tonight too,” Steinmetz said. “Is that your husband?”