Sweet Tea & Christmas Trees Read online

  Also by Rachel Hanna

  January Cove Series

  Waiting For You

  The One For Me

  Loving Tessa

  Falling For You

  Finding Love

  All I Need

  Secrets And Soulmates

  Choices Of The Heart

  Sweet Love

  Faith, Hope & Love

  Spying On The Billionaire

  Second Chance Christmas

  South Carolina Sunsets

  The Beach House

  Sunsets & Second Chances

  Fireflies & Family Ties

  The Inn At Seagrove

  The Wedding At Seagrove

  A Seagrove Christmas

  Lighthouse Cove

  Beneath The Willow Tree

  Mutts & Magnolias (Coming Soon)

  Sweet Tea B&B

  Sweet Tea Sunrise

  Sweet Tea & Honey Bees

  Sweet Tea & Wedding Rings

  Sweet Tea & Christmas Trees (Coming Soon)

  Sweet Tea B&B

  Whiskey Ridge

  Starting Over

  Taking Chances

  Home Again

  Always A Bridesmaid

  The Billionaire's Retreat

  Wisteria Island

  Wisteria Island

  Wisteria Winds (Coming Soon)

  Standalone

  Back To Us

  Blue Ridge Christmas

  Watch for more at Rachel Hanna’s site.

  Sweet Tea and Christmas Trees

  Rachel Hanna

  Contents

  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 1

  Mia pulled plastic wrap across the platter of freshly made deviled eggs. Her mother’s recipes had saved her over and over again when it came to making meals for guests and during the holidays. Today was the day before Thanksgiving, and she was excited to spend the day with her new husband, as well as her sister and niece. Cooper was out working at the adventure center, but he would come by later to help with a few things, too.

  Family had become more and more important to her with each passing day. She loved hearing everyone talk and laugh in the kitchen as they chipped in to make the large meal. They didn’t have any guests staying there currently, so it was relaxing to just take care of the people she loved instead of random strangers staying at the B&B.

  Not that she didn’t love owning a B&B, because she did. Sometimes it took a lot out of her as she tried to make others feel welcome in her home. It was nice to have those moments when there was nobody to impress or take care of and she could just focus on her own loved ones.

  She and Travis had only been married for a couple of months, but it had been a whirlwind. After the wedding, they’d taken a two-week vacation to Hawaii, and Mia had experienced nothing like it. Now she had the travel bug and wanted to go everywhere.

  “You’d better get all the lumps out of those potatoes or your aunt will smack you,” Kate said under her breath to Evie.

  Mia laughed. “I would never smack my niece, but I would hold a grudge about it.”

  “What time do Dad and Sylvia get here tomorrow?”

  “He texted me this morning and said they’d arrive around ten.”

  “Which means eleven,” Kate said, chuckling. Their father was known for being late, and his daughters had learned to plan around it. They were just happy to have him in their lives, even if he was perpetually late for things.

  “So, where’s Cooper this morning?” Evie asked, as she continued mashing the potatoes.

  “He’s working at the adventure center. There’s a corporate group there from some kind of advertising company. Cooper said they’re about as rugged as a bunch of supermodels,” Kate said with a laugh.

  “Cooper is funny,” Evie said, giggling. Mia loved how Kate and Cooper had become such a strong couple, and Evie loved him. Although she had a pretty good relationship with her own father now, Cooper was a bonus that added happiness to Evie’s life.

  “Do we have many guests coming for the holiday season this year?” Travis asked as he pulled the turkey out of the freezer and placed it in the refrigerator. His job would be frying the turkey this year, and Mia hoped he didn’t somehow burn off his handsome face doing it.

  “A few of our regular families are coming closer to Christmas. And, of course, Mrs. Newbill. She always comes this time of year.”

  Kate smiled. “Mrs. Newbill is one of my favorites. She’s so prim and proper, but she has a wicked sense of humor.”

  “I remember one time she taught me and Momma how to line dance right there in the living room. She’d learned it from her neighbor’s grandson. It was so funny to see her dancing back and forth in her little cowboy boots.”

  “I hate that I’m going to miss seeing her this year,” Evie said under her breath.

  Kate turned around. “What was that?”

  She cleared her throat. “I said I hate that I’m going to miss that.” She didn’t look up.

  “What are you talking about, Evie?”

  She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t know how to tell you…”

  “Tell me what?”

  “Dad and Kara are taking a cruise for Christmas.”

  “So?”

  “They invited me, and I’d like to go.”

  Mia stood there watching her sister, who looked like a wax figure, frozen in time. She wanted to step in, say something, tell Evie she couldn’t leave her mother during the holidays. But, the truth was that Evie was almost a senior in high school and would leave to start her own life soon, anyway.

  “So you want to be away for Christmas?” Kate asked.

  “I will miss having Christmas here, but I’ve never been on a cruise, and I just thought…”

  Kate held up her hand. “It’s fine, Evie. He’s your dad, and you have siblings now, too. There’s nothing wrong with you wanting to spend time with that part of your family.”

  “Really?” she said, smiling.

  “Of course, honey,” Kate said, pulling her into a hug. “When do you leave?”

  “As soon as we get out for winter break.”

  Kate pulled back and looked at her. “What?”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I thought you were just leaving for the week around Christmas?”

  “It’s actually a two-week cruise and an extra week in Miami after we get back.”

  Kate’s eyes widened, and her face turned a shade of red Mia hadn’t seen before. “Three weeks? Did your dad hit the lottery or something?”

  “Mom, please don’t be mad at him. I don’t have to go…”

  Kate sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. “No, I want you to go. I’ll just miss you a lot.” Her eyes filled with tears, and Mia wished there was something she could do to ease her heartache.

  “Don’t cry,” Evie said, hugging her again. “I’ll text you the whole time, and I’ll video chat when I can.”

  Kate wiped her eyes and laughed. “Sorry. I don’t know what came over me there. I’m just not ready for you to grow up!”

  “Well, it’s going to happen whether you like it or not,” Evie said, laughing.

  “So, where does this cruise go?” Travis asked.

  “All over the Caribbean. I can’t remember all the places, but I do know the Virgin Islands, Aruba and The Domi
nican Republic. There were a bunch more, though.”

  “I expect so many souvenirs that you need an extra suitcase to bring them home,” Mia said, hugging her from behind.

  “Okay, let’s stop being so sentimental and get this Thanksgiving meal prepared! Otherwise, we’ll be eating mashed potatoes and that box of old cereal you keep on top of the refrigerator,” Travis said, pulling Mia back into the kitchen.

  Kate continued wiping her eyes as everyone got back to work. Eventually, she started cutting up vegetables for the huge salad they were making. Just as Mia was about to work on the pumpkin pie filling, her cell phone rang, vibrating her apron pocket.

  “Hello?” she said, stepping out of the kitchen and into the edge of the living room so she could hear better.

  “Is this Mia Carter?” a woman asked.

  “It’s actually Mia Norton now. I got married recently.” She smiled as she looked down at her wedding ring.

  “Well, congratulations are in order, then! This is Glenda Logan from the town council.”

  Mia vaguely remembered a woman named Glenda getting elected after seeing her signs all over town a few months back. “Hi, Glenda. What can I do for you?”

  “Look, I know it’s a busy day for all of us getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but I have a request.”

  “A request?”

  “This year, we’re having our first annual Carter’s Hollow Christmas Tour of Homes, and we’d like for Sweet Tea B&B to be one of the stops on the tour.”

  Mia immediately stiffened. One more thing to do during the holiday season? It didn’t sound appealing.

  “I really appreciate the invite, Glenda, but the holiday season is so busy around here…”

  “I know it might sound like a terrible imposition, but the press around this is going to be pretty big. Southern Homes and Style Magazine are doing a whole feature story with pictures of every house on the tour. Think of the bookings you could get. And you can even feature your honey business.”

  She was making a good point. “What would it entail exactly?”

  As Glenda explained, Kate walked over to listen in on the phone call. “Well, you would just decorate the house for Christmas, offer some snacks for guests, and that’s about it. Of course, the more you do, the more press you’ll get in the magazine.”

  Mia looked at Kate, who nodded. “Okay, we’ll do it. When does the tour start?”

  “It’s the weekend before Christmas, a whole three days straight. We’ll have large vans carrying loads of guests in a staggered manner from about five in the afternoon until eight.”

  “That sounds doable,” Mia said.

  “Wonderful! We’re so excited to have you on board. I’ll shoot you an email with all the details on Monday.”

  As Mia pressed end on the call, she sighed. “Are you sure we have time for this?”

  Kate shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t we always find a way?”

  “What in the world is this one?” Cooper asked, scrunching up his nose.

  “Cinnamon and cloves,” Kate said, biting her lips. Cooper took a tissue from the box next to him and wiped his tongue. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic!”

  He shook his head violently, like a dog with a wasp in its mouth. “Kate, you know I love you, but that stuff tastes like pesticide. I mean, I think you would actually market it to kill ants.”

  “Not funny,” she said, sniffing it.

  “Have you tried it?”

  Her eyes darted back and forth for a moment. “Well, not exactly.”

  “Oh, I see how it is! Use me as the guinea pig!” Cooper said, poking her in the side.

  Kate had been working for weeks trying to come up with some Christmas themed honey flavors. Now that the B&B was a part of the tour of homes, she’d have a captive audience to sell her wares.

  “What are y’all doing in here?” Mia asked as she walked into the office, where Kate had multiple jars of honey spread across the desk.

  “Taste testing my new Christmas flavor ideas. Here, try this one.” She held up a small wooden spoon, much like the ones from the ice cream cups she got at the fair as a kid.

  Mia put the honey into her mouth and then grimaced, choking it down and reaching for a bottle of water. “What on earth was that?”

  “Cinnamon clove.”

  “Good Lord, Kate! Do you hate me or something?”

  Cooper let out a loud laugh. “Right?”

  “We can’t sell that to people,” Mia said, taking the jar from the desk and holding it against her chest.

  “Is it really that bad?” Kate stood up and stuck her index finger into the jar before putting the honey on her tongue. She’d never tasted anything worse. After stealing her sister’s water, she could finally speak again. “Okay, so I might’ve been off base with that one.”

  “Ya think?” Mia said, chuckling. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something great, but this isn’t it. What are those?” She pointed at the other jars.

  “Gingerbread, peppermint stick and pecan pie.”

  “Have you tried them yet?”

  “No. I was going to have Cooper try them.”

  Mia looked at Cooper and smiled, patting his shoulder. “Good luck, man. Godspeed.”

  Travis and Cooper sat on the platform overlooking the first zip line course, each of them holding a steaming cup of coffee. “Numbers looked pretty good last week,” Cooper said.

  “Still not where we need to be, though.”

  “I had an epiphany last night, actually.”

  “Oh yeah? What kind of epiphany?”

  “Well, Kate was trying to poison me with her awful new Christmas flavored honey.”

  “There’s so much in that sentence to unpack,” Travis said with a laugh.

  “Let’s just say she may have invented a new pesticide that would make us millions.”

  “Sounds yummy.”

  “It got me thinking about this place and what we could do for Christmas time.”

  “Isn’t it a little late to be thinking about that?”

  “Kind of. But we may still be able to make something happen.”

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “Why don’t we turn the adventure center into a Christmas village?”

  “A Christmas village?”

  “We could decorate each cabin with a theme, like Santa’s toy shop. We could have Santa come and take pictures with the kids. Maybe a gingerbread house station. That kind of thing.”

  Travis thought for a moment. It was a good idea, but could they pull it off in time?

  “We’d need some help to get it to work. Maybe Kate and Mia could…”

  “Don’t even think about it. Kate is busy with honey, and they’re both swamped with the Christmas home tour. We’ll need to hire outside help.”

  “Like an interior designer?”

  “Maybe. Do you know anyone?”

  “No, but I can check with Teddy. He works at the Chamber of Commerce. Maybe he’d know someone who’s available at such late notice.” Travis had known Teddy since their school days.

  “Sounds good. You work on that, and I’ll start sketching out some ideas. But first, we have that giant Thanksgiving meal to eat tomorrow. Then we can worry about making this place into a Christmas wonderland.”

  As they continued to drink coffee and chat, Travis was thankful for the business and friendship they’d built. After being at odds for so many years, now they were like brothers, which meant miracles really did happen.

  “Are you okay?” Kate asked, as Mia put her hand on her stomach.

  “Yeah. My stomach is a little sour this morning. I think it’s from that honey you made me eat.”

  Kate smacked her on the arm. “It was not!”

  Mia took a sip of ginger ale and popped an acid reflux pill. “Dad and Sylvia should be here any time now.” She looked out the front window, craning her neck to see up the driveway.

  “The rolls are done!” Evie called from the kitchen. The smell of ye
ast rolls permeated the room, but Mia wasn’t enjoying the aroma at the moment. She hadn’t felt well since Kate gave her that bite of honey the day before. Of course, she knew the two things were unrelated, since a tiny bite of honey wasn’t likely to make her sick.

  She always felt stressed out during the holiday season, which really wasn’t the point of it all. Her mother had done such a flawless job at getting things ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and she always felt like she was falling a bit short.

  “The turkey is frying up real good,” Travis said, slipping his hands around Mia’s waist and kissing the top of her head. “You okay?”

  “Just my normal holiday reflux,” she said, laughing as she looked up at him. “Don’t burn that turkey or I’m asking for an annulment.” Travis pretended to be terrified and ran out the back door toward the turkey fryer.

  “He’s a nut,” Kate said, laughing.

  “Did somebody cut up the cucumbers for the salad?” Mia called to Evie.

  “I’m on it!” she yelled back.

  Kate put her hands on Mia’s shoulders. “Sis, you need to calm down. It’s just Dad and Sylvia coming, not the Queen of England.”

  Mia smiled. “I know, I know.”

  “Is this about living up to our mother’s image because I thought you were over that?”

  “I’m working on it,” she said, laughing.

  “I think I heard a car door!” Evie said, running out of the kitchen and over to the window. Mia loved to see Evie get excited about having a family. Kate had told her how hard it was for all those years that Evie had no one but her. Now she had an aunt, an uncle, a grandfather and a grandmother, not to mention Cooper. And then there was her blossoming relationship with her father, stepmother, and siblings. It really was miraculous to see the changes in her, and it almost made Mia want to cry. Or maybe it was just the holidays.

  “Happy Thanksgiving!” Jack said in his big booming voice as he opened the door. Sylvia was trailing behind his tall frame, smiling as she hugged Kate and Evie.