She took a deep breath. She had people out there who were waiting for a Champagne toast, and she wasn’t going to let them down.
She turned around and walked back into the kitchen on a mission. Avoiding Luke, she grabbed a bottle of Champagne and looked at Caylee and Maryanne.
“Well, are we doing this or not?” she asked in a voice that meant business. “We promised everyone a Champagne toast.”
She grabbed the cork on the bottle she was holding and yanked it off. After the loud pop!, Riley held up the bottle. “So let’s give them a Champagne toast.” She turned to Luke. “You can go. We can do this.” Her voice was flat, emotionless.
“Riley,” Luke started, but Caylee stepped between them.
“She’s right, Luke,” Caylee said. “You go entertain the guests, and we’ll be right there with the Champagne.”
When Luke looked at Riley, she had nothing left to say to him. She was in crisis mode. Right now, she needed to try to find a way to go back out there and face the Christmas Campers, who all thought she was Miss Christmas. She also had to face her three ex-boyfriends who had all crazily claimed they were her current boyfriend. In her wildest author imagination, she never could have made something like this up.
After Maryanne poured the first glass of Champagne, Riley picked it up and drank it. She didn’t stop until the glass was empty. She put the glass down. “Who is ready for a party?”
Maryanne and Caylee quickly continued to fill up Champagne flutes and put them on a silver tray.
“We are,” Caylee said.
“Great,” Riley said, picking up the first full tray. “Then let’s do this.”
As Riley passed out Champagne, she introduced herself to each and every one of the Christmas Campers.
She was surprised to see such a variety of people, of all ages who had come from all over the country and all walks of life. There were people who had come from her home state of Washington, and others from California, Maine, and Florida, and still others from Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, and a lot of places in between.
The youngest Christmas Campers were the twenty-two-year-old twins, Carrie and Terrie, from Clearwater, Florida. The eldest, Patricia, was almost ninety. She was from Dallas, Texas, and brought her daughter, Linda, and granddaughter, Renee, as a Christmas gift.
There was a young engaged couple in their late twenties, Carolyn and John, and several couples who were retired, including the couple that Luke had recommended be invited, Debbie and Bill. There was even a group of four girls in their thirties from Tennessee, Rachel, Madison, Kara, and Julie, who were doing a Christmas Camp girls’ getaway weekend. Two of them had left husbands and babies at home, and two were single. When Riley got to Barbara and Larry, she could barely get away because Barbara wanted to keep taking pictures.
Then there were her exes, Colin, Brendan, and Tyler. At the moment, they had all picked different places to hang out in the back of the room and were staring at their phones.
Talk about awkward, Riley thought. She’d asked Caylee to give them their Champagne and let them each know she’d talk with them later. She just couldn’t deal with them right now. It wouldn’t be fair to her Christmas Campers.
After they’d finished passing out the Champagne, Riley saw Luke motioning for her to join him back at the fireplace. She forced a smile as she joined him, still hurt and angry that he’d been in on this ex-boyfriend fiasco.
“If I can have everyone’s attention for a moment,” Luke said, “we’d like to do a toast to officially start off our Christmas Camp.”
When Riley saw the twins give each other a guilty look because they’d already drank their Champagne, she quickly grabbed a bottle and filled up their glasses.
“Thanks,” both twins whispered to her at the same time. “You’re the best.”
“No problem,” Riley whispered back. She then gave Caylee the Champagne bottle and then walked back to join Luke.
“Ready?” Luke asked her.
“Ready,” she said and smiled, but the smile was for the benefit of the Christmas Campers. When she looked to the back of the room and saw Colin, Brendan, and Tyler raise their glasses to her, she just kept smiling, even though she was thinking, Shoot me now.
“I’m not sure if you all know this,” Luke said to the group, “but the idea of Christmas Camp was actually the creation of my friend’s dad, Ben. He owns the Holly Peak Inn in Massachusetts, and now he’s working with other places, like my family’s lodge, so we can host more Christmas Camp experiences like this one.”
When everyone cheered, Luke smiled and then continued. “Part of the agreement to hold a Christmas Camp is to make sure we honor some of Ben’s family’s original Christmas Camp traditions like making their famous Christmas Camp cookies and doing a Christmas Camp cocktail mixology class . . .”
“Cheers to that,” the twins said as they clinked their Champagne glasses together.
Everyone laughed, including Riley.
“So tonight’s cocktail party is the beginning of the Christmas Camp journey we’re all going to be taking together,” Luke went on. “I know a lot of you have traveled a long way to get here, so after this cocktail party we have a simple but delicious buffet dinner that you can eat at your leisure, either in the dining room or in your own room. This is your time to settle in and relax before we start our first full day of Christmas Camp activities tomorrow that Riley will be hosting.”
When everyone clapped, Riley lifted her glass and smiled. “And you’ll definitely want to get your rest. We have a big day planned for you tomorrow.”
“We can’t wait,” Carrie said.
“We are so excited,” Terrie added.
“And now for our first toast,” Luke said as he held up his glass. “Ben has a special toast his family always does at
