“You can’t leave me,” my best friend whispers into the phone, her voice urgent and filled with abject terror. In the background, I hear Lillianna Cox, the world’s worst boss, having one of her legendary temper tantrums.
“Yikes. That’s at least one good thing about this whole situation. I’ll never have to hear that again.”
It’s not the answer Cassie wants to hear.
“Meghan Ann Julliard. Get right back onto that plane and fly back to New York. I can’t do this alone. I heard she’s making us work late on Christmas Eve, and anyone who doesn’t show up to her party on New Year’s is getting written up. Then—”
She cuts off, and the phone goes dead. I can only imagine that Lillianna caught her on the phone. Personal calls are prohibited at Stitch, and since it’s the top fashion magazine at the moment, everyone will put up with any rule and the world’s worst boss to work there. I personally tried for four years to get on staff . . . and a scant six months later, here I am. Leaving it behind.
So, as I sit on the El and watch Chicago’s skyscape blur past, I don’t see the cheerful holiday lights, the festive trees, or the winter wonderland that others might.
I see my hopes and dreams swirling into a storm drain along with the muddy street slush.
I lean my forehead on the window, the chill leaching into my skin and my breath fogging up the glass.
I’d worked so hard to end up getting screamed at by Lillianna. Fetching her coffee, running her errands, staying up late at night writing fluffy fashion reviews, dealing with temperamental models . . . all menial things with the ultimate goal of making connections so that I can start my own fashion house someday.
It took an instant, a split second, for my dad’s heart to stop beating and my whole world to change. I miss him. And I miss my life in New York. I miss having my own dreams. Even the bright red holiday coffee cup in my hand doesn’t lift my spirits.
The train lurches to a stop, and I yank the handle of my suitcase up. Sadly, as I do, I also smash the jaunty red cup into my chest, where the lid comes off and coffee spills like a giant brown bloodstain all over my favorite winter-white coat.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Excerpted from the book THE CHRISTMAS DRESS by Courtney Cole. Copyright © 2021 by Courtney Cole. From William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission.
An enchanted Christmas dress brings two generations of women together for the magic of the season in this delightful holiday story from New York Times bestselling author Courtney Cole.
One Dress. Two Women. The Magic of the Holiday Season.
When hopeful fashionista Meg Julliard must return to her hometown of Chicago to manage her late father’s apartment building, she thinks her dreams of making it in the fashion business are over. Add in her father’s eclectic roster of tenants who all need Meg’s attention (ASAP!), a host of building related disasters, and a handsome handyman she keeps embarrassing herself in front of, and this has all the makings for the worst Christmas she’s ever had.
Ellie Wade, one of the building’s longtime residents, is also not feeling the Christmas Joy this year. She is preparing to move into a nursing home (reluctantly), and is in the process of sorting through her belongings to downsize. Every corner of her apartment holds memories, some good, some bad. But there’s one dress she hesitates to pack up as it represents both the best and worst night of her life.
Ellie and Meg strike up an unlikely friendship and the story of Ellie’s dress comes out. Ellie gifts the gorgeous dress to Meg, hoping that it will bring her more luck, on the condition that she wear it to the building’s Christmas party.
The dress magically fits, and while it eventually leads to the best night of Meg’s life, it also acts as inspiration for Meg to follow a life-long dream of her own, a dream that will help save the crumbling Parkview West, and restore it to its former glory, and keep it as a safe home for all of the current tenants.
The dress and the magic of the holiday season helps both Meg and Ellie find their own happy endings.
Romance Holiday | Romance Contemporary [William Morrow Paperbacks, On Sale: October 26, 2021, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780063099852 / eISBN: 9780063099869]
Courtney Cole is a novelist who would rather write than eat chocolate. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Business, but no amount of working in the corporate world could quell her urge to write.
Courtney was born and raised in Kansas, home of incredibly friendly people and the most horrendous weather on the planet. Because summer days were so hot, she grew up reading stacks of books... and when she didn't like the ending, she wrote her own.
Courtney loves hot pink nail polish, Mitch Albom and thunderstorms (not necessarily in that order).
She currently lives near Chicago with her real life Prince Charming, two sons, one daughter and small domestic zoo.
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