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“No. You don’t work at the hall anymore, remember?” Frances said, guiding her back into the chair.
Her mum wore the same expression she always did when asked to recall something she couldn’t quite grasp.
“Oh, yes.” The reply came automatically.
As Frances turned to leave, her mum’s pale, wrinkled face stared back at her with sadness. She hesitated for a moment, then let the feeling pass. The mantel clock chimed, pulling her back into motion and reminding her she was already running late.
“See you later. I’ll be back at five as normal.”
Within minutes, Frances was striding back into her office, grabbing a folder from her desk as she went. The closed door to the large meeting room suggested they’d started without her. When she opened it, eight heads turned towards her in a brief hush.
“Oh good, you made it,” Mara said. “We’re discussing the Christmas trees at the village entrance.”
“Ah, yes. Colin, can you please ensure they are exactly the same height this year?” Frances said as she took her seat at the head of the large, oval table. “I don’t want complaints again from the villagers about mismatched or wonky trees.”
“As I was just saying,” Colin, the head forester, said sharply, “I measured and cut them this morning.”
Frances looked up at him. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ll know where to send anyone who complains.”
A few sniggers passed among the female attendees. He frowned and folded his arms as Frances continued. “Right. How are we getting on with moving Halloween out?”
“Everything has come down except some of the spider lights in the north field,” Jack, the head groundsman, replied, “but it should all be gone by the end of the day.”
“Excellent. Right on track.”
She allowed herself a brief moment of satisfaction at having held firm this year in keeping Halloween confined to the grounds rather than spilling into the hall itself. Previous years had been chaotic, with one event coming down as the next moved in.
“I don’t need to remind everyone how important Christmas is. A third of our yearly income comes from it, and it boosts our conservation pot. We expect ten thousand people over the opening weekend. The clock is ticking. You all have your schedules; please stick to them. Report any deviations or delays to me. I will then escalate anything important to Clare. Please don’t distract her with individual issues.”
They all nodded, though Frances wondered which of them would be the one to let her down and cause the inevitable headache this season. She and Clare, the senior designer for their Winter Wonderland event, had spent the past months meticulously working out its timings. There had been some nights Frances dreamt in colour-coded spreadsheets.
“Is Clare joining us?” Mara asked, typing on her laptop as she spoke.
“No. She’s too busy directing everything downstairs to spare the time.”
Frances had already insisted that Clare should not attend; she, more than anyone, understood what was at stake with this event. Frances was in awe of the scale of it all: conception, design, procurement, logistics. She couldn’t have pulled it together on her own.
“We’ve been having trouble installing the cabling for the projection show on the façade this morning due to the wind,” Jack said, taking off his flat cap and scratching his head. “The storm should pass overnight, so we’ll try again tomorrow and spend this afternoon getting the snow globes positioned on the lawn and cabled up instead.”
Frances glanced at the schedule in front of her and scribbled a note across it. “Fine. The last thing we want is a chunk taken out of one of the windowsills.”
“Jack,” Jan, the collections manager, piped up, “I could use some help moving seven carpets and some furniture into the chapel this afternoon.”
“Of course. I’ll send a couple of my lads over to you.”
“Thanks. And Frances, we will move those vases that we discussed.”
Frances nodded. “Best to be on the safe side. We need to prepare as much as possible and ensure a smooth installation for Clare. Iris, if we can get your team to increase hoovering, we can avoid last year’s glitter debacle.”
“Of course, Frances,” a grey-haired woman with a tight bun replied. “I’ll have a couple of them dedicated to it.”
“Thank you.”
She liked Iris. She was efficient and ran her housekeeping team like clockwork. With the pressure on to make each Christmas bigger and better than the last, Frances needed reliable people like her around.
As the meeting drew to a close, Frances issued her final reminders. “Ensure your teams are ready to work late into the night as we approach opening and inform security if they do. We don’t want a repeat of last year’s alarm issues either.” She caught the eye of Bob, her head of security, who gave a firm nod.
The department heads dispersed quickly, nodding and muttering in agreement.
