She passes me my doctored coffee. “There’s no way people will go for this.”

I appreciate her confidence, but as the daughter of two hardball lawyers, I’m also a realist. Money talks. Jingle Bells has been hard hit by losing the Benning Distribution Center. Our unemployment rate is atrocious. People are vulnerable.

“Open Monday through Friday,” I growl the message aloud and push the Off button. “Why did I think he’d be there on a Saturday?”

I give the list on the wall another quick scan. Next to the city hall number, I find the words Augustus Mobile with a local cell number scribbled beside them in Gran’s handwriting. With any luck, he still has the same number. Things change slowly around here.

Usually.

I glance at the hateful letter lying on top of some half-finished Christmas ornaments. The call goes to voice mail, and I slam the phone down. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To deal with Uncle Gus.”

“You going to make him an offer he can’t refuse?” Ami says in her best raspy mobster voice.

“Hey, if the concrete shoe fits ... ” I reach for my coat. “Seriously, come on.”

“Kristianna, wait.” Her voice is soft, but I spin around. “You know this whole name-change thing isn’t going to come to anything. Why don’t you just wait until Monday? We’ve got some wedding favors to finish.”

“I’ll get the favors done. But we have to take care of this.” Tears prick my eyelids, but if I’ve learned one thing from my parents, it’s that crying is a weakness. I blink hard. “Now.”

She shakes her head. “This is Jingle Bells. It’s always been Jingle Bells. It’s always going to be Jingle Bells.”

When she says that, I feel so stupid. Surely she’s right. I raise my shoulders and relax them to try to stop the jitters that are coursing through me. “Maybe so.”

“Definitely so.” She pushes my cup toward me. “You’re just in a no-caffeine haze.”

I offer a wobbly grin and take a sip of my coffee. Definitely the best part of waking up today. “Okay, for now the ornaments. Later, Uncle Gus is going down.” I sigh and retrieve a snowpeople bride-and-groom ornament from the counter.” What do you think?”

Ami grins, a perfect white smile. A bride smile. “I think you’re going to a lot of trouble for me. They’re beautiful.”

“You know I love doing it. Passing out ornaments to all your wedding guests is such a cool idea.” With my paintbrush, I start shading in the details, determined to ignore the uneasiness inside me.

“Way cooler since you’re hand making them. Everyone in town will show up for the ceremony just to get a Kristianna original. Especially since you’ll be in the wedding party ...”