Chapter Text
In the two months since she had arrived at Valley Ski Resort, Princess Anna of Arendelle hadn’t stopped smiling. She greeted each day with a smile, worked with a smile, and whenever she thought about how thrilled she was to be experiencing life away from the castle and Arendelle, she smiled.
If she were being honest, she hadn’t stopped smiling since her older sister - and Queen of Arendelle - had approved her proposal of a sabbatical. She remembered the day she’d asked very clearly, as she was certain that her sister would reject her idea and she’d be stuck in Arendelle for the foreseeable future.
“Soooo,” she’d started.
“Yes?” Elsa had raised a questioning eyebrow.
“How would you say your mood is today?”
“My mood?”
“There’s something that I want to ask you, and I’m not sure how you’re going to react, so I’m trying to gauge if now is a good time or a bad time.”
Elsa had chuckled. “Anna, you can ask me whatever it is that you have to ask me.”
“Okay,” she’d breathed. “I wanted to know how you’d feel if I...went away for a while.”
“Went away? To where?”
“I was thinking of taking a sabbatical and finding work in another country - temporarily, of course. Just a few months where I could do something other than mope around the castle. I think it would be good to have some work experience under my belt, especially because your coronation is next year. I want to be able to do more than what I’ve been doing.”
Elsa had nodded. “I see. That makes...sense. Did you have something specific in mind?”
“Not yet,” she’d confessed. “I wanted to know what you thought about it before I committed to anything specific and got my hopes up.”
“There are a lot of factors to take into consideration. Your identity and your security are the first things that come to mind. But...as long as you’re back before the coronation, I really don’t see the harm in you -”
Before she could finish her sentence, Anna was throwing her arms around her sisters neck. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re the best big sister, ever!”
It was some of the best news she’d received in her life. Not that her life had been dismal prior to her arrival at Valley Ski Resort, but it was rather...boring. Not boring in the traditional sense, as she had plenty of things to do. Horseback riding in the gardens, reading every romance book she could get her hands on in the library, and practicing piano at twilight. Regardless, her days felt empty, as if something was missing. She selfishly wished for more - travel, new friends, love.
So with her sister’s approval, the arrangements were made. With the exception of the general manager of the resort, her colleagues would remain unaware of her royal status, and would refer to her by her first name rather than by any titles or formalities. She’d stay on site, in one of the luxury “cabins” that the hotel rented to guests who wanted a more home-y experience, and set off to Valley in September, vastly unprepared for a life so different from the one she was accustomed to, but ready for anything. She had to learn how to do everything on her own; from cooking to cleaning to laundry, but she adapted fairly quickly to her new, “normal” routine and fell in love with her job as the assistant event planner for the resort. Two months in, and she was happier than she’d ever been in her entire life.
This particular morning had started the same as any other. In fact, when she woke up, she had a great feeling about how the day would go. She woke up feeling well rested before her alarm went off, had extra time to put on a little makeup, and was able to stop by the café on the first floor before making it to work with plenty of time to spare.
“Good morning,” she called, upon entering her office. She dropped her bag on the floor before shimmying out of her coat and hanging it on the rack by the door.
“Hey! Morning, Anna,” Holly, the administrative assistant, called back.
She glanced around and noticed that Holly was the only person there, which was rather unusual. Her boss always made it in before she did. “Jenny’s not here yet?”
“No,” Holly answered, running a hand through her chin length, raven-colored hair. “And it’s not like her to be late.”
She scooped her purse off the floor and walked over to her desk. “I know. Maybe she called out today?”
“She hasn’t been answering my calls or texts and I didn’t get an email from her.”
“Do you think Bonnie will know?”
“I’m sure she does, but she has more important things to worry about than one person calling out sick.”
“I’ll try texting her, too. I hope everything’s okay.”
“In the meantime,” Holly started, opening the top drawer of her desk and pulling out a box, “Look at what came in today!”
“Are those the invitations for the ball?”
“They are! Come look!”
Though she’d just sat down, she immediately hopped back up and ran over to Holly’s desk. She peered over her shoulder, at the silver and royal blue invitations. “Wow, those are gorgeous.”
“‘Valley Ski Resort cordially invites you to the twenty-fourth annual ball. Join us on Saturday, February sixth at seven in the evening for dinner, drinks, and dancing,’” Holly read. “Followed by the address to the hotel, of course, your extension and email for the RSVP, and the prices per head.”
“They’re perfect.”
“All you have to do now is finalize the guest list, print the name and address stickers, stick ‘em on and drop ‘em in the mailbox.”
“That’s it?” Anna teased.
“At least you don’t have to worry about hand-writing every name and address on five hundred envelopes.”
“It would give me an excuse to practice my penmanship,” Anna laughed. “My teachers always said my handwriting could go from neat to illegible in the same paper.”
“I know for a fact that your hand will be tired after sticking that many stickers to the envelopes, so don’t get too far ahead of yourself. At least the return address and stamp are already on there.”
“Less work for me,” Anna smiled, picking up the box and carrying it to her desk. “And I already have my work cut out for me.”
“Jenny is keeping you on your toes, huh?”
She sat down again, finally kicking off her snow boots and switching them for the flats she kept in her bag. “Just a little. I enjoy it though. I like keeping busy.”
“I know you haven’t been here very long, but you’re doing great,” Holly said. “Way better than any other assistant Jenny’s ever had.”
“Thank you, Holly. I really appreciate that.”
They kept up the small talk as they began their work for the day. As usual, Anna had plenty of emails to respond to and the talking helped to pass the time. A few hours into the day, the office door opened and they both turned around to see if Jenny had finally arrived for her shift. Instead, it was Bonnie, the general manager of the resort. “Good morning, ladies.”
“Good morning, Bonnie,” they responded in unison.
“How’s the planning for the ball coming along?”
“Excellent,” Anna spoke up. “We received the invitations this morning. The guest list will be finalized by early next week and the invitations will be sent out by the end of next week.”
“That’s wonderful,” Bonnie smiled. “Now, I’m afraid that I have good news and bad news for you both.”
“Oh,” Holly murmured, exchanging a worrisome look with Anna.
“I’m afraid that Jenny has resigned, effective immediately,” Bonnie stated matter-of-factly. “That’s part of the bad news. The good news is for Anna - congratulations, you’ve been promoted!”
Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “I have?”
“Of course! Sure, you’ve only been here for two months, but you’ve been shadowing Jenny the entire time, you show excellent potential, you’ve never been late...I can go on and on, but it was one of the easiest hiring decisions that I’ve had to make in my entire career.”
Anna couldn’t help but wonder if she was being promoted out of sheer desperation, or if it was because Bonnie was the only person aware of her royal status and was trying to kiss up to her. “Thank you, Bonnie. I hope that I can exceed your expectations.”
“I don’t think you’ll have any trouble fitting into your new role. Now for the second part of the bad news - unfortunately, there won’t be enough time to hire a new event planning assistant in time for all of the upcoming events, between the Christmas season starting in three weeks, and then the ball the first week of February. I’m so sorry.”
Anna nodded slowly, trying to process everything that Bonnie had just told her. Not only had she been promoted, but now she’d have to take on the workload of two people by herself. “I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all I ask,” she remarked. “I know that you’re going to do great. Enjoy the rest of your day, ladies.”
Bonnie swiftly exited the office, and as soon as she was gone, Anna turned to face Holly. “What am I going to do?”
Holly stared for a moment, her mouth agape. “I...don’t know. This has never happened before.”
“I don’t think that I can do this alone! How am I supposed to do this alone?”
“Anna, I genuinely don’t know. I’m as stunned as you are. I mean, I’ll do my best to help you in any way that I can, but I only took this job because it came with a set, part-time schedule. I have a baby at home - I can’t be here for all of the events on the calendar.”
“Of course not,” Anna agreed. “That’s not fair to you or your husband or son.”
“Yeah, but this situation isn’t fair to you . Bonnie has plenty of time to find a new assistant, I bet she’s just being lazy.”
“I wonder why Jenny quit so abruptly.”
“I know! Jenny isn’t the type of person to do anything abruptly. I hope that she’s not sick or something.”
A wave of anxiety rolled through Anna’s body and she buried her face in her hands. “What am I gonna do?”
“Oh sweetie,” Holly cooed. “It’ll be alright. You’ll figure it out, I promise.”
Anna exhaled heavily and nodded.
“How about we go over everything we have to do for the rest of the season?” Holly suggested. “I know Jenny normally goes over the events on a week-by-week basis, but it may make you feel better to recall everything you’re dealing with in advance. Kind of like a quiz.”
“Okay,” she agreed. She got up from her desk and paced back and forth across the office; she often did her best thinking as she paced. The office was modest; the three desks were all lined up against the right wall, and the other walls were lined with filing cabinets, a bulletin board, and plants. Lots and lots of plants. Luckily, the plants were Holly’s responsibility, so Anna didn’t have to worry about keeping them alive - something she was sure that she’d fail at.
“So the cookie decorating is on the twenty-fourth. Do you remember the game plan for that?”
“Yes. We... I have to pick up the cookies at the bakery, bring them to the conference room - which I’ll try to set up in advance - and then sell the cookies until the event is over.”
“Do you remember how much each cookie costs?”
“Three dollars.”
Deciding to distract herself as she and Holly talked, she started to reorganize the bulletin board. A couple of the fliers were outdated, and they could use the extra room for the upcoming events.
“Take down the pictures with Jenny in them while you’re at it,” Holly replied. “Alright, what’s next?”
She began to collect the many photos of Jenny that had been posted onto the board. A few of them included her, from the events that they had worked on together. It was almost bittersweet to take them down; Jenny was her boss and mentor. They spent forty hours a week together for two months straight, and Jenny had taught her everything that she knew. “Um, that’s the last event that this office has planned for the month and December is maxed out.”
“Well, what events do we have in December?”
“So many,” Anna sighed, stacking the photos neatly into a pile. “Santa will be here every night in the lobby. A reindeer petting zoo will be set up outside. A few movie nights and Christmas caroling. On weekends there will be sleigh rides through the woods and hot beverage stands outside. Am I forgetting something?”
“There’s also going to be a story time and cookie decorating with Santa event on Christmas Eve,” Holly pointed out. “All of the kids will be wearing their pajamas.”
“Okay.”
“But other than that, that’s it.”
“Thank god,” Anna breathed, finally collapsing in her office chair and tossing the pile of pictures onto her desk.
“I’m actually really excited for the story time with Santa.”
“Are you bringing your son to that one?”
Holly nodded. “He’ll only be eight months old, but why not? It’ll be adorable.”
“I can’t wait to actually see him in person,” Anna smiled. “Now, is there anything that we have to do on Christmas Day or New Years Eve or Day?”
“No, not us. Culinary is going to have buffets - like the one they’re having for Thanksgiving - and then the hotel puts out extra televisions and passes out champagne for New Years. We actually have off on those days.”
“Really? I mean, Christmas Day makes sense, but New Years? That’s a little unexpected.”
“Well, we have put most of our energy into planning the ball, and there wouldn’t be enough time to throw three huge parties in a month. So, the holidays are ours.”
“I’m so thankful for the person who made that decision,” Anna laughed. “I may wind up here on those days, anyway, though.”
Holly clicked her tongue. “Don’t do that - enjoy your extra days off.”
“It’s not like I have anywhere better to be,” she shrugged.
“I’d offer for you to come over on Christmas, but I’ll be with my in-laws in the morning, and my parents at night. Baby’s first Christmas, and all.”
“Oh, no I wasn’t trying to invite myself or get you to pity me.”
“I know,” Holly nodded. “I just feel bad that you’ll be all alone.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll call my sister, like I always do when I have time off, and then I’ll come here and see what’s going on.”
“Maybe by then you’ll have a boyfriend and he’ll invite you to spend Christmas with him,” Holly teased, wiggling her eyebrows.
Anna felt her cheeks warm up at the thought. “Christmas is six weeks from today and I think we both know that that’s not going to happen. I’ve been here for two months and the dates I’ve been on haven’t been great.”
“I don’t think you’ve been looking in the right places.”
She rolled her eyes. “To be fair, I came here to work.”
“And now you have enough work for two people,” Holly reminded her. “You should try to have some fun in your free time.”
“I do have fun,” she remarked defensively.
“Oh yeah? Tell me what you do for fun.”
“I just got a Netflix account, so I’ve been trying to catch up on all of the shows that I’ve missed over the years.”
Holly cocked her head. “That’s not fun, that’s pathetic. Also - watch Grey’s Anatomy.”
“I’ll add it to my list. And I don’t think that you should judge what I do in my free time when you spend your free time tending to your infant .”
“Exactly! I don’t have any free time. I’m trying to live vicariously through you.”
“Don’t do that,” Anna laughed. “You’re only setting yourself up for disappointment.”
“What if we set you up on Tinder? Or Bumble?”
“Holly -”
“Ooh, I could set you up on a blind date! My husband works in the high school and he has a ton of young, single coworkers.”
“How about we stop talking about my dating life and finish talking about the rest of the events that are coming up?”
“Fine,” Holly groaned, looking down at the calendar. “January is pretty empty. A few movie nights scattered around, and two make-your-own hot chocolate nights.”
“Hot chocolate?”
“Yeah, the kids get a kick of being able to choose their own toppings and stuff.”
“Gotcha,” Anna nodded.
“And then the rest of our energy goes to the ball. January is crunch time. Making sure that everyone RSVP’d, making sure the menu is finalized, reaching out to the DJ, et cetera. It’s going to be a lot.”
“I’ll consider myself warned.”
“That’s the right attitude! Now for February - obviously, the ball is the first thing that month. There’s going to be a few events for Valentine’s Day - card and cookie decorating and a carnation sale.”
“Carnations? Why not roses?”
“Carnations are the flower of love,” Holly answered. “And they’re cheaper than roses.”
“Yeah, but roses are way more popular,” Anna pointed out. “Maybe we should consider ordering roses this year.”
“I’ll look into it,” Holly said, writing it down on her notepad. “Now for March. Easter is the first weekend in April, so the Easter Bunny will be in the lobby for the month. There will be egg hunts and egg decorating - basically, we’ll have eggs coming out of our ears - in the week leading up to the holiday.”
“Is that it?”
“Well, we hadn’t got that far for this upcoming year, but usually we throw in some cookie decorating, too.”
“Okay, that’s manageable,” Anna commented.
Holly frowned. “And then I believe we’re losing you, after that.”
“Yeah, I’m going home in April,” Anna sighed. “We can plan a few more events for that month, though. I won’t be leaving until late April.”
Holly smiled. “So I get a little more time with you than I thought.”
“Hopefully Bonnie will find her replacements by then. Or else you’ll be doing the work of three people.”
“Don’t remind me,” Holly groaned. “I don’t want to think of that as being a possibility.”
She wiggled the mouse of her computer and it turned back on. She signed onto her email, hoping to see an explanation from Jenny. Instead, she found an email from the manager of the bakery. She spun around to face her coworker. “Liz just emailed me and said that they were able to specially order the cookie kits that Jenny requested.”
“Finally, some good news today,” Holly remarked. “Not that the news of you being promoted was bad. But it was...a lot.”
“Tell me about it,” Anna laughed.
Holly’s phone rang, then, interrupting their conversation. “Hold on just a sec,” she started, before picking it up. “Hello, you’ve reached the event planning office, this is Holly speaking.”
Anna turned back to her computer and scrolled through her inbox, trying not to eavesdrop on Holly’s conversation.
“Oh, hi Bonnie! How can I help you?”
Bonnie? She glanced back at her coworker, who had a puzzled look on her face.
“I’m sorry...what? Are you kidding?...Okay, we’ll be right down,” Holly said, slamming the receiver down and standing up. “Come on, Anna, we have to go.”
“Wait, what happened? Where are we going?”