The Holiday Switch

Well, your work shows. She gestures at the shelves behind me ­all donated ­and the meticulously categorized books that fill them. The Bookworm Inn Free Library was a community service project I started when I was in the eighth grade with one little shelf and a dozen donated books. Five short years later, the library now lines an entire wall of the gift shop.

Thank you. My face warms, both from the compliment and the fact that my intentions have not been purely altruistic. Some might say I m trying to cheat the system ­in this case, my parents rules about certain types of internet use ­but I attribute it to my entrepreneurial spirit.

Ms. Velasco twists the watch around her wrist. Looks like ten minutes before we open. And I spy people in the parking lot.

I scramble up and straighten my Bookworm Inn sweater. It s a soothing forest green that s supposed to embody the gorgeous foliage of the Finger Lakes region. That s where fictional characters Leo Marks and Estelle Mendoza grew up and fell in love in the beloved 1996 film Holiday by the Lake, based on its namesake novel. The entire movie was filmed in our real town of Holly, New York, and most of its scenes were shot right here, on the Bookworm Inn property, owned and operated by the Velasco family for the last three decades. Holly has become a major tourist destination as a result, and fans of the movie flock here in droves every holiday season, camera-­ready, to relive their favorite scenes.

I m ready. I ll put this away and open up.

Ms. Velasco nods, and when she turns, I stuff my laptop into my bag. I really need to be more careful. In my two years stealthily blogging behind the adorable, anonymous avatar of a brown-­skinned, dark-­haired, Santa-­hat-­wearing girl, this is the first time I ve been close to getting caught in the ac