Holiday Romance Movie: A Poem

She's a small-town girl with a lot of heart
Who runs her baked goods shop
Like each cookie is a separate work of art
As individual as a snowflake
And she loves Christmas
Not just because she gets to bake
The elaborate desserts all those families
Will enjoy while admiring their trees
But because she's convinced
There's a magic to December
That everyone fails to remember
Throughout the rest of the year
Look in her eyes! Those aren't tears
But the kind of Disney princess shine
That filters out sadness and focuses on
The feel good, the real good souls
Deep down inside where the rest of us hide
Our dirty little secrets

But she has a secret of her own
She hates being alone at home
With the memories of all she's lost
So she goes head over heels for Christmas
To survive the season at any cost

He's a businessman come home for the holiday
Only because he heard there was money to make
He hasn't been home since he struck it rich
Can't even say he's felt the slightest itch
To revisit the past, though he was an athletic hero
And prom king, of course. His photo still hangs
In the high school halls and he signed that football
In the trophy case, from the year the team took first place
At the state competition, but he has no intention
To relive all that, since he learned at 18
That romance doesn't last
Didn't he grow up fast?
He had his heart broken once
And once was enough
To convince him there's no such thing as love
(That's supposed to make him a sympathetic character)

(Are you sick of this yet or do you want to hear more?
Is there any part of this story you haven't heard before
In one of those holiday romance movies?
I bet you can guess the ending
Without expending too much brain power)

His chiseled jaw is sharp enough to cut
Through the iciest heart
But she's not taking any part of this
Not when her bakery is under attack
That's right, it's one of the little shops
His company wants to buy for the lot
To tear it down to build condos or a mall
Somehow he knows her profits are small
Too small for her to make a living much longer
Not when he can make a killing
His argument is stronger
Or maybe it's his killer gaze
That makes her weak in the knees
Trembling in her place
She hates what he has to say
But how can she resist that B-movie actor
Generically handsome face?

She has to decide to sell or keep
And of course the deadline is Christmas Eve
Though no one explains why
Maybe because he needs to fly
Back to the big city, not that anyone's waiting
For him. Our lovely baker spends a night debating
Spilling her heart out to her cookie-cutter friend
(Not sure if we ever learn her name)
Who fails to remind our Christmas queen
That she could just say no and let things be

No, instead they decide this greedy
Businessman needs a bit of Christmas spirit
Whether or not he wants it
So they bake him some gingerbread cookies
To warm his heart. At the shop the next day
He's reluctant to try them, but the secret
Ingredient reminds him of his childhood
And suddenly he sees the light
He tells her everything will be all right
He's quitting the business tonight
They kiss beneath the mistletoe
Because that's the kind of show this is

One year later, she's his wife
And Christmas is their life
He traded in his suits and ties
To help her make pastries and pies
He sold his company for millions
To stay with her and spread billions
Of smiles throughout the town
Until another big company
Moves in to try to shut them down
(But that's the sequel)