by Lucy Score
Gannon eyed the activity around them. “I’ll mention that it would be really helpful if she brought dinner here tonight.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Got something you’ll appreciate even more than dinner.” Gannon jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Brought a couple of reinforcements with us.”
He’d brought her a crew. Men she’d known for half her life who had stuck with them after their grandfather’s death when payroll had been late and jobs scarce. They whistled their patented “Cat call” that one of the jokers had invented years ago to entertain her when she was a kid. She opened her arms to them.
“What the hell are you jokers doing here?” Her budget was cringing, but having a Kings crew already familiar with the world of reality TV? It would be worth it.
“They’re volunteering too,” Gannon said, scratching the back of his head.
“The fuck they are,” Cat said succinctly.
“They’re going to swap out with the rest of the guys. Three days on set, three days back home.”
“I can’t ask them to do that,” Cat argued.
“It’s done. Besides, banner year for Kings Construction,” Gannon reminded her. “Word may have leaked about those bonuses we decided on.”
“Let’s fight about this later,” Cat decided. She had too much other shit on her plate
“Where we startin’, Cat?” Flynn, Gannon’s best friend and favorite foreman, demanded, tossing his hammer in the air and catching it neatly in his tool belt.
She crossed to him.
“Geez, Flynn. How many hours wasted on job sites did it take you to master that?” Cat asked, slapping the man on the shoulder.
His grin was quick. “Your brother bet me a burger and a beer I couldn’t get it before the end of a workday.” He patted his belly in satisfaction. “That burger was worth the bruises.”
“Well, gentlemen, why don’t you go grab yourselves some coffee and donuts and get ready for a briefing? We’re gonna start with either demo or park cleanup. So, I hope you brought your muscles.”
They flexed for her, as she knew they would, flannel and Henleys stretched over both muscles and beer guts. Cat laughed. Surrounded by family, she suddenly felt like she was home.
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Cat rapped her knuckles on Noah’s open door and braced herself for a fight. “Got a minute?”
He looked up from his desk, shrugged. “Does it matter if I do? Or are you just going to drag a kindergarten class in here to cry until I give you whatever you want?”
“Try to not be an ass for five minutes, and I’ll get out of your hair,” Cat suggested, walking in and sat in one of his visitor chairs without an invitation.
“What can I do for you today, Lucifer?” Noah asked, folding his hands on his desk.
“You’re going to have to try harder than that if you want to insult me,” Cat warned him. “We’re going to need a headquarters. The RV park at the ShopRight isn’t going to cut it. For one, we need heat. For two we’re going to need all the other comforts of home: electricity, internet, bathrooms.”
“And you want me to build you what? A five-star hotel with conference space?”
God, he pissed her off. And sooner or later she was going to have to teach Noah what the consequences were when he poked the bear.
“I’m thinking more along the lines of the old high school. It’s empty and, from what the locals tell me, has more than enough space for what we need.”
“It also costs the town astronomical amounts of money in terms of heating and electricity,” Noah said.
“We’re prepared to rent it for the duration of the shoot,” Cat said coolly. She named a figure and had the satisfaction of seeing surprise flash across his face before he frowned again.
“I’d have to check with the town council.”
Cat dropped her head against the back of her chair and stared up at the ceiling. “Matters of public facility rental are deemed the responsibility of the city manager, and unless the title painted on your door is a joke, you’re the stubborn jackass who gives the okay.”
“If you’re looking for me to commit wholeheartedly to selling out my town for the sake of ratings, you might as well hold your damn breath because it’s not going to happen.”
Cat stood and rested her fingertips on his desk.
“I’ve had just about enough of your holier than thou attitude—”
“Excuse my interruption.”
Cat flopped back down in her chair. “Noah Yates, this is Paige King, director of the Selling Out of Merry—working title of course. Paige, this is Noah, stubborn ass.”
She ignored Paige’s sharp look in her direction. She’d dealt with Paige and Gannon sniping at each other for a year before they decided to play nice. She figured Paige wouldn’t mind being on the other side for once.
“Noah, it’s great to see you again. I was with the show two years ago when we were here for the Hai family, and your community really made an impression on all of us. My husband had to turn away volunteers for his crew.”
Cat watched Noah shift uncomfortably in his seat. “Uh, thanks. Please. Sit.” He gestured toward the other empty chair.
Cat rolled her eyes at the suddenly solicitous bastard.
“Oh, I can’t stay, and neither can Cat.” Paige glared in her direction until Cat rose from the chair and crossed her arms. “What I’d like to do is invite you to our briefing. We’re sitting down with your county’s emergency services chief and waste management to get everyone on the same page. We don’t want to be stepping on any toes while we’re here, and we’d like to fill any gaps you have in the cleanup process so we can begin renovations immediately. I know you’ve probably got a full calendar dealing with the city end of things, but if you can spare an hour, I think we’ll all be better prepared and have a clearer idea of what our roles are.”
“I’d appreciate that, Mrs. King.”
Cat glared at him. “I was going to invite him to the meeting,” she muttered to Paige.
“Of course, you were,” Paige grinned. “Gannon was looking for you. He went through the Hais’ house and has a preliminary list of concerns. Can you go track him down ASAP?”
Cat shot Noah one last dirty look. He met her scowl for scowl. “I’ll see you outside,” she told Paige and strode out.
CHAPTER TEN
Noah watched Cat go. He felt like he’d gotten in a few good shots, felt a little raw in some of the spots she’d poked. But fighting with her was better than any shot of espresso. It made him feel awake, focused, energized. And it gave him something to do with the ball of nervous energy that had lodged itself in his gut the moment the first rain drop had fallen on Merry.
“Noah, I’d like to be candid with you, if I may,” Paige said, sinking into the chair Cat had just vacated.
He spread his hands. “By all means.”
“I can’t imagine how upsetting the past week has been for you. It would be devastating for anyone who cares about their community to watch it be destroyed. And I understand how important the Christmas Festival is for Merry. I also know better than most how ugly reality television can be. You can trust me—and Cat. We don’t do drama for ratings. We’re going to give you your town back in one piece in time for Christmas. But we can’t do it without your cooperation.”
Noah sighed and rose. He opened the minifridge behind his desk and took out a Coke. “Want one?”
“I’ll take a water if you’ve got one.”
Paige seemed like an upstanding person, even if she did work in TV. She was earnest, smart, and didn’t waste her time trying to enhance her already striking natural beauty. She seemed sincere, and he felt the slightest bit embarrassed that she’d caught him and Cat sniping at each other.
“I’ll be frank, too. I’ve been very open about my feelings toward your industry. The last time the show was here, the whole town went star crazy, and Cat lived up to the hype by break
ing the nose of one of our citizens when she’d had a few too many out on the town. I don’t like what she stands for.” He raised his hand when Paige moved to interrupt. “That being said, I’m not blind. We need your help if we’re going to get through this. Waiting for state or federal money would take forever, and even if we had the money for rebuilding, we don’t have access to crews.”
“I’m just asking you to be open-minded about the process. I can’t promise that we won’t disrupt your town because we both know that’s impossible. But I can promise you we’ll do everything in our power to keep the story sincere and real.”
“And you’ll keep Cat out of trouble?”
Paige laughed. “I’m not sure where you got this impression of Cat, but it’s going to be very entertaining to me to watch you figure out how wrong you are about her. She’s fiercely loyal, and I’ve never known anyone with a more generous heart.”
Noah blinked. That was not the viciously beautiful woman who sashayed into his office and called him a jackass.
“Agree to disagree.”
Paige grinned. “I’ll see you at the meeting. I promise you’re not going to regret this.”
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“What are your thoughts about this whole TV thing?” Velma Murdock, town council member and owner of the recently flooded laundromat and Merry’s two hot chocolate stands, demanded as she slid into his SUV.
Noah pulled away from the curb and headed toward the old high school. He weighed his words carefully. “I have my reservations.”
“Of course,” Velma nodded.
“What ‘of course’?”
Velma patted his arm and flipped down the visor to check her blonde fluffy hair that she’d religiously styled like a football helmet for the last twenty or so years. “Noah, you’re a very cautious man.”
“Which is why I’m good at my job,” he pointed out.
“Which is why you’re very good at your job. You’re a professional worrier. You worry so much that none of the rest of us have to. I’m asking you if you think this whole show thing will be a good thing.”
He sighed. He had the unfair reputation of being Mr. No. But when his townspeople wanted to spend twelve percent of their annual budget on new reindeer light cutouts for the lampposts, he was the voice of reason. The crusher of dreams.
But their noses light up red!
“I’m withholding judgment,” he told Velma. “But I will say, at this point, we don’t have any other option. All our eggs are in this basket. If we don’t have that influx of cash at the end of the year like we’re used to, it could be catastrophic.”
Velma nodded, flipping the visor back up. “Well, let’s go let a TV show save our collective ass.”
He pulled into the old high school parking lot, noting the fleet of other vehicles already parked. Production vans, construction trucks, a handful of rental vehicles. It looked like Cat had called in her own personal army.
Paige’s words played back to him. He felt he was a good judge of risk. And his risk meter was screaming warnings at him where Cat was concerned. There was no way he was lowering his defenses around the woman. He wasn’t putting the fate of Merry in the hands of a vapid TV star who cared more about her appearance than she did the welfare of his friends and neighbors. No, he was going to watch Catalina King like a hawk.
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The woman was a four-star general. At least that was the impression she’d forced on him at the meeting in an old science lab. Noah had expected Cat to sit back and file her nails or not even be present. He hadn’t expected her to take point, pacing in front of the small, hodge-podge crowd of city council, production staff, and county services. And he certainly hadn’t expected her to casually mention that she was producing the series. He wanted that information to make him even more nervous. But he was too busy feeling a little shell-shocked at just exactly how well she knew Merry and its current predicament.
She’d marched them all through a potential timeline, fielding questions and making adjustments accordingly while keeping everyone present focused on the end goal. The Christmas Festival. Noah itched for a shot of caffeine while he digested the information. Velma listened intently next to him.
“Excuse me, Ms. King?” Elroy Leakhart, the balding school principal and Noah’s co-chair for the Christmas Festival, raised his hand.
“Cat,” Cat reminded him.
“Right. Cat.” Elroy squinted through his thick glasses. “When do you think we’ll be able to open the Christmas Festival? This seems like an awful lot of work to get done.”
“You’re right. It is,” Cat told him. “Even if everything goes perfectly, with a timeline this tight, we aren’t going to have the park and the rest of the downtown up and functioning by December 1,” Cat said. “We could cut projects and focus more on the park, but that would mean that Sunshine’s Diner doesn’t get rebuilt or the Hais’ house isn’t touched or the dozens of other flooded homes don’t get the help they need.”
She scanned the room, those gray-green eyes landing on Noah and holding briefly before moving on.
“By my estimates, we’ll be able to open the festival on Christmas Eve.”
Murmurs rose around the room. Noah felt simultaneously smug and sick. He knew she was promising more than she could deliver. Now everyone else would see it too. Condensing a month-long holiday extravaganza into a day? It wouldn’t even be worth putting up the decorations.
“I know. I know. It’s not nearly enough time. But what we’re lacking in time, we’ll make up for in planning, outreach, and marketing. This show will be airing four of the five episodes leading up to the Christmas Eve reveal. That’s going to draw its own crowd, and I have some ideas on how to maximize the festival including running it into New Year’s Day and calling on some of our bigger sponsors to partner with us for the festival itself.”
The murmurs quieted down. Noah glanced around him. People still looked nervous, but they wanted to believe her. They wanted to believe that she was here to help because she cared.
“I won’t go over the plans now for the sake of brevity as I know all your plates are already overflowing. But I promise you, I will make this worth your time. Together, we’ll find a way to bring in the money you need. Now, if anyone has any specific questions, you’ll find my cell number on the packets we handed out earlier,” Cat told the crowd.
Who was this woman who fielded questions about production logistics, emergency management, and craft service?
Sadie, the county’s chief of emergency services, who looked as though she hadn’t slept more than two hours since the flooding started, was smiling at Cat as if she were the embodiment of salvation. Velma nodded thoughtfully to his right as Cat wrapped up the meeting, a slight smile curving her lips.
“It’s all going to be okay, Noah,” Velma said. “You made the right call.”
He had no idea what magic spell Cat had woven to give them confidence. He was far from convinced. Sure, she was prepared and far more knowledgeable than he had expected, but it would take more than a detailed timeline and a pretty printed packet to put his faith in her.
The meeting was breaking up around them. “I’m going to clarify a few points with her,” he announced, pushing his stool back from the lab table.
“Be nice,” Velma cautioned him. “I’ll catch a ride home with Sadie so I can insist she takes the night off. She looks like she’s ready to drop on her face.”
The meeting broke up, and Noah took his chance cornering Cat.
“Problem, Yates?” she asked, without looking up as she tucked papers into her leather portfolio.
“I’m interested in hearing your plans for increasing revenue for the festival when the timeline is abbreviated.”
“You mean you’re dying to poke holes in my plans with your ‘no’ stick,” she corrected him.
He saw it in her eyes. The same exhaustion he’d seen in the mirror. Just a flash of it before she straightened her s
houlders and glared at him.
“I have legitimate questions,” he insisted.
She glanced down at her watch. “I’ve gotta go, but I can carve out fifteen tomorrow around eleven. I’ll go over the plan with you, and then you can poke all the holes in it you want.”
“Fifteen minutes?” He found it hard to believe that a TV star’s schedule was as packed as his own before shooting even began.
“Take it or leave it.”
“Eleven here,” he agreed.
“Don’t bring your attitude,” she said snidely.
“I’ll try not to interrupt your time with your manicurist,” he shot back.
“Your insults need work,” Cat said.
The corner of his mouth turned up. “I’m tired. Off my game. I’ll insult you properly tomorrow.”
“Looking forward to it.” Her voice was thick with sarcasm. But there was just a hint of sparkle in her eyes. Were they hazel? There was something vaguely familiar about those eyes. Something that tugged at him.
“If you’re done staring at me, I have work to do,” she said.
“You have something in your teeth,” Noah announced and walked away grinning while she swore and dug a mirror out of her bag.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cat’s trailer was full-to-bursting with bodies, and it smelled like garlic and bubbly marinara. She was in heaven.
“I can’t believe you guys are all here,” she sighed. Cat swooped in pretending to steal Gabby’s baby bite of breadstick. The little girl crowed her pleasure at the joke and shook her dark curls at Aunt Cat.
“No! Mine!”
“I see she’s a King through and through,” Cat and Gannon’s mother, Angela, said wryly. She slapped her husband of thirty-four years as he tried to snitch a fourth lemon ricotta cookie.
“She gets her bossiness from her mother,” Gannon insisted, leaning in to kiss the frown off Paige’s mouth.
