No Ordinary Christmas

by Talia Hunter

  Baskets of white and red petals had been set at regular intervals. The petals would be scattered during the ceremony by a cute four-year-old girl my sister had borrowed for the occasion. I didn’t mind petals so much. But there were also some baskets of intact flowers that were making my nose itchy.

  Then I spotted something behind one of the baskets, half-hidden under the rail, and bent to pick it up. It was a sprig of mistletoe tied with a white velvet ribbon. When Holly hung up from her call, I held it up. “What about this?”

  Holly frowned at it. “That’s supposed to be hanging from up there.” She gestured to the gazebo’s ceiling. The roof was peaked, but a decorative lattice hung below it, making a lower ceiling. The lattice was made from criss-crossed slats of wood, with wide holes between the pieces so you could look up into the roof. Holly had clearly intended to hang the mistletoe from the center of the lattice.

  She made an impatient sound in the back of her throat. “It’s too late to call the decorator back. I’ll tell Rudy to bring a ladder so he can hang it.”

  She lifted the phone back to her ear, her expression annoyed.

  “I can hang the mistletoe,” I said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m small and light, and I work on rooftops all the time. It’s part of my job as a Christmas decorator.” I said the last words pointedly.

  “There’s no ladder and nothing to climb on.”

  “Yes, there is.” I walked to the rail. “From here, I can get up inside the lattice and crawl along to the center.”

  “You’ll fall and injure yourself.”

  I was already climbing onto the rail. “Don’t worry, Holly, I’m a professional.”

  The lattice creaked a little alarmingly when I pulled myself up onto it, so I tried to distribute my weight across as much of it as possible. I probably should have waited for the ladder, but I was sick of feeling useless.

  “Willow, get down!”

  “It’s okay, Hol. I do stuff like this every day.”

  The lattice creaked again. I had to hang the mistletoe quickly and get down. It’d be terrible to crack it.

  After working my way to the center of the gazebo, I pulled the mistletoe out of my pocket and dangled it through a hole in the lattice. Holly stared up at me, her hand at her mouth and her brow creased. But she wasn’t so worried she couldn’t direct me.

  “No, not there. A little to the left. Yes, that’s it. Tie it there.”

  I tied the ribbon. “Okay?”

  “Perfect.” She sounded pleased. “I’m sorry I doubted you. Now please come down.”

  “On my way.”

  I was shifting to crawl back to the gazebo’s edge, when Holly said, “There you are,” and I jerked my head around to look.

  Though I hadn’t heard them come up the stairs, five gorgeous men were walking into the gazebo. It was just like a scene from a superhero movie, except there wasn’t any dramatic music, swirling fog, or billowing capes.

  Rudy was first, and I had to admit he was good looking, in spite of the fact I couldn’t say his name without being tempted to sing about reindeer.

  Then came Luke the Sex God, mouth-watering in faded jeans and a white T-shirt that made his muscled chest look like it was carved from marble.

  Behind Luke were all three Lennox brothers.

  Mason The Mountain was the oldest and largest. Beside him was Asher, aka Mister Mysterious. He had the darkest coloring and the leanest build, though none of them were likely to get kicked out of the gym for slacking off.

  Last but not least was Captain Charisma, otherwise known as Kade. Kade’s superpower was his legendary charm. Rumor was, he could talk a woman out of her underwear in zero-point-five seconds.

  I still found it hard to believe that hairy-eyebrowed Edward Lennox had fathered such a magnificent crop of men. But I didn’t have time to dwell on it.

  The lattice under me was making a very worrying creaking sound and the piece I was on was starting to sag, even under my slight weight. Then again, it was a century-old building. I should have considered the possibility that in the last hundred years, it might have been nibbled by termites or developed some rot.

  “I brought extra hands for heavy lifting,” said Rudy. He hadn’t noticed me balanced above them on the lattice. None of them had.

  “I want to move those Christmas trees,” Holly said, pointing. “See that one? Can you move it more to the left?”

  She put her hand into one of the baskets and pulled out some flowers. “And I was going to scatter these on the floor, but now I’m wondering if we should thread them around the handrail, in case the fairy lights aren’t as bright as the decorator promised.”

  Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought I could see a mist of pollen drifting up to me from the flowers in her hand, enveloping me in a toxic cloud. My nose started to itch and my throat went scratchy.

  I sneezed.

  The lattice let out a loud crack.

  The six people below me all jerked their faces up. Their eyes widened.

  The entire lattice structure groaned slowly and loudly, like an old man in pain.

  “Get down, Willow. It’s not safe!” Luke shouted the command at me, as though I wasn’t already starting a panicked scramble back to the edge of the lattice.

  Too late.

  With a deafening crack of splintering wood, the gazebo’s roof came down.

  Chapter Seven

  Luke

  Willow plunged from the gazebo’s ceiling with splintered wood raining down around her.

  I dove to try to catch her, but I hadn’t counted on four other heroic wanna-bes having the same idea at the same time. Five big men—one the size of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson—all charged simultaneously into the same storm of falling debris to save the same woman. All of us were blinded by the gritty dust cloud created by hundred-year-old roof pieces crashing to the ground.

  That was an experience I can’t recommend.

  A lot of determined male limbs collided with sensitive body parts, like stomachs, and ribs, and… other parts.

  For several long minutes the dust-filled air was full of yelps, grunts, groans, and expletives. In the chaos I managed to find an arm that was too small to be male, and felt my way along it to locate the rest of Willow’s body. She was cursing in a raspy voice, so at least she was alive.

  “Are you hurt?” I demanded, blinking grit out of my eyes.

  She groaned. “Every single part of me.”

  “Then don’t try to move. Where does it hurt most?” My vision was blurry because my eyes were streaming, but I blinked hard and tried to focus on her.

  “What have you done?” wailed Holly. “You’ve ruined my wedding!”

  Willow scrambled to her feet. The dust was clearing and so was my vision. Willow’s clothes were dirty but I couldn’t make out any wounds. No blood stains or limbs pointing in wrong directions. And it was a good sign that she was able to stand.

  “That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Willow’s voice was hoarse, and she let out a hacking cough as though she’d breathed in a lot of dust.

  “Can you walk?” I slipped my arm around her to help her navigate out of the pile of splintered wood. My own throat was scratchy and my eyes were sore. My side throbbed where Mason and I had collided.

  The Lennox brothers were also picking themselves out of the debris, and Rudy was comforting Holly, rubbing his hand up and down her upper arm.

  “The gazebo’s destroyed!” Holly snapped.

  “No, it isn’t.” Willow coughed again. “I’ll clean up this mess and make it as good as new.”

  “How the hell are you going to do that?”

  I had to admit, it was a mess. Splintered wood everywhere. There was a hole in the roof so big that a large section of sky was visible. Some of the central roof structure must have been holding up the lattice, and when it was torn free, the roof went with it.

  “You’re such a screw-up,” exclaimed Holly. “You ruin everyt
hing!”

  “Come on, Hol.” Rudy rubbed her arm harder. “Everything will be okay. You just need to calm down.”

  “You’re seriously telling me to calm down?” Holly’s voice rose incredulously. “In the whole history of the world has any woman ever been calmed down by being told to calm down?”

  “I’m sorry.” Willow’s voice was small and raw, like she was barely holding it together. “I never meant for this to happen.” Her body shuddered against me and I tightened my arm around her shoulders, leading her to the edge of the gazebo. It’d be easier to pick her up and carry her, but better for her injured dignity to walk.

  Holly let out a huff. “That’s the problem. You never mean to mess things up. Like that makes it okay!”

  We reached the gazebo’s stairs, and I kept going, steering us down them. “I’ll get Willow checked by a doctor and cleaned up,” I said over my shoulder. “Rudy, you should take Holly home.”

  “We’ll deal with this mess.” Mason cracked his big knuckles, the sound eerily like the gazebo’s roof collapsing.

  “Leave it to us,” agreed Kade, rubbing a lump on his head.

  Asher had picked up a piece of wood and was studying it, his brow furrowed. He may not say much, but he was a genius who happened to own a construction company. Basically the most useful person it was possible to have at the site of a building disaster.

  I was very glad they’d come. Between the three of them, the gazebo was in good hands.

  “I don’t need a doctor.” Willow pulled back against my arm as I helped her down the stairs. “It’s my mess, and I want to clean it up myself.”

  “Okay, but let me check you for injuries, at least.” I lowered my voice, leading her away from the gazebo. “And let’s give Rudy enough time to get your sister out of here. It won’t help if she’s yelling.”

  Willow dragged in a shuddering breath. “Holly looked like she wanted to kill me, and I don’t blame her. There’s no way I can fix the gazebo before the wedding guests turn up tomorrow morning. And it’s too late to postpone the wedding, or change the venue.”

  “We’ll fix it. There are five of us, remember? Don’t worry, we’ll get it done.” I took her to a group of trees so we’d be hidden under their shadow. “First things first. Any trouble walking? Sore joints? Most importantly, did you bump your head?”

  “My head’s fine.” She sounded impatient. “I’m not injured.”

  “You said every part of you hurt.”

  “Nothing serious. I was lucky.”

  I nodded, relieved. Away from the gazebo’s lights, the spot we were in was too dark to do a good visual check, but I was pretty sure Willow hadn’t been knocked out.

  “After Holly’s gone, we can help the others,” I said.

  Willow was squinting down at her hands, rubbing dirt off one palm with hard, furious motions. “The lattice looked strong enough to hold me. I’ve climbed over hundreds of buildings and never broken anything.”

  “It could have happened to anyone.”

  “No, it couldn’t. I’m cursed. As soon as I set foot in this town, everything goes wrong.” She scrubbed her palm on her jeans. “It’s not like this in Vegas. There, I have a successful business. I’m even working with a business advisor to franchise it.”

  I’d spent a lot of time thinking about kissing Willow, and it was hard to resist the urge to reach out and pull her to me. I could tell myself it would be purely to comfort her, but I’d be lying.

  “Sounds like a good idea.” I peered at the gazebo, watching to make sure Holly left.

  “Things only go wrong for me in San Dante. I’m a screw-up here, making things worse for my family. But in Vegas, everything’s going well. The sooner I get back there the better.”

  “You’re not a screw-up, no matter where you are.” She had a smear of dirt on her jaw and I put a hand under her chin to angle her face up, then wiped the dirt away with my thumb.

  She blinked at me, her expression softening. With her face turned up to mine, lit only by moonlight and the faint reflection of the gazebo lights, she was impossibly beautiful.

  “Why are you so nice to me?” Her voice was low and vulnerable. “You should hate me. I stood you up for senior prom, and I don’t get how you could have forgiven me so easily.”

  The dirt was gone from her jaw, but I kept rubbing my thumb gently over the spot, pretending it was still there.

  “I had to go to prom on my own, but at least I got to go,” I murmured. “You missed out because of a mean prank. And Gus was never held accountable.”

  “I’m sorry I’ve caused you so much trouble since I’ve been back.”

  “Mason spoke to Ed and Trixie. They both apologized for what they did, and I passed on their statements to the arresting officer. The charges against you will be dropped.”

  Her eyes widened. “Really? Thank you.”

  “Thank Mason.” It was getting past the point where anyone could believe dirt would be that stubborn, so I reluctantly dropped my hand from her face.

  “I’ll definitely thank him.” She gave me a small half-smile. “And after we fix the gazebo, I’ll try not to get arrested again. Hopefully I can make it that long without any more disasters.”

  I smiled back, relieved to see her expression lighten. “My sister went through a wild phase. I had to pick her up from the police station twice.”

  “I bet she loved that you became a cop.”

  “That’s why I wanted to be one.”

  “Did you ever have to arrest her?”

  I shook my head. “By the time I was in training, she’d given up her wild ways. She eventually graduated college with a management degree.” I got the same pang in my chest every time I thought of my sister being so far away. What if I never saw her again?

  Whether my all-too-familiar pain showed on my face or not, I couldn’t be sure, but Willow put her hand on my arm.

  “I’m sorry she left. You must miss her.”

  “I do.” My gaze dropped to Willow’s mouth. She really did have the nicest lips. They were plump and inviting, and I wanted to taste them again.

  “Can I ask you something?” she asked.

  When I dragged my gaze up from her lips, Willow looked like she knew exactly what I was thinking.

  “Are you planning to kiss me again, Officer Ordinary?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m planning, Wild Willow,” I said, taking her hand and linking our fingers together. “But first let’s fix the gazebo.”

  Chapter Eight

  Willow

  We couldn’t fix the gazebo.

  Luke even admitted as much.

  Sure, we all did the best we could. Luke and I worked on it for several hours with Mason, Kade, and Asher. The five of us carted away debris, shored up the structure to make it safe, and smoothed off the splintered edges of the wood that remained in place, making the hole as attractive as possible.

  When we’d finished, there was still a great big gaping hole in the center of the roof.

  “We could cover the hole with a tarpaulin,” suggested Mason.

  Kade tapped his chin. “We could make the hole into a feature. Balance a Santa on the roof as though it’s a chimney and he’s about to slide down.”

  “If we leave it uncovered, a shaft of sunlight will shine though and illuminate the wedding ceremony,” Asher said in his thoughtful way. “It doesn’t look attractive from inside, but it’ll improve the view for those around the gazebo.

  Luke nodded. “Let’s leave it the way it is, open to the sky. Good thing there’s no rain on the forecast.”

  Mason’s phone rang and he tugged it out of his pocket to check the screen. His eyebrows shot up and his gaze went to me. “It’s your sister. She must be calling to check on progress.”

  As relieved as I was not to have to talk to her, the fact she’d called Mason instead of me meant she was still angry with me.

  Mason answered the call, and listened intently. “That’s right,” he said after a mi
nute. Then, “No, I’m afraid not. But Asher said it’ll let a beam of sunshine through to light up the ceremony, which will look good for the people watching, and he’s always right about—” He broke off and listened for several seconds. “I’m sorry, Holly, but there isn’t a lot more we can do tonight with hardware stores closed. We don’t have the timber we’d need to—”

  “Wait,” I interrupted. “I have an idea. May I speak to her?” I held my hand out for the phone, and Mason looked happy enough to hand it over.

  “Holly, it’s me,” I said into it.

  My sister drew in a sharp, loud breath. “I’m amazed you have the nerve to speak to me after—“

  “Listen, there’s going to be a hole in the gazebo roof tomorrow and there’s nothing we can do about that. But what about snow?”

  “Snow?”

  “Gentle snowflakes drifting down on you through the hole in the roof. The sunlight will make them sparkle on your dress. It’ll look beautiful, I promise.”

  She was silent for a moment. “You want to use your snow machine? I don’t know…”

  “Please, Hol. It’ll make it seem like the hole’s meant to be there. Everyone will be impressed.”

  “But won’t you need to set up your big ugly machine in the middle of the park? And won’t it be noisy?”

  “The machine can be at the edge of the park, covered with a white tent, and it’s only really noisy on snow cannon mode, not when it’s set to sprinkle. I’ll run a hose along the ground and up to the roof. I do it all the time for outdoor weddings and parties.”

  “I don’t know.” At least she sounded less doubtful.

  “It’ll be great. You’ll love it. Leave everything to me and you won’t be disappointed, okay?”

  She sighed. “I suppose. But please Willow, don’t let me down.”

  “I won’t.” Hanging up, I handed Mason back his phone. “Thank you for fixing the mess,” I told the guys. “I’ll get my snow machine and set it up so it’s ready for tomorrow.”

  Mason crossed his arms, the movement making his biceps bulge. “We’ll wait here in case you need help.”