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The Christmas Fix by Lucy Score (12)

 

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

 

 

Noah crossed the parking lot heading in the direction of his SUV. He thought the meeting had gone well and experienced a sliver of relief at the fact that Cat actually had a plan in place for drawing the much-needed crowds to Merry. Whether or not it would work remained to be seen.

One thing that was uncomfortably clear was that the more competent and efficient Cat appeared to be, the more attractive he found her. Which was inconvenient at best and downright stupid at worst.

While Noah was willing to be just slightly more open-minded when it came to the woman, he wanted to make sure he kept his guard up. He needed to be ready to handle things when this whole TV show thing imploded.

“Dad!”

He whirled around just as Sara ran full force into him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, simultaneously thrilled at the spontaneous hug and annoyed that his darling daughter wasn’t in school.

“It’s lunchtime. They let us leave school grounds, remember?”

Right. The school district’s population was made up mostly of students that lived within town limits. Starting with junior high, students were allowed to leave for their lunch.

He didn’t like it.

“Did you want to have lunch with me?” he asked, thrilled at the glimpse of his little girl.

“Uh. Well sure. But I saw in your calendar you had a meeting with…” Sara trailed off and took a deep breath. “Cat King,” she said reverently.

His ego took the shot dead center. Of course, Sara wanted to meet Cat. The woman stood for everything Sara worshipped: glitz, glamor, and fame.

“So, can I meet her? I mean, will you introduce me?”

Noah’s mind launched into overdrive. Was Cat the kind of celebrity who would be nice to kids? Did he really want Sara meeting a reality TV idol? And on the other hand, he’d be his kid’s biggest hero for probably the entire holiday season if he could provide an introduction.

“Ohmygod! There she is,” Sara hissed, half hiding behind him as Cat strode out of the building, staring at her phone in one hand and unlocking a vehicle with the other.

Shit.

He had to decide and fast.

“Uh, Cat? Do you have a second?” Noah called out.

She stopped and looked up with a frown. But when she spotted Sara literally clinging to Noah’s arm, she broke into a smile. A genuine one from the looks of it. Or she was a brilliant actress and wasting her time in reality television, Noah thought with sharp realization. He put stock in judging people by the way they interacted with kids, his in particular.

“Sure,” she said, crossing to them, her stride as impressive as if she was strutting down the catwalk instead of clomping across a parking lot in work boots.

“This is my daughter, Sara,” Noah said, putting his hands on her shoulders and giving his daughter a little shove toward the star. “She appears to be a fan of yours.”

“Hey, Sara,” Cat said, offering her hand.

Sara shook it, eyes wide. Her mouth opened and closed several times before the words found their way out. And when they did, it was a tidal wave.

“Oh my God. I can’t believe I’m meeting Catalina King. You are just the best! Your show is so great! I can’t believe you’re going to rebuild April’s house again. Dad and I were on vacation last time when you were in town, so I didn’t get to meet you. But April and I, we’re BFFs, and that’s just the coolest that you decided you’d drop what you’re doing with your clothing line and stuff so you could come help her again.”

Cat laughed, and Noah felt an uncomfortable warmth in his gut. He wasn’t prepared to like the woman. He could grow to learn to maybe tolerate her, but liking her was impossible… even if she was looking at Sara like his daughter was the most interesting person on the planet.

“Wow. Well, thank you,” Cat said, her hand still wrapped in Sara’s death grip. “Your Dad was pretty instrumental in all of us being here.”

Sara’s eyebrows winged up. “Seriously?” She looked back and forth between Cat and Noah, and Noah felt like a giant asshole.

“Sure. We wouldn’t be able to be here fixing anything if it weren’t for your dad.”

Sara stared up at him with a look he hadn’t seen in those brown eyes since she was seven or eight. Hero worship. At this point, he didn’t even care if Cat was doing it to goad him. He’d take every second of adulation he could get knowing full well that the next time he questioned Sara on homework or eating vegetables it would be gone in a wink.

“That is really cool, Dad,” Sara said. “So, Cat. Do you want to come over for dinner sometime?”

Noah blinked and cleared his throat.

Cat looked up at him and grinned diabolically knowing the last place Noah would want her is front and center in his dining room. “I would love to.”

“Oh, my God? Really? Because we have a lot of people staying with us who were displaced by the storm, and we do these really big meals every night, and it’s fun. Like having a really big family!”

“You opened your home to your neighbors?” Cat asked Noah, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Sara answered for him. “We have eight guests now—we call them guests so they don’t feel bad that they can’t stay in their own houses. We had twelve, but some of them went to stay with family. April and her mom and dad are staying with us, so you’ll get to hang out with them if you come see me. We tried to get Mrs. Pringle to stay with us after Dad rescued her. But she’s in a wheelchair, and she can’t get around the house ‘cause of all the stairs.”

Noah was watching Cat’s face and saw when the look of genuine surprise crossed it. “Mrs. Pringle?” Cat asked. “Wheelchair and cookies, right?”

“That’s her,” Sara grinned.

Cat looked up at Noah again, her expression unreadable.

“Unbelievable,” she murmured, shaking her head.

Noah was about to ask her what she found to be so unbelievable when Sara launched into a recitation of everything she knew about Cat.

“You’re two whole minutes younger than your brother, right?” Sara asked.

Cat, back to being amused, nodded.

“I wish I had a brother or a sister,” Sara sighed. “But Mom and Dad had to get divorced, so that sucked.”

Noah swiped a hand over his face, knocking his glasses askew. If he didn’t get Sara back to school in the next four seconds, she’d spill all the family secrets and embarrassments to his potential enemy.

“Well that’s the nice thing about friends. You can be just as close to them as you can a brother or sister,” Cat said wisely. “I bet you and April are practically sisters.”

Sara brightened. “We really are! So, when are you coming over? Tonight? Not today 'cause I have to go back to school. But tonight’s good.”

Cat laughed. “Well, what’s for dinner?”

Sara whirled around. “Dad? Can we have pizza or something? Oh, wait. Cat likes kale salads and black bean soup,” she recited. “Can we find that—”

Noah pressed a hand over his daughter’s motor mouth. “Honey, I think we’d better check with the rest of our guests to make sure they’re okay with more company because I have a feeling Cat would like to bring a camera crew with her.”

Cat was nodding. “I really, really would. Like a lot.”

Great. Now his already overcrowded home was going to be under the scrutiny of a camera crew for a national audience.

Sara pulled his hand away and jumped up and down. “Will you ask them if it’s okay? Will you, Dad?”

He sighed, gritting his teeth. “I guess.”

“You’ll let me know,” Cat said. It wasn’t a question.

Noah nodded briskly. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, I should get this young lady back to school.”

He was just about to pick Sara up and stuff her into his SUV before she could invite Cat to move in with them when a shiny black pick-up truck rolled into the lot, windows down, music blaring.

Cat, arms in a V over her head, whooped out a welcome.

The truck eeked to a stop, and two men bounded out, one short and dapper in trousers and a yellow checked shirt. The other was tall and broad and looked vaguely familiar. The tall one reached Cat first and swept her feet off the ground in a dramatic hug. He placed a loud kiss on her mouth before settling her back on the ground. “Hey, gorgeous.”

He was tall and self-assured as if he’d had years of people telling him how great he was.

Noah felt instantly uncomfortable, and he wasn’t sure why.

“Hey, yourself! I’ve missed your face,” Cat laughed, cupping the man’s face. He let her slide to the ground, and she leaned in and offered a one-armed hug to the second man. “Henry, I’ve been going crazy without you.”

“Of course, you have,” he announced in a clipped British accent. “I hope you haven’t cocked it all up already.”

“Impressionable ears, Henry,” Cat said, nodding in Sara’s direction.

“Sorry, darling,” Henry said, flashing a dazzling smile at Sara.

Sara giggled, and Noah noticed his daughter had a slightly dazed look like she was a concussion victim. The last thing he needed was men amping up Sara’s recently acquired obsession with boys. He was about to drag her away when Cat twined her arm through the taller man’s and led him over. “Sara, I’d like you to meet my friend Drake. He has his own show, too.”

Sara turned a shade of scarlet Noah hoped to never see on her face again.

“Hey, Sara. Nice to meet you.” Drake—of course his name was Drake—squeezed Sara’s arm in a friendly greeting. Noah didn’t like it. He didn’t like the guppy fish look on his daughter’s face, and quite frankly, he didn’t care for the way Cat was glowing up at him either. Get a freaking room.

“Noah,” he said, by way of a greeting, and gripped Drake’s hand in a steely hold.

“Drake. Great to meet you. I’m excited to be working with this lovely lady again,” Drake said, bringing Cat’s knuckles to his lips.

Cat’s phone chimed. She frowned at the screen and shook her head. “I know I’m late, Henry. Get out of my calendar, and stop texting me!”

Henry shrugged. “Why don’t I come with you to meet the parks manager so you can fill me in on the way.”

“Don’t you want to settle in first?” Cat asked.

Henry snorted.

“Good because I need you desperately,” Cat said cocking her head to the side. “Sara, Henry is my very British, very snooty assistant.”

“Hi, Sara,” Henry said sparing her a wink.

Sara giggled and then couldn’t seem to stop.

Noah felt like he should be covering Sara’s ears. He was witnessing the flirty side of America’s home renovation sweetheart, and he didn’t care for it. Was she dating one of them? Both of them? Did it even matter?

One thing was clear, Cat wasn’t the kind of role model he wanted Sara clinging to.

“Sara, it was great meeting you. Noah, let me know about tonight so I can have a small crew ready if it’s a yes. You have my number?”

Noah nodded.

“Come on, Sar. Let’s get you back to school,” Noah insisted. Sara looked like she was going to argue, but when Drake and Henry winked at her and said their good-byes, she lost the power of speech again. Noah half dragged, half carried her to the SUV and unceremoniously stuffed her inside.

“Oh, my God, Dad. That was the most amazing moment of my life,” she squealed. “Cat King! She’s so gorgeous, and did you see those guys with her? She is literally the coolest, most beautiful person I’ve ever met in my life. Do you think both those guys are her boyfriends?”

Noah hit the brakes a little too hard as they rolled up to a stop sign. “Why would you think that would be cool?”

Sara gave him a sideways look. “I’ve seen Sex and the City reruns. Sometimes people don’t want to be in a relationship. Sometimes they just want to have fun.”

Noah wasn’t sure who he wanted to curse more. Catalina King or Samantha Jones.

Hell would freeze over before he allowed Cat to parade into his house with a camera crew and her smoldering boyfriends who rendered his daughter speechless.

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