Chapters (50)
- Dedication
- About This Book
- CHAPTER ONE
- CHAPTER TWO
- CHAPTER THREE
- CHAPTER FOUR
- CHAPTER FIVE
- CHAPTER SIX
- CHAPTER SEVEN
- CHAPTER EIGHT
- CHAPTER NINE
- CHAPTER TEN
- CHAPTER ELEVEN
- CHAPTER TWELVE
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN
- CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- CHAPTER FIFTEEN
- CHAPTER SIXTEEN
- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
- CHAPTER NINTEEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY
- CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
- CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
- CHAPTER THIRTY
- CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
- CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
- CHAPTER FORTY
- CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
- CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
- CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
- CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
- CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
“Oh, uh. No. Not at all.” He was shaking his head so hard Cat wondered if he’d end up straining his neck.
“The more the merrier,” Cat cut in. “Besides, we need help judging the snowman contest. How are your snow architectural skills?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Four weeks to Christmas Eve
It was Thanksgiving Day, and Cat was knee deep in a dirt pit. The pit had, until recently, been home to the gigantic hemlock that the citizens of Merry had been decking out with miles of Christmas lights for the past fifty years. Now all that was left was a frozen hole in the ground where the toppled tree had once lived.
The landscapers were busy giving her the bad news that there was no way in hell that a replacement tree could be planted. Too cold. Not enough time for roots to establish themselves. Blah blah blah.
Cat wasn’t interested in what couldn’t be done. She only had time for solutions. And walking this frozen mud pit had given her one hell of an idea for a solution. She just needed a welder and several extra thousand dollars in the budget.
She flexed her fingers in her fleece lined gloves. Winter had moved in and decided to never leave Merry from the feel of the wind as it bit through her layers.
“Okay, Lorenzo,” she sighed, already mentally calculating how to bring her new vision to life. “Don’t worry about this for now. What I do want to focus on is the river wall and the swale for drainage.”
They walked and talked, Lorenzo filling her in on their progress so far. That was one lucky thing about this damn hurricane and its timing. Cat had her pick of landscaping crews since it was between the demands of summer and the winter holiday decorating season. In less than a month, they’d cleared all the debris from the park and begun re-laying sidewalks that had met with unfortunate flood damage. Tons of mulch had already been distributed, and if they had to plant fake poinsettias and Christmas trees in the gutted flowerbeds, so be it.
Visitors to this year’s Christmas Festival would be getting an eyeful of freaking Christmas spirit if it killed her.
Lorenzo wrapped up his report, and Cat nodded with satisfaction. “You guys are killing it. Keep it up. I’ll make sure you get the new shooting schedule for the weekend.”
“Appreciate it,” Lorenzo nodded, his hands shoved in the pockets of his coveralls. He was a Mainer by birth, so twenty degrees felt balmy to him.
“Might as well take your guys home. Enjoy some family time,” she said, glancing at her watch. It was already three in the afternoon. Any other year, and she would have been holding her hands over her stomach and whining about how she shouldn’t have hit the stuffing so hard.