Paige laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’re going to be just fine. And your second surprise is a camera-free event. So maybe you should be worrying about that one.”

“And now I’m doubly panicking,” Cat chugged her water, let Archie touch up her lipstick, and pasted on a dazzling for-the-cameras smile. “Let’s just get this shit over with.”

“That’s the spirit!” Drake slapped her on the shoulder.

They found their marks, and Cat wished she was standing anywhere but here for this particular reveal. Her gynecologist’s office. Jury duty. She’d thought it was a good idea, symbolic of the town, of their resilience and traditions. Now it seemed stupid. Really stupid. And they were going to hate it. They’d probably pelt her with burnt Christmas cookies. The ultimate insult.

“Rolling.”

Cat automatically shifted gears from doubting human to charming show host. “When Merry lost their official Christmas tree, an eighty-year-old pine they’ve decorated every Christmas for the past five decades, we knew we had to find a way to replace it.”

Drake smoothly took the next line while Cat stared at Noah. She was worried most about his reaction. Traditions were important to him. Hopefully this wasn’t too much of a departure.

“We give you Merry’s new Christmas tree. One that you can light for the next fifty years.” Cat’s delivery was strong even though her stomach was a roiling mess of nerves. The crane driver perfectly executed the tarp drop revealing the surprise beneath.

The crowd gasped, breaking into spontaneous applause, and Cat watched as Noah covered his mouth with his hand. No one was laughing or throwing shards of Christmas cookies her way.

The bronze statue rose twenty-five feet in the air, its sinuous metal twists were reminiscent of the branches of a perfectly shaped evergreen. It rose proud and strong, firmly rooted to the earth yet reaching for the sky.

The metal works firm she’d commissioned had outdone themselves. It was beautiful, strong, and absolutely perfect.

“Noah?” Cat called. “Can you come here please?”

He looked over his shoulder as if expecting there to be another Noah behind him. Cat crooked her finger at him, and he obeyed. Reluctant as ever to be on camera, he shoved his hands in his pockets, but there was only joy in his green eyes.

“Could you do us a favor and push this button?” Cat asked, handing him the slim remote.

He cast a glance at the cameras. “Uh, sure.” Deftly, he stabbed at the button with his gloved finger, and the crowd erupted again as the statue glowed to life.

Thousands of tiny fiber optic lights dotted the surface of the metal making it look like it was made from stars. It would be spectacular at night.