“You do realize that putting a power tool in Jasper’s hands is like begging him to slice off a limb, don’t you?” Noah asked dryly from the doorway yanking her from her renovation fantasies. “It might not be his own, but it’s bound to happen.”

“Oh, you’re speaking to me again? How nice.”

His green eyes hardened. “I’m only pointing out that he could get hurt. Though I’m sure that would play for the cameras.”

Cat tossed her hair over her shoulder and arched an eyebrow. She wasn’t going to let him get her into a screaming rage. Nope. It would probably piss him off even more if she kept her cool. No matter what it cost her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, all peaches and cream with just a dash of arsenic. Her fingernails dug crescents into her palms.

“I live here.”

No shit, Captain Obvious. “I meant, what are you doing lurking in the hallway?”

He entered the room, agitation pumping off him, and crossed to the bookcase. He adjusted a stack of hardbacks, a family photo, and gave a jerky shrug of his shoulders. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. It’s not even my home anymore. It used to be. Now I’m just lurking in corners while everyone else lives here. I even have a cat now.” He pointed as Felipe strutted past the doorway. “He didn’t belong to anyone before the flood. Had seven houses he’d visit like a time share cat, and now he’s decided this house is where he wants to settle down. I don’t even like cats.”

She wasn’t going to feel sorry for him. Nope. Ice Queen Mode engaged.

“I feel like I’m failing them.” Noah stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared unseeingly into his backyard.

His confession disengaged Ice Queen Mode.

“Noah, don’t be an idiot.”

“We were unprepared for the flooding. We’ve got residents displaced from their homes. There’s a possibility our major source of revenue will go bust. And I have to depend on you to fix it all.”

She had a feeling that was the part he was most worried about. “You’re not failing anyone. No town can be completely zipped up and prepared for eleven-plus inches of rain. It’s not possible. Your residents are all going to get to go home. You’ll get your house back. And the Christmas Festival will kick ass.”

He didn’t look convinced.

“This town? These people? It’s my life and my livelihood. I grew up here. We’d be inventorying decorations by now getting ready for the day after Thanksgiving. I can’t imagine Merry without our Christmas. It… it was my favorite thing growing up.”