April nodded, tears still sliding down her round cheeks.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Sara announced confidently. “Cat’s going to fix it all.”

That unwavering faith in a woman who had just made her best friend cry for the cameras made him snap.

“Sara, go wait in the car,” Noah snapped. His daughter’s eyes widened, but she recognized the temper in his tone and, after squeezing April’s arm one more time, high-tailed it down the sidewalk.

“I need a moment,” he said pointing a finger at Cat.

She rose, and he thought she deliberately put herself between him and April as if he were the one the girl needed protection from.

“April, why don’t you go on inside while I talk to Mr. Yates for a minute?”

April sniffled and nodded. “Okay.” She plodded up the stairs and into her ruined house where the ruckus of an entire production team throbbed.

“What exactly is your problem?” Cat demanded, hands on hips. “Are my permits expired? Did I look at someone sideways? Did I get too much work done?”

“Don’t give me that bullshit,” Noah said coldly. “You’re the one who just made a twelve-year-old cry for the cameras. How do you sleep at night? Doesn’t it bother you? Using people to get where you want to go?”

“Excuse me?” He saw fire ignite in those hazel eyes.

“You drag this kid through her soggy, moldy childhood home and make her cry on camera. Oh, I’m sure the heart strings will be singing, but you just emotionally scarred a child. Where are her parents? Do they even know you have her?”

Cat stepped up to meet him, the toes of her dirty work boots brushing his loafers. “Do you see any fucking cameras out here?”

Noah blinked and spared a glance around the sidewalk. There was no camera crew, no sound guy with a boom. No director watching playback. He opened his mouth, but Cat held up a hand.

“Don’t bother. There are no cameras out here because we took a break because April was feeling emotional. She volunteered to give the cameras a house tour. And yeah, I was all for it because the audience loved her two years ago, and she’s only gotten cuter and smarter since then. I need people to connect with this story emotionally or your goddamn Christmas Festival will look like a half-assed Easter Egg hunt in a trailer park. I’m not going to apologize for doing my job.”

“Your job involves taking advantage of real people. I’m not letting you turn my town and my citizens into a bunch of pitiable victims.”

“You’d better back up right now, Noah, if you value that pretty nose of yours,” Cat fumed. She drilled a finger into his chest. “I’m giving your neighbors a safe space to tell their story and giving complete strangers the opportunity to care.”