“That doesn’t mean she’s pandering. It means she’s a smart businesswoman. Cat’s doing what works. She’s done her research. She’s put in the time. She knows this business inside and out. That’s why she’s producing now. She knows more than any of the last five producers I’ve worked with. And don’t even get me started on how tireless she is in front of the camera. Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to be ‘on’ all the time?”

Noah did not.

The bartender dropped drink tokens in front of each of them.

“Who are these from?” Noah asked, frowning at his.

The bartender shrugged. “Take your pick.”

Drake grinned. Henry straightened his tie. “I quite like this town.”

“Consider yourself a good-looking novelty. We don’t get a lot of people like you here,” Noah quipped.

“What? Black?”

Noah spit out his sip of beer in cartoon fashion. “Jesus, no! I meant style.” He pointed at the man’s orange and purple checkered shirt that, on anyone else, would have looked like Skittles vomit.

Drake guffawed, drawing even more appreciative glances and a handful of longing sighs. The women of Merry were going to combust before Christmas Eve.

“I’m just messing with you. Let me ask you this, Noah,” Henry said, steering the conversation back on track. “In your job, do you ever find yourself saying or doing something that you wouldn’t in other circumstances?”

Noah had a feeling he knew where this was going. “Maybe.”

“Because if you said or did what you wanted to, things wouldn’t go the way you needed them to?”

Noah thought back to the reindeer street lights. “Also, maybe.”

“So, you assess the situation, determine what needs to happen, and then make adjustments, correct?”

Noah nodded. “Yeah, but I’m a human being. She’s some perfect blonde robot from the future designed to sell us something.”

“We’re all selling something, man,” Drake cut in. “Even you.”

“Okay, fine. She’s a smart businesswoman. What about the fact that she emotionally blackmailed me into saying yes to the show?”

Henry’s lips quirked in the closest expression to a smile the stoic Brit seemed to have. “She gets shit done with single-minded focus. You were standing in your own way, and she simply removed your head from your arse.”

“I didn’t want a bunch of TV cameras coming in here and painting Merry as a town of pathetic victims who can’t help themselves. The last time she was here, the whole town was in an uproar over her and her brother. Kids were cutting school to watch filming, grown men were begging to volunteer so they could stand next to her on camera. Oh, and she got into a bar fight in this very establishment.”

“She wouldn’t start a fight without a good reason,” Drake said firmly.