Page 50 of Grumpy Glitter Christmas
“Found it.”
Grant looked up. “What?”
“Strand thirty-one. The connection wire is broken.” Relief flickered across her face.
“Can you fix it?” Grant leaned in to look. Inside the tiny socket, two thin wires should have extended up evenly on either side to connect with the bulb. But one wire had pulled back or been pushed down, leaving it too short to make the connection.
“I can’t get the right angle to push it back up,” she said, her tired fingers fumbling with the tiny socket. “My hands are too?—”
“Let me try.”
She handed him the strand, and he held the socket up to examine it more closely. The wire was incredibly delicate—thin as a thread and tucked deep inside the small plastic housing.
“Guide me,” he said. “What needs to happen?”
“You need to push the short wire back up so it’s level with the other one. To gently work it up through the socket, use something thin—maybe a paperclip or a pin—until both wires are even. But be careful—if it breaks completely, we’ll have to replace the entire strand.”
Grant pulled a pen from his pocket and removed the ink cartridge, leaving just the thin plastic tube. He carefully inserted it into the socket, feeling for the recessed wire.
“Like this?”
“More to the right. Gently—yes, you’ve got it. Now push up slowly.”
He could feel the resistance as the wire caught on something inside the socket. He adjusted the angle slightly, applying steady, gentle pressure. Felicity leaned closer, watching intently.He was acutely aware of her presence—the warmth of her beside him, the faint citrus scent of her perfume mixing with pine.
“Almost... just a little more...” she coached softly.
He felt the wire shift, slide upward. “I think?—”
“That’s it,” Felicity breathed. “Try the tester.”
The voltage showed power flowing through. “We’ve got current.”
“Okay.” Felicity moved toward the power strip. “On three. One... two...”
“Wait. Before you—Felicity, can we talk about?—”
“Three.” She flipped the switch.
The tree exploded with light.
Felicity stepped back from the tree, her heart doing something complicated and dangerous in her chest.
The lights glowed warm and golden, every branch perfectly lit, the star on top catching the glow and scattering it like captured starlight. It was exactly what she’d envisioned. Better, even. They had made it perfect. Together.
And that was the problem.
She could feel Grant beside her, close enough that the heat from his body reached across the small space between them. Close enough that she could smell pine sap and his cologne—something crisp and clean that made her want to lean in instead of step away. She didn’t let herself look at him. If she looked at him, she’d see whatever was in his eyes, and she wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.
“Felicity.”
His voice was low, rough with something that sounded dangerously like emotion. Her name in his mouth felt intimate, like a touch.
She forced brightness into her voice, forced her gaze to stay fixed on the tree. “It’s beautiful. Exactly what I envisioned.”
“Felicity, I need to?—“
A sharp ping cut through the air. Grant’s phone, loud in the quiet ballroom.
