Page 111 of The Christmas Fix
“You’re only looking at the obstacles. You gotta start looking at solutions. If you want it to work. Though why you wouldn’t want to lock down that sexy hunk of man is beyond me.” She sighed. “You know, I’ve always had a thing for glasses. I was so excited when your father got his first pair of cheaters. You’re lucky you didn’t end up with a baby brother or sister that night.”
“Oh my God,Mother.”
Angela grinned and laid a hand on Cat’s arm. “Fine. One last thing, and then I’ll shut up. It drives me batty to hear your generation going on and on and on about balance. There’s no life-work balance. Okay? Get it? It’salllife. You get the same twenty-four hours as the next girl. Fill yours with what you love.”
Cat blinked, processing.
“There’s my girls,” Pete King boomed as he shuffled into the kitchen.
“Hi, Dad,” Cat said, offering him a kiss on the cheek and a squeeze around the middle.
“Your daughter’s considering a move to California,” Angela said with the accusing tone of an Italian mother.
“California, eh?” her father said, scratching his belly. “What’s for dinner tonight, my angel?”
Angela slapped at his hand. “Your daughter wants to move across the country, and you want to know what’s for dinner? This family!”
“Who’s moving across the country?” Gannon, Gabby bundled in his arms, marched into the already crowded kitchen with Paige on his heels.
“Your sister!”
Gannon leveled a look at Cat. “And you didn’t think we’d want to know?” he demanded.
Paige peered over his shoulder. “Why don’t we open some wine and get our daughter a snack before we jump all over your sister,” she suggested.
“How did it go with Santa Claus?” Pete asked, swooping in to steal Gabby from her father’s arms.
“Perfect,” Paige grinned. “She screamed like a banshee until Gannon jumped over the fence to save her.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
One day to Christmas Eve
The eve of Christmas Eve found Noah playing host to half of the men of Merry. Cat had arranged a spa afternoon for the women including Sara, Paige, Angela, Kathy, and April. She’d also thoughtfully included Mellody in the mix, and off they all went, chauffeured by Pete King to do God knew what with their hair and nails.
“We have to look good, Dad. The finale’s live,” Sara had explained the night before as she and Cat browsed nail art on Pinterest.
Noah was well aware of the finale and just exactly what it meant. The excitement of finally opening the Christmas Festival was dampened to ashes by the thought that his time with Cat was coming to an end. Sara seemed to have accepted it. Now if only he could force himself to do the same…
The idea of moping around alone was enough to have him throw out a half-assed invitation to the men who would be abandoned for spa day.
Gannon brought Gabby and cannoli. Drake and Henry brought beer, a lot of it. Jasper brought sausages. Ricky—because if Cat was kind enough to include his ex-wife, Noah didn’t have much of a choice in extending an invitation to his ex-wife’s fiancé—arrived with two-dozen deviled eggs, a bottle of vodka, and Mellody’s famous brownies.
Noah called in an obscenely large order of wings and cued up college football on the living room and kitchen TVs while everyone talked around him.
“Man, you look morose,” Henry observed, popping the top on a fancy pale ale. He propped a hip against the countertop and pointed at Noah with the bottle. “Bit of a let-down, isn’t it?”
“What is?” Drake asked, sidling into the conversation and shoving a deviled egg into his mouth.
“Noah here preparing to miss us.”
“And byus,you mean Cat,” Drake corrected his friend.
“Can wenotrevisit that train wreck of a conversation?” Gannon growled, pulling Gabby’s chubby little hands away from the vodka and lemonades he was mixing. Noah’s mixer supply was limited to whatever Sara brought home from the grocery store. So, it was either blue sports drink or lemonade… or straight vodka.
“I’m not talking about anything,” Noah said, holding up his hands.
“Here.” Gannon thrust a drink in it. “Drink this and keep not talking.”
