Page 19 of The Christmas Fix
“Mom and Dad are here?”
“Mom left strict orders for you to carve out an hour for dinner tonight,” Gannon warned her.
Angela King was a pushover as an Italian grandmother, butno onesaid no to her when it came to food. “I’ve got a lot going on here, but I’ll do my best,” Cat sighed, mentally rearranging her evening.
Gannon eyed the activity around them. “I’ll mention that it would be really helpful if she brought dinner here tonight.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Got something you’ll appreciate even more than dinner.” Gannon jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Brought a couple of reinforcements with us.”
He’d brought her a crew. Men she’d known for half her life who had stuck with them after their grandfather’s death when payroll had been late and jobs scarce. They whistled their patented “Cat call” that one of the jokers had invented years ago to entertain her when she was a kid. She opened her arms to them.
“What the hell are you jokers doing here?” Her budget was cringing, but having a Kings crew already familiar with the world of reality TV? It would be worth it.
“They’re volunteering too,” Gannon said, scratching the back of his head.
“The fuck they are,” Cat said succinctly.
“They’re going to swap out with the rest of the guys. Three days on set, three days back home.”
“I can’t ask them to do that,” Cat argued.
“It’s done. Besides, banner year for Kings Construction,” Gannon reminded her. “Word may have leaked about those bonuses we decided on.”
“Let’s fight about this later,” Cat decided. She had too much other shit on her plate
“Where we startin’, Cat?” Flynn, Gannon’s best friend and favorite foreman, demanded, tossing his hammer in the air and catching it neatly in his tool belt.
She crossed to him.
“Geez, Flynn. How many hours wasted on job sites did it take you to master that?” Cat asked, slapping the man on the shoulder.
His grin was quick. “Your brother bet me a burger and a beer I couldn’t get it before the end of a workday.” He patted his belly in satisfaction. “That burger was worth the bruises.”
“Well, gentlemen, why don’t you go grab yourselves some coffee and donuts and get ready for a briefing? We’re gonna start with either demo or park cleanup. So, I hope you brought your muscles.”
They flexed for her, as she knew they would, flannel and Henleys stretched over both muscles and beer guts. Cat laughed. Surrounded by family, she suddenly felt like she was home.
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Cat rapped her knuckles on Noah’s open door and braced herself for a fight. “Got a minute?”
He looked up from his desk, shrugged. “Does it matter if I do? Or are you just going to drag a kindergarten class in here to cry until I give you whatever you want?”
“Try to not be an ass for five minutes, and I’ll get out of your hair,” Cat suggested, walking in and sat in one of his visitor chairs without an invitation.
“What can I do for you today, Lucifer?” Noah asked, folding his hands on his desk.
“You’re going to have to try harder than that if you want to insult me,” Cat warned him. “We’re going to need a headquarters. The RV park at the ShopRight isn’t going to cut it. For one, we need heat. For two we’re going to need all the other comforts of home: electricity, internet, bathrooms.”
“And you want me to build you what? A five-star hotel with conference space?”
God, he pissed her off. And sooner or later she was going to have to teach Noah what the consequences were when he poked the bear.
“I’m thinking more along the lines of the old high school. It’s empty and, from what the locals tell me, has more than enough space for what we need.”
“It also costs the town astronomical amounts of money in terms of heating and electricity,” Noah said.
