Page 39 of The Christmas Fix
“What is your problem, Yates?” she snarled.
They were so close he could smell her shampoo, something citrusy.
“My problem is you drag my daughter on set—without my permission—and expose her to the sordid drama—”
“Oh, you want to talk about kids absorbing things? Great. Yeah, kids are always absorbing what’s around them, and you know what’s around Sara? You telling your daughter her interests aren’t good enough.”
Noah saw red around the edges of his vision. “You’re going to want to tread lightly,” he said, his tone icy.
But Cat wasn’t one to take cues. No, she was one to throw a canister of gasoline on a fire just to watch the explosion.
“No, I thinkyouare. If you keep steering your daughter away from what she enjoys, what’s important to her, what do you think the outcome is going to be? ‘Gee, thanks Dad for never supporting my interests. I’m so glad I became an insurance adjustor and married an asshole who thinks he knows what’s best for me.’”
“I’m not taking parenting advice from a reality TV star! And I don’t appreciate you filling her head with fantasies of fame and glamor.” Noah’s voice was low enough to be a growl.
“Glamor?” Cat spat out. She ripped the cap off her head. “I have mud in my hair. I’ve been working since five this morning dragging debris out of your fucking park so your town can have its Christmas. I have bags under my eyes from dealing with production issues until all hours of the night because you’re trying your damnedest to make this as difficult as possible. I’ve got an entire crew of landscapers down with the 24-hour bug, and I have to find another ten grand in the budget to get April the treehouse she and your daughter have always wanted.”
That finger was back, and it was drilling a hole into his chest.
“I haven’t done laundry in a fucking week, and these jeans are going to disintegrate at any given moment. I didn’t fill your daughter’s head with glitz and glamor, you fucking asshole. I filled it with the rewards of hard work and what being a strong, independent fucking woman means. Now get the fuck out of my way before I really tell you what I think.”
With less than half a second to decide, Noah wisely stepped aside. Cat stormed past him down the sidewalk. She whirled around and opened her mouth as if to give him one final parting shot, then closed it again. She settled for an obstinate middle finger and a glare hot enough to burn down his world before stalking off down the block.
Noah heard a low whistle behind him. Still shell-shocked, he turned. Drake Mackenrowe looked out of place leaning against a minivan in a flannel that must have been sewn on him. “You sure pissed her off,” he stated the obvious with a blinding grin.
“She’s not going to come back here with a weapon or anything, is she?” Noah asked, feeling just a little like he just wanted to limp off to lick his wounds.
Drake laughed. “No, man. Her verbal skills are usually the first line of defense, and if a solid warning doesn’t work, she’ll go with a right hook.”
Noah shook his head, processing. His brain was reeling from confrontation that had gone decisively in Cat’s favor.
A now fresh-faced April skipped out onto the porch. “Hi, Noah! Where’s Cat?”The resilience of children, Noah sighed to himself.
Sara peeped between parked cars. “Dad? Can I come back and hang out if we’re not leaving yet?” Sara’s question was teetering on whining.
The Hais’ front door opened again, and Jasper and Kathy appeared.Of course,they had been there for the filming. Noah swiped a hand over his face and found he was sweating in the chilly air.
“Oh, hey, Noah! Mind if we steal Sara for dinner tonight?” Kathy asked. “Jasper’s parents are cooking up a feast, and we need more mouths or we’ll be bringing fifty pounds of leftovers back to your house with us.”
April and Sara embraced as if it had been weeks not minutes since they’d seen each other. “Please, Dad?” Sara begged.
“Yeah, please, Mr. Yates?” April added her sad puppy eyes to the equation.
“Hi, Drake,” Sara said slyly.
“Hey, cutie,” Drake said with a grin designed to devastate pre-teens. Sara and April giggled in response.
“Have you guys seen Cat?” Jasper asked. “We were going to ask her if she wanted to join us since shooting’s done for the day. We all worked up an appetite, didn’t we?”
“Dad, you should have seen it,” Sara said, bouncing on her toes at his side. “Cat and Drake were all like ‘show us your house,’ and April got to give the tour, and Kathy and Jasper were on camera too. It wassocool!”
“You seemed pretty upset there,” Noah prodded April.He couldn’t have completely misread the situation, could he?
April nodded earnestly. “It’s hard to see our home in such disrepair and seeing Mom and Dad worry. But Cat’s right, it’s only stuff. And stuff is fixable. And even though it’s okay to feel downtrodden, it’s better to do something about it. She’s going to help us, and so I’m going to help someone else.”
“Cat calls it paying it forward,” Sara nodded.
Everyone calls it that, Noah wanted to point out.
