Page 106 of The Christmas Fix
Henry gave Cat a bottle of water and slapped a twenty into her hand. “Remind me never to bet against you again,” he grumbled.
Cat smugly tucked the twenty into her back pocket. “When are you boys going to learn that I know everything?”
Still muttering, they walked off, leaving her to bask in the victory of not only a win but a really good day of filming. The Hais were home again. Jasper’s boss had popped in to announce that Jasper’s job would once again be full-time. And April had freaking loved the treehouse. The kid had been speechless, her Scrabble-winning vocabulary deserting her as she clamored up the ladder sobbing.
It had been an excellent day. And it would get even more excellent if she could spend the night naked with Noah.
“Hey, Cat!”
The voice of the daughter of the man she’d just been fantasizing about doing filthy things to jarred her awake.
“Hi, Sar. Did you see the treehouse?” Cat asked, slinging an arm around Sara’s shoulders.
“Oh my god. Seriously the coolest thing ever. I can’t wait ’til summer so we can have sleepovers in it,” Sara announced.
“Your dad helped build it.” Cat couldn’t seem to resist throwing out a comment about Noah. It gave her a special little thrill to say his name to others. To be proud of him and to share that pride with someone who loved him.
“That’s so cool! He’s like the best, isn’t he?”
Cat nodded slowly. “He is indeed.”
“Are you spending the night since I’m at my mom’s?” Sara asked.
“Uh, I feel like it would be weird if I answered that question.”
“Then we’ll both just pretend like I don’t know that you’ll be there.”
“I can live with that,” Cat decided.
Sara left her to explore the house with April, and Cat sat down on the front porch for a moment of peace. Sure, dozens of people carting equipment bustled past her, but she’d gotten adept at finding quiet moments to herself on set over the past several years.
This had been her life for so long now, had altered the course of her life really. Five or six years ago, she’d been focused on how to keep the doors of her grandfather’s business open. Then life had thrown her a curveball. Reality TV was meant to be a temporary solution. But she wasgoodat it. She enjoyed it. And sometimes you just had to take a swing at those curveballs to find what you were meant to do.
She spotted Noah talking to her parents at a makeshift coffee station Reggie had set up for them. Her mom beamed up at her father as he told some ridiculous story or another, Gabby balanced on his hip. Noah’s booming laugh. He didn’t laugh often enough in her opinion. She found herself doing and saying things just to tease that laugh out of him. He was so serious, and she had a feeling that scared little boy was still inside him somewhere, hoping for something better.
She felt tears prick at her eyes and forced herself to look away.
Cat didn’t know where these urges kept coming from. She wanted Noah happy. That was normal, healthy even. What wasn’t was the fact that she kept thinking of all the ways she could push him in that direction. Ways she could make him laugh. How she could make him smile that unguarded, delighted smile.
But she wasn’t going to be here much longer. And sooner or later, it would be someone else making him laugh, someone else dragging him out of his responsible shell for fun, someone else talking to Sara about boys and school.
Her phone vibrated in the pocket of her coat. Cat pulled it out and raised an eyebrow when she saw her agent’s name on her screen. She debated letting it go to voicemail. She should be celebrating a reveal that would be ratings gold. But Marta never wasted time. There was a reason for the call.
With a sigh, she swiped to answer. “Hey, Marta,” Cat answered. “What’s going on?”
“Are you sitting down?” Marta demanded, no nonsense.
“As a matter of fact, I am.”
“I just got off the phone with a VP over at Reno & Reality. They’re interested in your school.”
Cat snorted. “Of course, they are now that it’s getting play in the media.”
“They want to shoot a show around your inaugural class. Early talks now, but they’re throwing around some huge numbers for you and for the school.”
Cat gripped the phone harder. “What about my show?”
“Tentatively the reno show would shift to a spring through summer shoot. There would be some overlap at the beginning and the end of the season, so you’d be flying back and forth.”
