The Christmas Fix
by Lucy Score
Published by Bloom Books
Book 2 in the Fixer duology
She'll save Christmas just to spite him...
When a late season hurricane hits Merry, Connecticut, city manager and single dad Noah Yates has to inform the already devastated residents that there won't be a Christmas Festival this year. No festival means no tourism dollars. A disaster of epic proportions for his hometown.
But when home renovation expert slash smoking hot reality TV star Catalina King shows up with a camera crew and a budget big enough to put the town back together again, Noah balks. Hard. The last time Cat was in town she stirred up trouble everywhere she went. (Residents are still talking about the town's first and only bar fight.) Noah doesn't need a TV diva capitalizing on his town's tragedy or filling his daughter's head with glitz and glam.
Cat is ready and willing to put Merry back in Christmas mode with a holiday special that will leave everyone believing in miracles and get her friends back in the home they love. But there's one big problem standing in her way. And his name is Noah Yates. He's wrong about her and she can't wait to prove it. Ring those jingle bells because it's on.
Genre
Triggers
Memories of abusive parent, financial instability, damaging hurricane
I don't know why this one is rated lower than the other book in this duology, because I loved The Christmas Fix.
Could it be because of my deep love of a grumpy man in glasses?
Perhaps.
Actually, that was only one reason I loved this book as much as I did. I have many reasons why I loved it.
Let's start with the story.
The setting being a Christmas-touristy small town is the bread and butter of Christmas romances. Adding in it being horribly damaged by a hurricane, well, it brings a level of realism one wouldn't expect from this type of romance. This year in particular has been hard for our coastal towns and cities. And while I didn't love the reality TV setting in Mr. Fixer Upper - that review will be coming in the new year - I loved it in this one. I think it had to do with the chemistry between the characters, which was SIZZLING.
Noah and Cat were on fire.
The animosity between them was so much fun, and added so much heat to them.
And the sex? Hot, hot, hot!!
There were other things I loved about this book. Small things that Lucy added to the story that I appreciated. One being, the healthy family unit Noah and his ex-wife represented. Most books I read show ex's as a villain. I absolutely adored that despite their relationship not working out, Noah and his ex were friends. They actually co-parented. Honestly, it added a layer to Noah that made him likeable, even when he was being an ass.
The Christmas Fix is the perfect blend of Christmas, romance, and spice. I know you will love it!
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
Noah: “I hate you,”
he mouthed to Cat, not caring that he was behaving like an immature junior high schooler. She blew him a kiss.
Cat: “I’ll have cameras here tomorrow so you might want to spread the word. If you need any help acting like a human being, let me know, and I’ll have marketing write up a script for you.”
He sighed. He had the unfair reputation of being Mr. No. But when his townspeople wanted to spend twelve percent of their annual budget on new reindeer light cutouts for the lampposts, he was the voice of reason. The crusher of dreams. But their noses light up red!
Noah: “I’m interested in hearing your plans for increasing revenue for the festival when the timeline is abbreviated.”
Cat: “You mean you’re dying to poke holes in my plans with your ‘no’ stick,”
she corrected him.
Noah: "I brought you a coffee. Not to be nice but because it’s polite.”
She made a grab for the cup he offered.
Cat: “I’m accepting your thoughtless gift not because I think you’re generous but because I need caffeine to survive.”
Noah Yates was a good-looking man. Too bad about the whole personality thing.
Cat: "But if something’s worth doing, it’s worth working really hard for.”
Sara: “I like that. But I bet a lot of people don’t realize how hard you work.”
Cat shook her head, bit into a carrot.
Cat: “They don’t. But the point of working hard isn’t really getting people to notice how hard you work. It’s about giving it your all and being able to walk away with no regrets. Doing a good job shouldn’t be so someone else tells you that you did good. It should be about you feeling good about your effort.”
Cat: “You have to decide how much you’re willing to sacrifice and how much effort you’re willing to put into something. And those two things usually add up to the reward you get.”
Cat: “Sometimes it’s our job to educate people on what they don’t understand.”
Noah Yates didn’t understand anything he didn’t want to, Cat thought uncharitably.
Sara: “What if they don’t want to be educated?”
Cat: “Then you do it anyway and rub their faces in your success in a really graceful way,” .
Mellody laughed.
Mellody: “You know this is a partnership, right?”
Noah: “I do vaguely recall it being something along those lines. But if I find our daughter in a tube top and big hair talking about manicures and greased up pool boys, I’m blaming you forever.”
He heard the distinct sound of fake static.
Mellody: “What’s that? I can’t hear you. … going through… tunn—”
His ex-wife the comedian.
Cat: “Glamour?”
Cat spat out. She ripped the cap off her head.
Cat: “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.
Cat: “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 glamour, 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.”
Noah: “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.
Drake: “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.”
Henry: “You got the wrong impression,”
Henry joined in.
Henry: “And you don’t like to be wrong so you’re ignoring all evidence to the contrary.”
Noah: “I like to think that I’m open-minded.”
Drake gave him a sideways glance.
Drake: “You do realize that your nickname in town is Mr. No, right?”
The bartender dropped drink tokens in front of each of them.
Noah: “Who are these from?”
Noah asked, frowning at his. The bartender shrugged.
Bartender: “Take your pick.”
Drake grinned. Henry straightened his tie.
Henry: “I quite like this town.”
Paige: “What? He doesn’t look like a hell beast. He’s very good-looking. The glasses make him look like an intellectual.”
Cat: “Hell beasts don’t have to be ugly. It’s what’s on the inside that’s a rotting smorgasbord of asshole.”
Paige’s eyebrows winged up her forehead, and she sent Angela a meaningful look.
Cat: “What?”
Cat demanded.
Cat: “Do you know what he said to me?”
Angela: “No. The only thing we’ve pried out of you is ‘rotting smorgasbord of asshole.’”
Cat: “He thought I made April cry on camera until I pointed out that there were no cameras outside. Duh. Then he launched into another tirade about me being a shining beacon of everything that’s wrong in this universe. And I finally let him have it. Verbally at least, because I’m a fucking lady.”
Paige pulled out her phone.
Cat: “What are you doing?”
Cat hissed.
Paige: “I’m texting Drake and telling him not to let Noah come over here or Cat will gut him like a fish in front of all these witnesses and we’re going to have to drive really far in the dead of the night to hide the body.”
Drake held up his phone. Message received.
Angela: “Honey. You’re my daughter, and if you want me to go over there and slap the glasses off that incredibly handsome man I will do it.”
Cat considered it briefly. But as entertaining as it would be to see, she preferred to fight her own battles. And do her own slapping.
Cat: “Thanks, Mom. If you don’t mind, I’ll keep that offer on the table for now.”
Angela nodded.
Angela: “You just tell me where and when, and I will be there to slap the crap out of anyone you want.”
Paige: “Ah, family,”
Paige sighed.
She leaned in to bring his face into focus. His glasses were a little cockeyed on the bridge of his nose.
Cat: “You make me want to maim you.”
Noah: “Yeah? Well, right back atcha,”
Noah said, his green eyes narrowing in the dim light of the alley.
Cat: “I don’t like your attitude. Like not at all,”
Cat insisted.
Noah: “You know what else I want to do besides maim you?”
Noah asked. He leaned in like he was about to tell her a secret. Cat, through her Cosmo fog, could smell his soap. The sliver of air between them was charged. She could imagine the sound of the slap, the feel of his stubbled jaw under her open palm as it cracked across his face.
Cat: “What?”
Noah: “I think I wanna kiss you.”
Cat: “Never, ever leave me, Henry.”
That got her the tiniest hint of a smile out of the man.
Henry: “You also have a FaceTime workout with your trainer at five-thirty tomorrow morning. All body weight so you can do it in your trailer.”
Cat: “And I’m back to not liking you.”
She stopped in front of the cookie section and groaned.
Cat: “I want all these.”
Noah: “You can’t get them all.”
She pointed a finger in his face.
Cat: “See? That right there is Mr. Responsibility. I’m not actually going to buy all of them, but you telling me I can’t have them makes that option even more attractive.”
Noah: “You’re like a teenage rebel. No one needs thirty-six different kinds of cookies.”
Defiantly, Cat dropped four packs into the cart.
Noah: “You’re being ridiculous.”
Cat: “Get in the cart, Noah.”
He blinked.
Noah: “I beg your pardon.”
Cat nudged the cart into him.
Cat: “Get in the cart.”
Noah: “In the cart?”
Cat: “I’m showing you how to lighten up. Now, get your ass in the cart.”
He stared at her trying to comprehend what she was saying.
Noah: “I’m not—”
Cat: “The store is empty. No one will see their city manager acting a fool. You can’t be worried about my opinion of you because I already think you’re a stuffed shirt with an attitude problem. And, I double dog dare you.”
Feeling like an idiot, Noah swung a leg into the cart.
Noah: “Is this even going to hold me?”
he muttered.
Cat: “Quit stalling.”
Cat shoved the cookies and chips out of his way and crossed her arms over her chest. He clambered the rest of the way in and sat, his knees hiked up to his chin.
Noah: “Yay. This is so much fun I can barely contain myself,”
he grumbled. She grinned.
Cat: “You look ridiculous.”
Noah: “I know I look ridiculous. I fail to see how this is teaching me anything valuable about lightening up.”
Cat: “Hang on to your frowny face,”
Cat announced. She grabbed the cart handle and pushed off into a dead run.
There was a wound in there somewhere. One that made him embrace control and security and responsibility. Coping mechanisms of the wounded.
Noah: “I don’t suppose there was a non-violent way to have ended it?”
Cat: “Let’s fast forward a few years. Your daughter’s out on the town having a good time, and some guy gets a little handsy with her. What should she do?”
Noah: “Break his fucking nose,”
Noah said immediately.
Noah: “I kissed you when I thought I didn’t like you.”
Noah said.
Cat: “Yeah? So?”
Noah: “So, what am I going to do now that I know I owe my life to you?”
Gannon: “I see my sister is asserting her dominance over the youth of Merry,”
Gannon said dryly, jutting his chin in Cat’s direction.
Noah watched her push Sara face down in the snow and then fire a warning snowball at a group of pre-teen boys that had declared war.
Noah: “The kids seem to like her,”
Noah observed.
Gannon: “That’s because she is one,”
Gannon said dryly.
Cat: “Hey, Mellody."
Mellody: "Please, tell me that’s spiked hot chocolate,”
Mellody demanded, reaching for Noah’s cup. Noah held it out of her reach.
Noah: “Back off, lady. You didn’t get this in the divorce.”
Cat blinked and then smothered a laugh when Mellody burst out laughing.
Mellody: “Okay, that’s the first divorce joke you’ve been able to make. It’s a snow day miracle, and for that, I’ll buy my own!”
Cat: “You’re wearing a ditch in the asphalt.”
Cat’s calm observation came from where she leaned against the doorway of her trailer.
Noah: “Oh, I was just uh…”
What? Inspecting the parking lot? Looking for permits?
Cat: “You might as well come in, Noah, before you freeze to death trying to come up with a lie.”
Cat: “Well, why in the hell didn’t you say it that way in the first place?”
Noah: “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you get me a little tongue-tied when you look directly at me,”
Noah pointed out.
Cat: “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Noah: “I’m serious, Cat. You’re the color in a gray day. I don’t know how else to describe it. I look at you, and I see all this passion and joy and fun and excitement. I’ve never met anyone like you."
Cat: “Stop. You didn’t have control when you were a kid. Your parents weren’t responsible enough to provide the stability and security you needed to feel safe. It’s why you’re Mr. No now. Why you were such a dick about the show.”
Noah: “I wouldn’t say I was a dick—”
Cat: “Totally a dick.”
Noah: “Fine. I was a dick,”
he conceded.
Noah: “I’m unnaturally good at assessing risks. And you’re a huge one.”
She grinned.
Cat: “How am I risky? I’m light, I’m fun, I don’t require constant care and attention.”
Noah: “Oh, you’re risky. I could fall for you, and you could just walk out of my life onto the next job, the next guy, the next adventure. And I’d just be left remembering.”
Paige: “So, the sex was adequate?”
Paige prodded.
Cat: “Adequate times a million.”
Okay, maybe Cat could brag just a little without letting Paige know how terrified she’d been of losing her soul to Noah Yates as he whispered dirty little secrets into her ear while he moved in her.
Paige: “So, good then?”
Cat dragged her hands through her hair, instantly ruining the “effortless” tail the stylist had spent thirty minutes on that morning.
Cat: “Like so much better than good I can’t even find the words.”
Paige: “Oooooh.”
Paige dragged out the syllable in understanding.
Cat: “Yeah. That’s why my head is…”
she gestured into the distance.
Cat: “I’m orgasm drunk.”
Paige nodded approvingly.
Paige: “Nice job, Noah.”
Cat: “Oh my God. You have no idea.”
Paige: “I probably do, but since my husband is your brother, you don’t want the details. By the way, Gannon is insanely insatiable in bed.”
Cat: “Gross."
Paige: “I guess you find out if Noah’s okay with some short-term naked fun and go from there,”
Paige suggested. Cat nodded.
Cat: “Good idea. That I can work with. How do I find that out?”
Paige laughed.
Paige: “When’s the last time you were in a relationship?”
Cat: “I don’t know. I guess Drake?”
Paige scoffed.
Paige: “Please, that was just a two-month long booty call. There was no relationship there.”
Cat frowned and dug her way back through her sexual history.
Cat: “I guess it was Miguel?”
Paige frowned.
Paige: “I don’t remember him.”
Cat: “That’s because I dated him my senior year of high school. He took me to prom. I gave him his first blow job.”
Cat smiled fondly at the memory.
Paige: “You’re a piece of work.”
Paige shook her head.
Cat: “My blow jobs are masterpieces,”
Cat insisted.
Paige: “You’re thirty-how-old, and you’ve never been in a relationship?”
Cat: “Do I look like I would even want to make the time?”
Noah shoved her down the hallway, and when he was sure she was out of sight, opened the door as casually as possible. Mellody took one look at him and clapped a hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. He didn’t feel an ounce of amusement at her coughing fit.
Sara: “Geez, Dad. You never lock the door. Why’s your shirt on backwards?”
Jasper: “I know that look. It’s a woman. I get that deer-in-headlights look when Kathy’s mad.”
Gannon: “Definitely not talking about women. We’re just working on a treehouse, not talking about my sister.”
Noah: “Well, since you brought her up…”
Gannon, on his knees on the floor, hung his head.
Gannon: “Please don’t make me do this, Yates. I’m begging you, man.”
Noah glanced at the nail gun in Gannon’s hand.
Noah: “Uh, maybe you want to put that down?”
Gannon rolled his eyes heavenward and closed them as if he were praying for patience.
Gannon: “Paige texted and said you and Cat are fighting.”
He sounded as if he’d rather be discussing women’s menstrual cycles. Noah would too.
Noah: “Is it fighting if she’s freezing me out?”
Gannon swore under his breath.
Gannon: “Listen man, I’m her brother, and I barely understand her.”
Noah: “So, what do I do? Just let it go? Let her just walk half-naked out of my house and never talk to her again.”
Gannon: “For fuck’s sake, man! That’s my sister!”
Gannon looked a little green.
Noah: “Sorry. I’m just…”
He was tied up in a million fucking knots. Cat took him by the hand and dragged him to heaven in bed and then acted like he’d punched a pony in the face.
Jasper: “Women,”
Jasper said, with a shake of his head.
Jasper: “I wish I could tell you it gets easier, but Kathy and I’ve been married fourteen years, and I still have no idea what goes on in her head.”
Noah dipped the brush in the paint and slapped it against the window trim.
Gannon: “Just try talking to her, okay? Leave the rest of us out of it and go talk to her,”
Gannon pleaded.
Noah: “I’ve tried! She won’t return calls. She’s ignoring my texts.”
Gannon muttered something about the things he did for his wife under his breath.
Gannon: “Look, Noah. You seem like a nice guy. If you want to pursue something with Cat, pursue it. Make her give you a firm no if that’s not what she wants. And then don’t talk to me about it ever again.”
Noah: “It seems like the only time she wants to talk is after—”
Gannon: “Shut the fuck up, Yates! Are you trying to get me to throw you through the window?”
Jasper: “Dude,”
Jasper whispered on Noah’s left.
Jasper: “Don’t poke the bear, man.”
Noah: “Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just… stupid and confused.”
Gannon: “Look, just talk to this woman who I’m pretending is not my twin sister. Okay? Do us all a favor and lock her in a closet until she talks. And then don’t give me a status update.”
Sara: “Hey, Dad! Cat gave me some ideas for my room!”
Noah: “Can we still afford to send you to college?”
Sara nodded as if the information wasn’t new to her. She looked down at her napkin.
Sara: “I get that. But I think you’re both doing yourself a disservice by automatically discounting the idea of a relationship.”
Noah frowned at Sara.
Noah: “Are you reading from notes?”
he demanded.
Sara snatched the scrap of paper away out of his reach.
Sara: “April helped. So, sue me.”
Sara: “What I’m hearing are a lot of problems and no solutions,”
Sara said as she steepled her fingers. Now the kid sounded like Mini Noah.
Noah: “Sara, this is something that is really between Cat and me,”
Noah reminded her. Sara rolled her eyes.
Sara: “Dad, you make it everyone’s business when you’re mooning over each other and then sneaking into alleys to make out.”
Cat covered her eyes with a hand.
Cat: “Ah, crap.”
Sara: “Are you spending the night since I’m at my mom’s?”
Cat: “Uh, I feel like it would be weird if I answered that question.”
Sara: “Then we’ll both just pretend like I don’t know that you’ll be there.”
Cat: “I can live with that,”
Cat decided.
Cat: “This place is a fire trap,”
Noah: “Hey, I don’t go around dissing your office, do I?”
Cat: “My office is the dining table in an RV.”
Noah: “Well, you don’t see me pointing out its many flaws.”
Cat: “Like the fact that it’s missing a leg because you fucked me too hard on it?”
Cat shot back.
He blushed. An honest-to-goodness blush.
Noah: “Jesus, Cat!”
Cat: “Aww, loosen up, cutie.”
Angela: “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.
Angela: “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.”
Cat: “Oh my God, Mother.”
Angela: "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’s all life. You get the same twenty-four hours as the next girl. Fill yours with what you love.”
Gannon: “Can we not revisit 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.
Noah: “I’m not talking about anything,”
Noah said, holding up his hands.
Gannon: “Here.”
Gannon thrust a drink in it.
Gannon: “Drink this and keep not talking.”
Gannon: “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Why can’t you two just get your heads out of your asses and talk to each other?”
Gannon groaned, exasperated.
Gabby: “Ffff. Ffff.”
Gabby was gleefully trying to eke out her first four-letter word.
Gannon: “Nobody react,”
Gannon ordered.
Gannon: “Just insert ‘funky’ into the conversation every other sentence, and we’ll be fine. Be cool about it.”
He was sweating though.
Drake: “You can’t just let her jet off to the other side of the country when you’re in love with her.”
Noah: “I didn’t say I was—”
Gannon, Jasper, and Ricky burst out laughing.
Jasper: “Ah, funk. It’s so cute when they try to fight it,”
Jasper said, slapping the countertop.
Noah: “It’s written all over my stupid funky face, isn’t it?”
Noah sighed.
Jasper: “Oh, totally.”
Gannon: “Funk yeah.”
Ricky: “Uh-huh.”
Gabby: “Fffffff.”
Ricky: “I hope you don’t mind if I weigh in here,”
Ricky said, brushing brownie crumbs off the front of his sweater vest.
Ricky: “But if a woman waltzes into your life, saves it, and then changes it, you’re totally funked.”
Noah: “I am totally funked,”
Noah nodded.
Noah: “What the funk do I have to offer her that would be better than L.A.?”
Gannon: “If any of you assholes say ‘cock’ I’m going to murder you all,”
Gannon cut in.
Gannon: “I don’t want to hear it about my sister.”
Gannon pulled her down to sprawl on top of him.
Cat: “Hey now, sister present,”
Cat said, pretending to gag.
Gannon: “This is nothing compared to what I had to listen to today,”
Gannon yawned.
Gannon: “Come on wife. Let’s go home and do bad things to each other.”
Gabby: “Fffffck.”
Gabby chirped, clapping her hands together.
Paige: “What was that that just came out of my sweet child’s mouth?”
Paige asked sharply.
Drake: “She said funk,”
Drake said, his head popping up from the pillow.
Henry: “Clearly,”
Henry agreed from his position on the floor.
Ricky: “Definitely did not say ‘fuck.’”
Ricky announced. Jasper kicked Ricky in the shin.
Ricky: “Ouch!”
Cat fished her fingers into the neck of Noah’s t-shirt.
Cat: “You know, I hate to use this gigantic shower all by myself…”
Noah: “Catalina King, are you trying to tempt me with sex while your parents deal with Ms. Teenager and Double Trouble downstairs?”
Cat: “Is it working?”
The shoe Noah shucked off bounced off the wall behind him with a celebratory thud.
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