RUMOR HAS IT
Clay Walker
1997
1
CASSIDY
The brisk airbit at my cheeks as I stared up at the roofline ofOnce Upon A Bookseller.Hanging the Christmas lights from there wouldn’t be the problem. A stepladder and a few extension plugs, and I’d be golden.
No, the problem would be getting the Santa on top of the roof, and somehow figuring out how to stabilize him at the peak.
But as my Daddy always said, the problem wasn’t going to fix itself.
So, I got to work. I pulled the ladder out of the back of my shop, dragged the life-sized Santa out of storage, knocking over a few books as I pulled the extremely heavy decoration through the shop, and finally, opened the double doors and pushed him onto the sidewalk.
I was already sweating and ready to call it quits, but no Christmas decoration had ever defeated me before, and I’d be damned if today would be the day I was bested by plastic.
Even if it was extremely heavy.
Taking a moment to breathe, I stared up at the peak of the roof once again, trying to come up with a plan. If I wrapped some lights around the base, I might be able to tie the lightsaround the metal thingies on the top of the roof. That would help stabilize Santa and keep him from falling off the roof and crushing my customers.
“Decorating already?” Wayne asked, taking a sip of his coffee from The Daily Grind.
“It’s November. I’m actually about two weeks behind.”
“Decorating isn’t supposed to start until after Thanksgiving,” he argued.
“Yes, but if I waited until then, I’d be swamping myself with the Christmas rush. Not to mention, the temperature will have dropped again, turning this bitter wind into an unbearable cold that would render me incapable of setting up decorations.”
He stared at me, not at all moved by my speech.
“It’s sacrilegious to set up for Christmas before Thanksgiving.”
“Well, tell Mayor Cameron that,” I smirked. “I convinced her that it would be nicer for the maintenance crew to be able to set up before they risk losing their fingers. And she agreed.”
I could almost see the steam pouring out of Wayne’s ears as he shifted in his deputy’s uniform. I took a moment to appreciate how good he looked, even if it was brown.
All the Cross brothers were extremely good-looking, especially the one who moved away ten years ago. Levi was the epitome of the bad boy, and this small town just wasn’t big enough for him. But Remi and Wayne loved it here too much, and both of them went into law enforcement.
Of course, if you asked Remi, he’d tell you that a lifelong battle of his brother copying him was the only reason Wayne decided to follow in his footsteps. He insisted that Wayne was just there to annoy him.
Not that it mattered to any of the women around town. We all thought the Cross brothers were something of an enigma. A very sexy package wrapped in an enigma. With all those musclesand front pageSexiest Man Alivefaces, not a single one of them would end up alone.
And if they did, it would be because they were all a bunch of mama’s boys.
“You know, it’s people like you who ruin the spirit of Christmas by decorating too early,” he snapped, pulling me out of my internal musings.
“I’m not ruining the spirit of Christmas. I’m extending it. The longer I get to celebrate, the better I feel.”
“And you make the rest of us grouchy,” he snapped. “There’s a season. You’re skipping right over Thanksgiving and jumping straight into Christmas!”
“There’s still the Thanksgiving Day parade!” I argued. “Plenty of people turn out for it, and no one has ever gotten pissed when other shops put up a few Christmas decorations.”
“A few. Only a few. Not a Santa on a roof! How are you even going to get it up there?”
“With my wits and charm,” I smiled, turning my back on him. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have decorating to do.”