AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Suddenly her car door jerked open and Ryan reached in and pulled her out. “Why are you late?”
“I am not—one minute! I am one minute late.”
“But you are never late!”
“What’s going on?” Holly hollered.
“I gotta go, sis! Duty calls. Love you.”
“Love you.”
Merry grabbed her purse and shut her car door, listening with half an ear as Ryan continued his rant. “You are always ten minutes earlier than everyone else and I thought you were dead, bloody in pieces on the side of the road.”
“I overslept, not a big deal.” Merry squeezed his arm. “Breathe, Ryan. It’s all going to be fine.”
“How can you say that? I already broke up one fight between a couple of crafters!”
“Maybe next year we’ll set up a sparring ring and take bets.”
Ryan looked at her like she’d been replaced by pod people. “Why are you not freaking out?”
“Because we’ve done our best to make this event spectacular and I am not going to stress a hiccup or two.” Merry thought about Clark and all their hiccups. They’d been uncomfortable at the time, but led to something better, stronger.
“Okay, you are freaking me out, but if you want to channel some kind of Zen que será, será bullshit, who am I to squash it?”
“That’s the spirit,” Merry joked.
“Oh, and someone else bought a tree so now we have to shift the rows. I called your dad to get another one delivered, but he didn’t pick up.”
“Wait, someone else bought a tree? Who?”
Ryan looked down at his phone, tapping the screen. “Ummmm, Pumpkin Pie Designs? I don’t know, but what do you want me to do about the crafters auditioning for their own reality show, the Real Craft Karens of Mistletoe?”
Merry grabbed the door and winked. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”
The community center was bustling with life, people setting up booths and tree stands. Merry stepped onto the top of one of the tables set up in the food section, put her fingers into her mouth, and whistled. When the chatter stopped, she projected, “All right, everyone, listen up! I appreciate all of you being here and want to thank you. Your support for this amazing charity event has raised the most money in five years.” The room clapped and Merry held her hands up. “That being said, this is a Christmas event. I want cheery dispositions and neighbors helping each other. I hear about any fighting or bickering and you will be asked to leave the event without a refund. I don’t want to do that, but I will if people cannot get along.” Merry clapped her hands. “Excellent. Now that’s out of the way and we can talk about the trees. I need them shifted into rows of nine. If you’ve got upper body strength, meet me over at the tree area and we’ll move them around. Thank you.”
Merry hopped down, smiling at Ryan’s slack-jawed face. “How was that?”
“Like I’m expecting burly enforcers to show up any minute and start dragging people out.”
“Perfect, exactly what I was going for.”
“Okay, you have got to tell me what happened to you, because you are like yourself but supercharged.”
“I thrive under pressure. Now, enough jabbering. We’ve got work to do.”
They got the trees reassembled into a nine by nine square with pathways between so people could see all of the trees and their ornaments. Each tree had a box where raffle tickets could be slipped inside with the name of the business on the outside.
The hours flew by in a sea of faces all asking her questions. She was working on stringing lights through the food court when Jace came running up.
“Hey, Merry, I’m here to help.”
“Awesome, I can use a go-getter like you,” she said, giving him a big hug. “Is your dad here?”
“Yeah.”
“Perfect. All right, I need you to bring me those tablecloths and we’re going to cover every table.”
