Christmas on 4th Street (Fool's Gold #12.5)(53)

“I’d still look after the cats,” Abby promised, her fingers clenched and her eyes bright with anticipation. “Mom said I could work a few hours after school, but only through Christmas break. Once the new semester starts I have to focus on my studies.”

“Having you around would be great,” Noelle told her, ignoring the sense of being hit in the gut. He hadn’t even told her goodbye himself. Weak-assed jerk. Only calling him names didn’t make her feel any better.

“I’ll show you where to put your stuff,” Melissa said, leading her sister toward the back room.

Noelle walked to the front door and turned the sign to Open, then she unlocked the door and greeted her first customer.

* * *

Gabriel went back to his vacation rental and tried to sleep. When that didn’t work, he drove his brother’s truck up to his place and got his car, then went back to town. He passed by the store several times, but didn’t go in. He didn’t have to, he reminded himself. He’d called to say he wouldn’t.

Only that didn’t seem to matter. All he could think about was Noelle. He missed her and wanted to be with her. Only he couldn’t because he couldn’t give her what she wanted.

He waited until close to six, then parked where he could see her lock up and head home. She greeted several people as she walked the familiar streets, pausing to look at the window display in front of the sporting goods store.

Gabriel swore and pounded his fist against the steering wheel. The window, he thought. The whole point of their trip up the mountain had been to get the perfect tree for the windows. Because she wanted to win that stupid contest. Only somehow that had been forgotten.

The judging was in the morning. There wasn’t time to— Or was there? He reached for his cell phone and dialed.

* * *

“Dad, be careful,” Gabriel said, watching the older Boylan stretch up on a tall ladder.

“If I fall, you can patch me up,” his father said cheerfully.

Great, Gabriel thought, now his dad had a sense of humor. “Bones aren’t my thing.”

It was late, or early, depending on one’s frame of reference. His entire family was crowded into The Christmas Attic, working to make Noelle’s display as perfect as possible for the morning judging.

“Just have to get this power strip in place,” his father said. “Gideon, hand me that power drill.”

Gideon did as requested, then returned his attention to the laptop he and Carter had brought. Karen and Felicia were sharing another computer—or rather Felicia was working the keys while Karen pushed buttons on a remote-controlled robot, dressed to look like a Christmas elf.

When he’d put out the call to his family, he hadn’t known what to expect. But everyone had come through. They’d met at Gideon’s house a little after six to work out a plan, then had collected everything they would need for the window display and had descended on the store around nine. The idea was to combine an old-fashioned Christmas with high-tech innovation.

The tree was the centerpiece. There were presents, some wrapped, some unwrapped. But instead of a team of elves helping Santa, there were three small robots in jaunty Christmas attire. The background was a light show, synchronized to holiday music.

“Dad, where did you find these old songs?” Carter asked.

“They’re classics.”

“They’re not even from this century.”

Gideon typed on the keyboard, then glanced at the lights his father was mounting in rows. “Nothing good is from this century.”

“Hey, I was born in this century.”

Gideon paused to squeeze his son’s shoulder. “Okay, you’re right. You’re the one good thing.”

Karen held up a box. “Wrapped or unwrapped?”

Gabriel glanced at the make-your-own-plushy-elephant kit. “Weird, so we’ll leave it unwrapped.”

He glanced at his watch and swore. It was after four. Carter yawned.

“I’ve never been up this late,” the teen said with a sidelong glance at Felicia. “There’s no way I’m going to make it through classes today.”

She pressed her lips together. “Yes, I know. I should have made a bed for you in the storeroom so you could sleep.”

Norm climbed down the ladder. “You worry too much, woman. An adventure like this is good for the boy. I used to take my sons out in the middle of the night to look at a meteor going by.”

“Once we went into a deer blind and watched the does walk by with their newborn fawns,” Gideon said.

Gabriel remembered the stillness of the predawn hours and how the babies had been so delicate as they walked by. For once his dad hadn’t been yelling at him or complaining he wasn’t macho enough.

“That was a good night,” he admitted.

Carter and Felicia crawled into the window and began arranging the presents Karen handed to them. Gabriel and Gideon handed in the three robots, while Norm went outside with a walkie-talkie. He stood on the sidewalk, giving them direction on how to arrange the robots.

Gabriel and Gideon anchored the lights to the back of the window and tested the connection. When they all came on and stayed steady, Gideon plugged in his laptop and hit the enter key. Music played and the lights began to flash.

It took nearly an hour to get everything in place. Just as Gabriel was securing the window closed, someone knocked on the front door of the store.