The Asheville Christmas Tradition (Carolina Christmas #4)

16. Noelle

As the days ticked closer to the tree lighting, Noelle had to force herself not to whip out her tablet and check off her to-do list.

But everything, she decided, was done. So was the Christmas shopping, wrapping, and baking. Mid-week, three days before the lighting, she went through the house in search of Jace, who said he had some paperwork to do.

She found him in the kitchen, tapping at his laptop, the late afternoon sun spilling into their cheery room. “How’s the billing going?” she asked.

“Just…about….” He closed the computer and looked up at her. “Done for the year,” he announced with a solid note of satisfaction. “Good feeling.”

She nodded and looked around the perfectly clean house, which seemed…almost too clean. And she knew why. “I miss Cassie when she spends the night with your parents.”

“Yeah, it’s quiet without someone singing in her room or marching out of the mudroom.”

Noelle smiled. “With her muddy boots still on.”

“You don’t mind that, do you?”

“I don’t mind anything she does,” Noelle admitted. “Even the muddy boots.”

He nodded, pushing the chair to lean on its back legs. “You know, back in the day—pre-Noelle—I hated when Cassie would go do an overnighter with my parents like this. I needed it frequently, too, if I had to make a house call and didn’t want to drag her along. In fact, there were times I didn’t know what I’d do without them. Jenny’s parents were up in Pennsylvania, so it all fell on my mom and dad.”

“They adore her,” Noelle said softly.

“They do and I think they’re thrilled to get her on nights like this, so we should do it more often, no matter how much we miss her muddy feet and singing. That said…” His brow rose playfully. “We do get a quiet, romantic dinner together, then some fireplace gazing with our favorite nightcap, and…” He leaned in for a kiss, but she backed away, reaching for her vibrating phone.

“Hang on, I think that’s the tree lighting committee group chat.”

He rolled his eyes. “I created a monster.”

“We’re three days from the event,” she said, tapping the screen. “And Tony Jessup has a report from the PD and fire department on—” She blinked at the words major snowstorm coming. “Oh, boy, we got trouble.”

“What?”

She stood. “Let’s turn on the Weather Channel. Apparently, there’s a major storm set to hit on Friday.”

He made a face. “I wonder if that’s why so many of my patients have been acting weird. Horses sense when a storm’s on the way.”

She was already in the den, punching the remote. “This could impact the tree lighting.”

“The event is Saturday night,” he said. “I wouldn’t worry too much.”

That was like asking her not to breathe. When a commercial flashed on the Weather Channel, she checked her watch.

“Local news? It’s almost five. Oh, man. Storms in New York could shut things down for days.”

“It won’t be anything like that,” Jace assured her as he settled on the sofa. “A big storm here is mostly up in the mountains. Downtown will be fine, assuming the one snowplow is working.”

She whipped around to stare at him. “One?”

“Maybe two or three. We’re technically a southern state,” he said, clicking through his phone, no doubt reading about the storm. “Snow is rare here except, like I said, up in higher elevations. We might get a good two or three inches here but it’ll melt quickly. And in downtown? Honestly, not a problem. People will come to the event, I promise.”

She hoped he was right. Perching on the end of the sofa, she clicked on the news, but they weren’t talking about the weather yet.

“Still, I worry about things I can’t control.”

Chuckling, he pulled her back to snuggle closer. “And that, my dear, could be your middle name.”

“I’m trying,” she said, but it was hard where the tree lighting was concerned. “I know I don’t have control. I listened at church last week. But…” She wrinkled her nose. “ I yam who I yam , to quote my father, who was quoting Popeye. And right now, I yam facing the storm of the century on the weekend of my tree lighting.”

He chuckled. “It’s a small nor’easter. Not a huge deal.”

“Oh, really?” She pointed the remote at the TV when the word “snowstorm” appeared in giant, frost-covered letters.

And with each word the announcer spoke, everything became more serious. All the news jumbled together in one big headline: Major storm…up to twelve inches of snow…severe weather warnings…possible power outages.

“Power outages?” She shot forward. “Exactly what I was worried about!”

“They’ll have a generator.”

“But will it work to light the tree?” she asked. “Not to mention flickering Edna’s lights.”

“The storm’s hitting Friday night,” he reminded her gently. “You’ll have twenty-four hours to work out the kinks.”

“Kinks don’t always work out in twenty-four hours,” she said, grabbing her phone. “We have three days to create a plan, and we’re going to. I’m calling an emergency meeting.”

“Now?”

“Yes. I’m going to ask everyone to come here, if they can, where I can set up a game plan and a war room?—”

“A war room?” He choked the words.

“This could be a catastrophe, Jace. And my name will be all over it. We need to set up contingency plans, lay out the generator situation, and get everyone aware that things could go south.”

He just smiled at her. “You’re cute when you’re in control.”

“Except I’m not. The weather is, and I have got to make sure this goes off without a hitch.”

He nodded, looking resigned to what was happening. “How about you invite them here for dessert and coffee after dinner? We have enough Christmas cookies to feed a small country. And it’s more comfortable, less…war roomy.”

More Southern hospitality , she thought, appreciating the idea right down to her soul. She leaned in and kissed him again. “Did I mention how much I love you anytime in the last five minutes?”

“No.”

“I do and I will forever and ever.” Another kiss, and then she started texting. “Jace, this event really, really matters to me.”

“I see that.”

“I want it to be perfect and no one, not even the God who controls the weather, can ruin it.”

He slid her a warning look. “Careful, hon. He really is in control and might very well want to teach you a little lesson about that.”

She huffed out a breath and thumbed her text, knowing he was probably right, but hoping that didn’t mean…power outage. Because if Noelle hated anything, it was to be powerless.

With the exception of the first meeting at Noelle’s gallery, the committee had only gotten together again through texts, one Zoom call, and the brief visit Noelle had made to Edna’s home. Noelle had spoken to each of them individually, but she knew from experience that there was strength in the groupthink.

So she was delighted when they all agreed to come over—even Edna, who rode with Harry—to address the storm situation.

And as they arrived, Noelle was grateful for each of their skill sets on the project. Tony was the voice of reason, calm and wise. Harry knew every nuance about the tree delivery, placement, and wiring, and brought oodles of experience to the event. Joanna represented dozens of local retailers and small businesses that were setting up booths.

Edna was…Edna. She’d no doubt put a stop to every good, but different, idea even though she and Noelle had more or less worked out their differences.

After they chatted and settled in around the kitchen table, it became clear that the only other person who was quite as concerned as Noelle was Joanna.

“My people are freaked out,” she shared with them after they stopped to listen to the latest weather report. “Snow could kill foot traffic and that means they’ve spent a lot on their booths and won’t get a return.”

“There’s no snow predicted for Saturday,” Tony said. “We’ll have the roads plowed and, if you like, Joanna, I can see if we can get some guys with shovels to clear paths to each booth in the adjacent park, if that’s even necessary.”

“That would be great,” she said, making a note.

“And when does the tree get delivered?” Noelle asked Harry.

He made a face. “My son and I were going to bring it late Friday afternoon so the electrical team can set up on Saturday morning.”

“Cutting it close, Harry,” Noelle said.

“That’s what we always do,” Edna said, adding her usual two cents.

He acknowledged that with a nod. “I’ll break with tradition this once and get it up a day early. I’ll contact the electrical crew and, Tony, you’ll have those generators standing by, just in case.”

Tony made a face. “We have a limited number and they have to stay with first responders, the fire stations, and the police department. We are also committed to supplying backup to hospitals, if needed. They probably won’t be, but I’m not confident we’ll have the equipment for anything non-essential?—”

Edna put her teacup down with force. “The tree lighting is essential.”

He nodded in deference. “I mean essential to safety, security, and saving lives, which is pretty much the main objective of police and fire.”

She sniffed, probably realizing she couldn’t win that argument. Neither could Noelle, but they wouldn’t need generators if she had been allowed to order the battery-powered LED system she wanted. Too late for that now.

“Then without power, we can’t have an event,” she said, thinking aloud.

Edna flipped her hand like she could wash away that inconvenient truth. “There isn’t going to be a power outage.” When they all turned to her, she tipped her head. “I just know this.”

No doubt her husband had texted from heaven. But Noelle just smiled at her while she mentally tried to figure out how they could secure generators between now and when the snowstorm hit.

Who would have generators she could borrow or buy?

They spent the better part of an hour making contingency plans for booth placement and the generators—if they could get them—and parking if plowing left snow blocking the lots.

Then she tapped her tablet screen and moved to the next item—the backup plan if all went south.

“Okay, then,” she said. “Let’s talk about an alternate date if this simply can’t happen.”

All eyes turned to her, and every one of them—including Jace, who was leaning against the counter, listening but quiet—looked surprised.

“Uh, you can’t turn that ship,” Harry said. “We don’t have another tree and this one is fresh.”

“The retailers can’t arrange for all those booths to be installed on a moment’s notice for a different date,” Joanna added.

“The fire and police event calendars do not change, especially the week before Christmas,” Tony chimed in. “There are permits, personnel, and problems. The date can’t change again.”

“You can just cross that idea off your list.” Edna tapped her nail on Noelle’s screen. “We’ve already moved it from the fourteenth to the twenty-first, which is not what my husband wanted. It won’t budge.”

And neither would they. Noelle tamped down the desire to stand and make an impassioned speech about why they had to have a full contingency plan.

But as she scanned the table, she caught the tiniest glimmer of a warning in Jace’s eyes, even though he stayed in the background by the counter. Deciding to heed it, she nodded and closed her tablet.

“Then I say we’re ready, come what may.” The words tasted like sand in her mouth, but were well received.

When it was over, Noelle managed a smile and lots of warm goodbyes and promises to stay in constant contact as they got closer to the storm and tree lighting.

Closing the door with a final goodbye to Joanna, she turned with a sigh to her husband.

“Well, that was…about what I expected. And no generators! I have to figure out something. You have one, right?”

“Everyone has one, but they’ll all want them if the power goes out.”

“What should I do?” She heard her voice rise, but he smiled and walked toward her, arms outstretched.

“Listen to me, honey,” he said, pulling her into his chest for a hug. “You’re bringing an amazing set of skills and business acumen to this project and we’re lucky you are.”

“I feel a ‘but’ coming on…” she half-joked, not really welcoming a dressing down from him on her approach.

“ But this is a snowstorm, so I think you have to, if you’ll excuse the pun, let nature take its course. And as far as the event? Let the small town be the small town. Let them figure out the parking and the generators and the plowing, even if the answer is, ‘We don’t have that.’ Let them do it the way it’s always been done.” He kissed her forehead. “That’s the tradition.”

She eased back, looking up at him, loving him as much in that moment as ever before. It wasn’t a dressing down—it was solid advice.

“Let the small town be a small town,” she repeated. “I like that.”

He pulled her closer when the phone in her hand vibrated.

“Ignore.” He kissed her. “Ignore.” He kissed her again, a little longer, then murmured into her lips, “For the love of God and the time we have left tonight, ignore.”

She wanted to but couldn’t resist turning the phone she held over his shoulder so she could see the screen.

“Oh, you don’t want to ignore this.”

“You’d be wrong…” Another kiss, but she inched back and lifted her brows.

“It’s your mom. Might be about Cassie.”

“Oh.” They broke apart. “Then get it,” he said, making her smile as she tapped the screen and speaker button.

“Hi, Carol,” Noelle said. “Everything okay?”

“We’re fine, but someone…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Wants to come home.”

“Oh, okay.” That was a surprise—Cassie loved movie and popcorn night with her grandparents. And they’d planned to wrap presents and make even more cookies. Maybe she’d had one gingerbread man too many.

“Is she feeling okay?” Noelle asked, instantly concerned. “Not sick or anything?”

“Homesick,” Carol said with a soft laugh, making Noelle and Jace share a look of disbelief. “She misses her mommy.”

Noelle sucked in a breath as the words hit. “Did she…did she say that?”

“Well, not exactly,” Carol said, making Noelle’s heart slip a little. “But she said she wants to read her goat book with you tonight so she can really sleep well.”

“Aww.” Noelle bit her lip. “Of course. We’ll come and get her now.”

“She’s packed her little bag already,” Carol said with a smile in her voice. “She loves you so, Noelle.”

She pressed her hand against her chest as the statement hit her heart, saying goodbye while holding Jace’s smiling gaze.

“Well, what do you think of that?” she said. “She misses her…mommy.”

He squeezed her in a quick hug. “I think that you should let nature take its course.”

“And let small children be small children,” she added with a laugh.

He kissed her one last time, lingering with a sigh of resignation that they wouldn’t be alone tonight. “You’re a quick study, Mrs. Fleming. C’mon. Grab your coat and let’s get our daughter.”

He turned to go get his jacket, so he didn’t see the tears that welled up in Noelle’s eyes. Tears of joy and hope and motherhood…in all its iterations.