The Christmas Fix

The second book in Lucy Score's Welcome Home series, this contemporary romance follows Catalina "Cat" King, a reality television star and producer, and Noah Yates, the cautious city manager of a small Connecticut town, as they clash over a holiday renovation project and fall in love against both their better judgments.

Cat is the highest-paid star on the Reno and Realty Network, hosting and producing her own home renovation show. Her twin brother, Gannon, left their former show, Kings of Construction, a year earlier to run their late grandfather's construction company. When Cat's agent, Marta, pitches a network Christmas special based on a decorating contest, Cat turns it down as lacking genuine spirit. That same week, Hurricane Veronica devastates Merry, Connecticut, a small town whose economy depends on its annual Christmas Festival. Cat has a personal tie to Merry: Her show previously renovated the home of the Hai family, including their daughter April. Worried about the Hais, Cat drives to Merry the morning after the storm with her location manager, Lauren, finds the lower end of town submerged, commandeers a flat-bottomed boat, and spends hours rescuing stranded residents while documenting the destruction.

During one rescue, Noah Yates, Merry's city manager and a single father, paddles a canoe to help evacuate an elderly woman who uses a wheelchair. Debris sweeps Noah underwater, and Cat grabs him by his hood and hauls him into the boat. Noah glimpses only a small hammer tattoo on the inside of her wrist before collapsing. Neither recognizes the other.

Back home, Cat convinces the network to fund a meaningful Christmas special in Merry, but Noah refuses. He views her as an exploitative celebrity, partly because she once punched a man at the town bar during a prior shoot. When Cat visits his office, he orders her to leave. She retaliates by going to the local café and telling April that Noah arranged for the show to rebuild her house and save the festival. When Noah arrives and April hugs him as her hero, he cannot crush the girl's hopes. Furious but cornered, he agrees to a deal that grants him a producer's credit allowing him to preview footage.

Cat mobilizes quickly. Her sister-in-law Paige, a documentary filmmaker, volunteers as director. Gannon arrives with a Kings Construction crew willing to work for free. Cat's assistant, Henry, and her costar, Drake Mackenrowe, a former brief romantic partner, round out the team. Paige arranges an initial planning meeting at which Cat presents a detailed timeline and festival plan, impressing Noah's town council despite his skepticism. Noah's 12-year-old daughter, Sara, is immediately starstruck by Cat and invites her to dinner, forcing Noah to allow cameras into his home, where he has taken in a dozen neighbors displaced by the flood.

As filming begins, Noah's assumptions about Cat crumble. He overhears a production meeting revealing that Cat donated her entire salary back to the budget, that Kings Construction is working for free, and that Cat plans to fund a new roof for the town hall from advertising revenue. Over drinks at the local bar, Drake and Henry tell Noah that Cat's passion project is a trade school for women in construction and small business management. That same evening, the man Cat punched years ago approaches her and apologizes, confirming that he had groped her repeatedly after she warned him to stop. Noah begins questioning whether his rigid moral code has blinded him to Cat's generosity.

The tension between them breaks when Noah invites Cat into the alley outside the bar. Their argument transforms into a passionate kiss, interrupted by Paige. The next morning, Paige brokers a professional truce, and Cat insists the alley encounter will never happen again. Then Cat receives transformative news: She and Lorinda, her school partner, have been awarded a three-million-dollar grant for King Technical Institute, their planned trade school. Overcome with joy, Cat accidentally kisses Noah among several people nearby. He gently wipes a tear from her cheek, and their connection becomes undeniable.

That night, after hours spent hanging reindeer streetlights along Main Street, Noah takes Cat's hand and traces the hammer tattoo on her wrist. He realizes she is the woman who pulled him from the floodwaters. Cat admits she had been saving the revelation to deploy against him at the most satisfying moment. Noah tells her those seconds underwater forced him to reconsider his entire life, and they share a tender kiss in the falling snow.

Their relationship deepens quickly. Cat organizes a snow day, dragging Noah and Sara to a hill for tray-sledding and snowball fights. Noah, initially reluctant, tackles Cat in the snow and races Sara downhill, laughing freely for the first time in years. On Thanksgiving, at a communal town dinner, Cat misinterprets Noah's statement that he still loves his ex-wife, Mellody, assuming romantic love rather than co-parenting affection. She withdraws. Noah comes to her trailer to explain, and they sleep together for the first time. Afterward, Noah reveals his wound: His father had alcohol and gambling addictions and once locked him in a basement for six hours. Noah grew up hungry and afraid while his mother shut down emotionally. The only bright spot was Merry's Christmas Festival. Cat finally understands why he is so protective of his town. Noah asks her to stay the night, and she agrees.

They begin a secret affair, but complications arise. A near-discovery when Sara arrives unexpectedly at Noah's house sends Cat storming out, interpreting his panic as shame. After days of silence, they talk honestly: Cat admits Noah makes her question whether casual is all she wants but insists a relationship is impossible given her lifestyle. They agree to an exclusive but temporary arrangement.

Cat's agent then calls with a major offer: The network wants to invest in her school, build it in Los Angeles, and create a show around the inaugural class. Cat does not tell Noah. Her mother, Angela King, advises her to stop treating career and love as mutually exclusive. Sara eventually confronts them both, revealing that the whole town knows they are together and urging a real future. Cat explains her life does not allow her to settle down. Noah watches silently. In the final week before Christmas Eve, Noah learns about the LA offer from Gannon and, encouraged by friends, tells Cat he loves her.

The live Christmas Eve finale draws thousands to Merry's transformed North Pole Park. Cat unveils a 25-foot bronze tree sculpture embedded with thousands of fiber-optic lights, designed as the town's permanent Christmas tree. A small engraving reads, "For the boy who dreamed of the light" (344). Inside Noah's office, which Cat secretly gutted and rebuilt as a gift, including a desk she built herself, Cat tells him she loves him and has turned down the LA offer. Noah responds by presenting Merry's official application to host King Technical Institute, proposing the old high school as the facility. He offers her both the school and the relationship. Cat accepts.

An epilogue set almost a year later shows Noah proposing at the bronze tree after Thanksgiving, with colored lights spelling out his question. Cat says yes. A second epilogue reveals Cat and Noah married with two young sons, Sara now a teenager, Noah's mother slowly healing through therapy, and the school's first graduating class about to walk.