Page 19 of A Raging Merry Christmas
“Santa will come because he’ll think we look like the North Pole,” Bonnie, Rock’s daughter, said with a toothless smile.
“Holy hell, those teeth fell out all at once!” I exclaimed.
“Yup, and the tooth fairy brought me five bucks each!” Bonnie shot back.
“Wow, thirty whole bucks,” Klutz cheered.
“Yes, and I’ve got two more loose. Mom said it’s because I hate giving anything up, and I am a tightwad. That’s why they all fell out at the same time. I’m not sure what she means,” Bonnie replied, frowning.
I did, and I hid a laugh. Carly had issues spending money, but when Rock forced her to, Carly would go nuts. However, she still hid cash. Rock had found several piles of money since they’d been together. It was a throwback to Carly’s childhood, and Rock indulged her. Bonnie had no doubt seen Carly hiding it and was doing the same.
“Well, I’m sure the tooth fairy will bring you more soon,” Gauntlet replied.
“Me too!” Bonnie agreed happily.
“Come on, let’s get shi—stuff started,” Greg, Texas’s boy, said.
“Quicker we get it done, the faster we get paid,” Amelia, Jett’s daughter, stated and eyed everyone.
The kids grabbed boxes and ornaments and disappeared.
“They’ll take care of the gardens,” Jodie announced with a chuckle. “And Eddie’s right, between her, Tony, Timmy, and Scout, they know where everything goes.”
“Good, because I don’t have a clue,” Gauntlet said as Cody finished loading up the trailers. Klutz, Gauntlet, and I scrambled up onto a snowmobile, but the three Michaelsons and Grey disappeared. Jodie climbed onto her snowmobile, too.
Ignoring my raised eyebrows, Jodie waved us on. Easily, we drove down the drive to the gates, the snow not stopping us. It had been snowing for several weeks on and off now.
Phoe had installed them for her first Halloween, but she’d left them up. The wrought-iron gates fitted in with the gothic atmosphere of Reading Hall.
“How are we going to get the lights up top?” Gauntlet asked Jodie.
“Yeah, the ladders won’t let us reach the branches,” Klutz agreed.
“That’s why we have them,” Jodie said with a nod, and I shook my head in disbelief. I might have guessed.
Clearly having a race, Harley, Cody, Christian, and Grey raced towards us in small cherry pickers.
“We position them around the trees and put the lights up,” Jodie explained as the four of them took up position.
Klutz, Gauntlet and I watched as they draped the lights around and then down the trunk.
“How do they light up?” Grey asked.
“There are sockets every couple of trees. All we have to do is run the wiring down to one,” Jodie answered and did just that. The tree lit up in bright white.
“Before we wrap around the trees, we better check that each set works. I’m not putting a set up only to find they’re broken,” Klutz said.
“Good idea,” Gauntlet agreed.
We worked straight through for four hours and had only got one side done. Who’d have thought fuckin’ lights took so much effort?
We headed into the Hall for lunch and discovered the Hellions chomping down on a hearty stew. Mrs Ames pointed us towards a pot and left us to help ourselves.
“We’re done with the ground stuff, if you want to check?” Eddie said to Jodie as she dipped a thick slice of fresh baked bread into her bowl.
“Yeah, I will because I know what you’re like,” Jodie replied.
“Why aren’t you filming?” Grey asked.