Page 7 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
Gramps came back with the bag of peas and shot me a playful glare. “She called me a boomer.”
“You are a boomer.” Nana took the bag from him and turned back to the stovetop. “Stop whinging and set the table.”
I grinned when he walked to the cutlery drawer with a grumble.
Oh, I’d missed them so much.
CHAPTER TWO – SYLVIE
Julian bent over the guttering, stretching for the string of lights that had gotten away from him. One foot was in the gutter while the other was on the very top of the ladder that I was footing with the confidence of a bonfire in a rainstorm.
That was to say none at all.
He was balancing very precariously, and it hadn’t escaped me that I was the one in charge of this ladder.
I was going to kill my sister.
Not to mention that it was bloody cold. It was midday and about two degrees outside, and my nose was so frozen that I wasn’t even sure it was still on my face. Yet here I was, cold and tired, footing the ladder for my almost-brother-in-law while my sister went over the wedding cake with Nana for what I’d been assured by Julian was the fourth time this week.
Nana was a force in the kitchen.
I wasn’t sure she needed Hazel’s input at this point.
“You’ve almost got it!” Gramps shouted. “Little to the left, son!”
Ah, yes.
Then there was the ‘supervisor.’ Sitting in a deckchair under a blanket, with a hot water bottle stuffed up his jumper and two pairs of gloves on while he cradled a mug of hot chocolate.
The only way he could be any warmer was if he was wearing a bloody balaclava.
“I’m… just… almost…” Julian huffed. His foot slipped on the gutter and there was a small cracking noise.
I jumped, almost letting go of the ladder, and Julian moved as quickly as he could to get back to the top rung where he was supposedly safe.
“Have you broken my gutter, you fool?” Gramps demanded.
Julian leant over to peer at the damage. “No. The bracket needs bending back in place. Honestly, Gramps, this is a crazy number of lights. Have you been watchingNational Lampoonsagain?”
“He has a point,” I said, turning my head to look at my grandfather. “This is even more than last year, and the lawn lights aren’t even out yet. The astronauts on the Space Station will be able to see the house as they pass over.”
“If they aren’t blinded by it, there isn’t enough lights,” he sniffed in response. “Did you get them back?”
“Yes, I have them,” Julian replied, shaking the string. “But when this one is done, I’m taking a break. I’ve been here for two hours, and my balls are going to freeze off.”
“And I’m hungry,” I interjected before Gramps could argue. “There’s still three weeks until Christmas. The town lights don’t even get turned on until tomorrow.”
“I’ll do the lawn display after lunch.” Julian finished hooking the lights in place, leaving only a little bit of the wire hanging out, and slowly traversed his way down the ladder until I was comfortable enough to take my foot off the bottom rung and step aside.
Gramps grumbled something—presumably about millennials, as per his go to—but helped Julian collapse the ladder and lean it back against the side of the house. “I hope you brought lunch like Hazel said she would.”
Julian glanced at me with a twinkle in his eye. “Oh, no. We forgot.”
“I’m disowning you both.”
He laughed, opening the front door for Gramps. “We brought lunch, don’t worry. Hazel did almost forget, though.”
“Liar!” My sister appeared in the kitchen doorway, folding her arms across her chest, and stared at us. “I did not forget.”
