Kayla sighed from the bottom of her soul and cast a rueful glance back toward the film set, where people were packing up what needed to be packed up. "I would love to, but first I've gotto go try to talk the Christmas market vendors into something they probably don't want to do. Maybe you and Barney can be cute and make them more susceptible to my pleas?"
Noah stood up, brushing snow from his knees. "I'll come with you. Everybody knows I'm a mover and a shaker around these parts."
A laugh leaped to Jordan's throat and he strangled it there, turning it to a muffled squeak, because it was clear the little boy was completely serious. Kayla met his eyes, her own huge with laughter, but she didn't show a hint of that as she turned her gaze down to Noah. "I could really use a mover and a shaker," she admitted. "I don't know many who are your age, though."
Noah waved a casual hand toward the playground. "I got that funded and built. Ask anybody."
Jordan and Kayla both looked toward the playground, then at each other, and finally back at Noah. "Seriously?" Kayla asked a bit faintly. "You…that looks like it was a really big project, Noah."
"It was huge! The mayor said the town couldn't afford it so it would have to be privately fundraised but that the town council would," Noah took a deep breath, eyes squinted as he tried to remember the right words, "…match funds, that was it, if we got a bid and found out how much it would cost and raised half the amount so I got my Dad to do a bid, he's a carpenter, and we did a big fundraiser and Mr. Keith cut off all his hair and his whole family donated money for his haircut and," his eyes widened again, "it wasa lot morethan they expected and then Mom helped me write agrantto the state and anyway Miss Tiffany came with her construction crew in the summer and built it after they fixed the gazebo."
His explanation ran out so suddenly that Jordan jolted a bit, waiting for the next bit. When it didn't come, he glanced toward the tremendous gazebo in the middle of the square. It currentlyheld the annual Christmas tree, but otherwise looked as it always had when he was growing up. "…what happened to the gazebo?"
"Oh, they smashed it," Noah said airily. "There were bees."
Kayla, who had womanfully repressed every hint of laughter until that point, let out a braying laugh that echoed toward the sky, then tried to suck it back in with a snort that sounded painful. "I'm sorry," she wheezed. "I just remembered that meme, you know the one of the hotel that had been knocked down but the sign was still up? And somebody had put 'There was a spider. It's okay now.' on the sign?" She looked between Noah and Jordan, who were both eyeing her skeptically, and dissolved into giggles. "No? Well, 'there were bees' made me think of it, never mind. Look…Noah, was it? It sounds like you really are a mover and a shaker around here, so if you'd be willing to help me out, that would be great. You and Jordan and Barney can be my vanguard."
"What's a vanguard?" Noah asked curiously.
"It's the part of an army that clears the way," Kayla said with a smile, and Noah puffed up with satisfaction.
"Yeah, I can vanguard. What do you need, anyway?"
"I need to convince everybody on this side of the market to not set up any more until we've got these scenes filmed, so the background of the scenes has continuity." At Noah's blink, Kayla made a face. "Basically we don't want the market to go from half finished to totally finished and back again in the background. Movies don't film things in order, see, so we try to keep all of our surroundings exactly the same until we've got the whole scene finished. And since our director is having a tantrum, we can't film any more today."
Jordan watched Noah try to take that in, and, to be fair, kind of felt the same way himself. He'd been an extra, a couple of times. Heknewthat movies didn't film in order. It was still kind of hard to really believe it. It was hard to imagine havingto move easily from one emotion to another without the whole story leading up to it, even if doing all the outdoors winter scenes at once made a certain amount of sense.
Eventually, though, the kid nodded. "Okay. Let's give it a shot. Can I walk the dog?"
"Yeah, but hold on to the leash tight, okay? He's kind of an escape artist."
"He won't run away fromme," Noah said with great confidence. He took the leash, clicked at Barney, and marched off toward the market like a boy with a purpose.
The second he was out of earshot, Kayla whispered, "A moveranda shaker," to Jordan, and they grabbed onto one another, muffling their giggles into each other's shoulders before running to catch up with Noah.
Chapter 9
Kayla had to hand it to this kid, Noah: he was absolutely fearless about going up to vendors and explaining the situation. It was clear that a number of them knew him: several people congratulated him on the playground, suggesting they hadn't seen him since last Christmas, but recognized him as a mover and a shaker around town.
"The director had some big feelings to deal with," Noah confided in one older man who was halfway through setting up a booth of hand-sculpted clay houses and wood carvings. "My little sister is only two and she's got alotof big feelings, all the time. Really, really loud ones."
"Unlike you," the older man said solemnly.
Noah eyed him. "I'm not loud likesheis. But everybody has big feelings sometimes."
The older man laughed. "That's true. But adults aren't supposed to let those feelings get in the way of their jobs." He, in turn, eyed Kayla, who stepped forward with an embarrassed smile.
"I know it's asking a lot. But I also know the market doesn't open until Friday, so I'm hoping…" She grimaced a smile towardhim. "I'm hoping a day's delay won't make too much difference. And the crew will come help you set up, in repayment for the delay."
The man offered a gusty sigh and then his hand to shake. "I'm Tom. This whole filming thing has been hard on everybody's schedule. We're not used to needing to be set up two days early so you can use some of our space as a set before we open. But you've paid for our timeandyou've got all these extras running around needing holiday gifts for people, so I've already sold enough to make up for the inconvenience. I think a lot of us are finding the same thing. "
"It's nice to meet you, Tom. I'm Kayla. This is Jordan. You've met Noah," she said with a grin as Noah went on to the next booth, a vanguard indeed.
Tom looked after the kid with a laugh. "He and his mom moved to Virtue four or five years ago and I swear to God, between him and the librarian this whole town has taken on a new life."
"The librarian?" Jordan said, mystified. "Sarah? Do you remember Sarah Ekstrom?" he asked, turning to Kayla. "She was a few years ahead of me, and built the town website back when that was a new thing to have."
"The one you were complaining about being stuck in the early years of the internet?" Kayla asked with a smile.
