He marched away, grumbling to himself about people destroying Christmas, but I didn’t pay any attention to him.
Aside from watching his cute backside as he marched down the street.
Resting the ladder against the roof, I wrapped the rope around Santa’s neck, feeling slightly bad about how it looked. Thank goodness it was a school day, and no kids would see me strangling Santa.
Grabbing a string of lights, I slung it over my arm and around my shoulder, then grabbed a length of the rope and made my ascent. I didn’t have any problems with heights. My daddy had me helping him around the house when I was just five years old. I learned to use a level first, and worked my way up to an electric drill by the time I was six.
This was a piece of cake for me.
Though I’d never actually had to haul a massive Santa onto a roof, I was positive that with enough grit, I could accomplish the task.
Once I found my footing on the roof, I wrapped the rope around the arm of my jacket and started heaving.
Sweat beaded on my forehead as I struggled to get the damn decoration on the roof, but I just kept telling myself that it was once a year, and as soon as I had him in place, the rest was a piece of cake.
With every minute that passed, I had more and more gawkers, pointing at me and whispering with the other townsfolk. Yes, I was making a spectacle, but I wasn’t worried about that at the moment. I was too busy making sure I didn’t lose my footing and fall off the roof.
“Cassidy!” Mrs. Abernathy called out. “What in the hell are you doing up there?”
I grunted, pulling one last time before I shifted my stance. “Putting up Santa!”
“Are you sure that’s safe? Shouldn’t you have a man doing that?”
I huffed out a laugh. Mrs. Abernathy came from the age when men were necessary to do everything for a woman. At least, she looked that old. Me? I was born to take care of myself.
“I don’t need a man to do this!”
“Are you sure, hunny? Because it doesn’t look like you’ve got this!”
Gritting my teeth, I ignored her comment and pulled Santa up the rest of the way, straddling the peak of the roof so I didn’t topple over one side or the other. As soon as Santa was upright, I started scooting him along the steepled edge, cursing when he started leaning too far toward the back of the shop.
“I have a book to return!” Mrs. Abernathy yelled. “You said there would be more smut in this one!”
“There is, Mrs. Abernathy!”
“Well, I was doggone halfway through, and still didn’t read nothin’ dirty!”
Santa wobbled, nearly shoving me off balance, but I steadied him, deciding to leave the rope around his neck until I was positive I’d secured him.
“Don’t you have anything dirtier for me to read?”
“I’m a little busy, Mrs. Abernathy!”
“It’s business hours, young lady. When you say you’re going to be open, you darn well better be open!”
“I am open!” I snapped. “But as you can see, I can’t come down and help you out at the moment!”
“Well, where would I find something really dirty? I don’t mean whips and chains. That’s a little weird for me. Just something really dirty. You know, I read something about this man who licked a woman’s assh?—”
“I got it!” I called out, cutting her off before she could become too descriptive. The woman had always been a prude, chastising anyone who dared to kiss in public. She stumbled upon one dirty book, and that was it. Now, I couldn’t go anywhere without her openly discussing what she was reading.
“It didn’t seem right, but I guess that’s what couples are doing nowadays. In my time, we didn’t even undress while we were gettin’ busy. Course, we didn’t have men built the same way some of these fellas are nowadays.”
“Back wall of the shop. All the way to the right wall!” I called out, just hoping she would stop talking about sex in front of the quickly gathering crowd.
“Thanks! I’ll see if I can find something, and I’ll let you know when I’m ready to check out!”
“Sure thing, Mrs. Abernathy!”
