Page 37 of Come Fly With Me

Normally people just smiled at him as they took their seats, as though some great divide existed between them. But not Caroline. As a member of the town’s council, a successful partner in an arts management agency, and wife of a world-famous singer, little fazed Caroline. On top of all that, she’d been a librarian before marrying Josh. You couldn’t intimidate a librarian. Everybody knew that.

“Merry Christmas, Caroline.” David gave her a genuinely warm smile. “What can I do for you?”

She tucked some stray hair from her sleek blonde bob behind her ear. “I feel I should apologize. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to get you up to speed on the congregation and the different factions within it. As a member of the church social committee, I’ve been lax. I’m so sorry.”

“Nothing to worry about. I’m picking things up as I go.” Like maybe he shouldn’t have trusted a recent drama graduate with the Christmas play. “Do we have fire extinguishers in the church?”Please, God…

“Yes.” She lowered her voice. “I’ve asked my husband and a few others to gather as many as they could and dot them around the sanctuary.”

“Everything they say about you is true, isn’t it?” David said. “You can organize anything.”

Her smile was sweet. “Have you spent any time with my husband and kids?” She shook her head. “No, I can’t organize everything. But if I had been around, I would have suggested that you paired Lorraine with Joanne Baird. Joanne has organized many a play and works as a health and safety inspector for the Fort William Council.”

“Is she here?”Would she shut them down? Did that question sound too hopeful?

“She’s visiting family in Australia.”

“That’s a pity, because this is a disaster waiting to happen.” It was only a matter of time before someone set one of their song sheets alight. If they didn’t get the hay first. “It’s too late to stop this, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Caroline patted his arm. “But we have the fire extinguishers now and people manning them. It’s the best we can do.”

“Next year…if we’re still alive…I’ll make sure Lorraine has someone supervising her.”

“Probably a good idea.” Caroline gave him a sympathetic nod before returning to her seat.

A glance at the clock on the back wall told him it was time to get started, but he’d decided to change the order of things. The thought of people standing with candles lighting their carol sheets was just too much for him. He was only thirty-five. Way too young to die.

He hurried over to where Lorraine waited at the door beside the pulpit. The one that led to the vestry, where Lorraine planned to stay while she narrated the play over the PA system. Apparently, her acting career had been cut short because she vomited every time she stood in front of an audience.

“I think we’ll go straight into the play,” he said. “People are eager to see it. Is it okay with you if we dump the first carol?”

Black curls bounced around her face as she nodded enthusiastically, making him wonder if he’d ever been that young. “We’re totally ready. This is going to be awesome. Aren’t the sheep amazing? And they don’t even smell that much.”

“Aye, they’re…” He couldn’t lie to her. “They’re sheep,” he said at last.

Lorraine didn’t seem fazed by his lack of enthusiasm. “You are so much cooler than the last vicar. He would never have let us have sheep in the church.” She lowered her voice. “He was seriously old and crabby.”

David wasn’t entirely sure what to think of that either, other than the old vicar had managed to take care of the church for thirty years without it burning down. David would be lucky to make it to his three-month anniversary—which was at eight o’clock that evening.

“I’ll settle the crowd, and we’ll get started straight away,” he said.

She gave him a thumbs up.

With a flick of a switch, David turned on his mic and returned to face the congregation. “Merry Christmas,” he called. And was pleased when the congregation answered with their own greetings. “There’s been a change of plans. We’re going to head right into the play. But first, why don’t we put down our song sheets and keep them away from the flames while we watch?”

There was laughter and the sound of rustling paper.

“Take it away, Lorraine,” he said as he took a seat in the front row.

The lights snapped out, and the church fell into darkness, making him realize that the blinds had been dropped on all the windows. A low droning sound came out of the speakers before a voice reverberated through the room.

“It was the night before Christmas,” Lorraine said in a deep, dramatic voice. “Only no one knew it was Christmas because Christ hadn’t been born yet.”

Hearing a choking sound behind him, he glanced back to see Josh grinning widely. David’s shoulders slumped; this was going to be a whole lot worse than he’d imagined. He should have watched the dress rehearsal the day before, but he’d been too busy perfecting his first Invertary Christmas sermon. It wasn’t a mistake he’d make again—if he didn’t die in a blaze of fire.

“So,” Lorraine said, “it wasn’t really the night before Christmas. It was just another night…a magical night…full of wonder…and one big star.”

A spotlight snapped on above them. Illuminating a young boy dressed in a silver star costume and suspended from the ceiling by a rope on a pulley. As people gasped and the boy waved at his parents, David’s eyes were on the rope. Which was tethered to an oversized hook in the far wall. Had that hook always been there? Was the boy safe?