Page 26 of Decked Out with Ivy

“If you need a tour guide, I might be available.” Her eyelashes fluttered, and she wondered what the heck she was doing. Flirting, making plans for a year later. That was not part of their agreement.

“I think I’d like that,” he said, and her eyes snapped to his. Was he just saying that to be polite, or did he mean it?

“Of course, if you’re not off somewhere exotic filming another movie.” There. Reestablish the boundaries.

He broke eye contact and looked at the ornament in his hand. “Yeah,” he said as he placed the ornament in the box.

She didn’t want it to get weird, so she reached across him and plucked another ornament from the box. The red and white striped glass ornament dangled from her finger. “This was my grandma’s. It’s one of my favorites. It’s so simple, but it is old. Sunset Boulevard times.” She smiled. “It looks like a candy cane, and when I see it, I’m transported back to Gran’s living room. The whole family gathered around the tree.” A wave of nostalgia washed over her. Pure joy and happiness at being lucky enough to have those memories, but also sadness at knowing what it was like to never be able to experience it exactly the same way again.

Memories were funny like that—a mixed bag of emotions that opposed each other but in doing so balanced one another out.

She stepped around Cody and placed the ornament on the tree they had put in the stand before venturing up to the attic. She stared at the ornament, then looked up at the ceiling as if Gran was there watching over her. Then she glanced down and gasped.

“What’s the matter?” Cody asked with a startled shake to his voice.

“We forgot the lights. We can’t put ornaments on until we get the lights on.”

He glanced at the boxes. “Where are the lights?”

“Red box with an old pickup truck on it.”

“Right here.” He lifted the box, brought it closer to the tree, and removed the lid. The five perfectly wrapped strands of lights were on display just as she and Poppy put them away. “Wow. I was expecting a tangled mess.”

“Have you met me?” She reached around him and grabbed a perfectly circular arrangement. She untucked the plug from the tightly woven strands and let it fall to the floor, unraveling as it went.

“Do you just walk around it in a circle?” he asked.

“Maybe an amateur would, but there are no amateurs in this house.”

“I’d say I’m an amateur,” he countered.

“You’re a quick learner.”

“That’s what my acting coach told me back in the day.”

“Let’s put it to the test.” She held the end of the strand of lights at him. “Hold this.”

He took it and waited. She wondered if he ever decorated a tree at all.

“When was the last time you decorated a tree?” she asked.

“Thirteen. Thought it would be a nice surprise for my mom. I earned money by doing yardwork for the neighbors and was able to buy a real tree with all the fixings. When I showed her the bigreveal, she only complained about having to clean the needles for the next month.

“After Christmas was over that year, I took the tree to the curb, ornaments and all, and tossed it.”

She stood there with the lights in her hand, her heart aching for the thirteen-year-old kid who just wanted to make his mom happy. He wanted to spread Christmas cheer and received nothing but disappointment and sadness.

“I bet it was a beautiful tree.”

“You know what? It was.” He smiled slightly, and the ache in her heart eased.

She raised the strand of lights. “So you’re going to put the strand into the tree, drape it onto the branches, come around to the back, but instead of wrapping it, you’re going to loop it over the branch beneath and bring it around.”

“What’s the point of that?”

“You won’t have to walk in circles when it’s time to take the lights off. You’ll be able to just pull them right off. A trick my grandpa passed to my dad… who passed it to me and Poppy.”

They worked in silence, placing the lights inside the branches, not too far inside where they disappeared, but also not too close to the edge where it would expose all the wires.

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