Page 15 of A Tiny House Christmas

What ifshehad been his shooting star wish?

And what if his wish came true?

CHAPTER 4

“You didn’t put up a tree?” Karlene had showered their camp-out off of her and was standing in Joey’s living room on Christmas Day. The vaulted ceiling stretched high above, and the triangular windows at the top were streaked with sunshine.

“I did.”

“Where? It doesn’t feel like Christmas in here at all!” She turned in the room again, on the lookout for evidence that today was, in fact, Christmas. Out in the hills, it could be anytime. But in here, it shouldfeellike the holiday washere.

“I already celebrated with my parents before they went on their Christmas cruise. So it feels like the holiday’s come and gone. However…”

He hooked a finger through hers, gently pulling her along through the narrow hallway covered in watercolors painted by his mom. He pushed open the main bedroom door, the one he’d taken over from his parents when they’d retired to Florida, and there was the cutest tree, sitting on his dresser. It was only about three feet tall and the lights were plugged in, the ornaments shining as they waved in the room’s air currents.

“I do have my tree.”

“Why in here?” she asked, coming closer. The ornaments were all different. Some from cities, some from theme parks. It was like one giant memento—or scrapbook.

“Because.”

“Because why?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders in his vest. “I like it.”

“Are these all…are they special?” She was facing the tree again, touching ornaments, turning them for a better view.

“I got this one in the Atlanta airport when we went to Canada that Christmas.” He touched an airplane, then a snowman. “This is Bonhomme de Neige.”

“Who?”

“A snowman in Quebec.”

“Oh.” She saw a reindeer near the back of the tree. “What about this one?”

“I just liked it.”

“And this?” It was an old photo of a ranch from probably the 1940s, locked between two plates of glass and ringed with soldering lead to hold it together. It was ugly, but somehow still pulled at the romanticism inside her. The photo and style were so quintessentially a ranch it made her eyes moist with unshed tears for her own dream.

Joey tapped it further into the branches. “Just something from a flea market. I don’t know why I bought it.”

“It spoke to you?”

“That sounds corny.”

“I know.”

“It did though.”

She could feel his breath on her cheek as he took in his tree.

“You always knew this would be your ranch,” she whispered, thinking how secure he must have felt as a teen knowing where he’d end up. Here. The place that was his heart and soul. The land his parents and grandparents had lived on.

“Oh my gosh! Did I give you this one?” She lifted the pewter snowflake off the tree, studying the school photo inside. She laughed and groaned at her grade six image. “Braces. Ugh.” She rehung it on the tree, hiding it near the back.

Joey’s hand reached around, snagging it, placing it in the front.

“Can I update the photo at least?”

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