Page 39 of The Love Penalty

We walk some more and look at the trees when all of a sudden, I feel Robbie stop in his tracks and pull his arm away. Before I can retract my hand, he grabs hold of it and points with our joined hands. “I think that may be the perfect one.” Then he takes off running, dragging me along with him. I can’t help but laugh at his excitement and giddiness over finding the right tree.

“What makes this the perfect one?” I say, to humor him.

“Well, you see, it doesn’t lean any which way, it’s pretty straight. That’s a big thing. Also, it’s full all the way around, so I don’t have to hide the naked part and face it towards the wall when I get home. And then to top it off, it’s the perfect height for my living room. I’d say this tree is about seven feet tall.”

“Hmm. Okay then. I’ll admit, it’s a pretty good tree.”

While Robbie gets down on the ground and starts sawing away at the tree, I hold it steady, making sure it doesn’t fall. It doesn’t take him long to finish sawing, all while managing to humIt’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.

It’s almost like he’s conjured the spirit of Christmas because as soon as he finishes with the tree, it starts to snow. The flakes are small, but they are quite noticeable in only a few minutes.

As Robbie starts to get up off the ground, I do my best to hold the tree steady, but the thing is heavy as hell. I feel something pulling the tree to the opposite side and before I know it, it is out of my hands and falling backwards. Towards Robbie. I hear him shuffle and curse.Shit, shit, shit.I quickly fling myself at the tree and try to grab it, but my foot trips on a root and the next thing I know, I am also falling along with the tree. I shove it to the side and expect to eat dirt, but I end up falling right on top of Robbie.

It takes me a second to collect myself and when I open my eyes I see Robbie looking right at me. Our faces are so close together, we’re basically sharing the same breath. I am fully ontop of him, my legs mingling with his, our chests aligned. I frantically look around and pat him down for any injuries. Only when I bring my hand to cup his face does he say, “I’m okay, Olive.”

Now that I can breathe easy, I sigh and drop my head down in the crook of his neck. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened. One second I had a hold of it and the next it was falling.”

His right arm hooks around me and he holds me tight as he says, “It wasn’t your fault, my jacket got stuck on a branch and it pulled the tree. If anything, you saved me by pushing it out of the way.”

I look back at him. “I could have really hurt you though.”

Robbie pulls my forehead against his and whispers, “You could never.”

I take in a breath and really look at him. He’s giving me his full attention as always. It’s just us down here on the cold, hard ground, and we’re so close.

I could tell him now.

I could kiss him.

My heart must have a mind of its own because before I know what I’m doing, I lean further in. There’s not much distance left between our lips and from the look on Robbie’s face, hereallywants me to kiss him. His head tilts a bit so our lips are millimeters apart. I get closer and our lips faintly brush and?—

“Olivia! Roro! You two out here?”

Both our heads whip to the side to see Alice as she rounds one of the blue spruces and stops in her tracks at the sight of us both tangled on the ground.

Robbie sighs and lets his head drop to the ground, his eyes closed in frustration. I feel it too. We were so close. I reluctantly get off of him and reach back down to give him a hand which he takes. By the time we’re both fully standing, his nieces show up to let us know everyone else got their trees and are waiting forthetactor,as the youngest, Lory so nicely put it. Alice gives me an apologetic look and mouths,Sorry.

Robbie claps his hands and says, “Alright, let me grab this tree and we can be on our way. I have something very important I need to do when I get home.” He looks over at me as I grab one end of the tree and he grabs the other.

“Is it to decorate the tree?” his eldest niece Katie asks.

“It sure is,” he says cheerfully. Then, he looks over at me, smiles wide, and winks.

TWENTY-THREE

Robbie

Olivia was goingto kiss me. There’s no doubt about it. After my sister so rudely interrupted us, we all carried our trees and rode the tractor back to the main area where our trees got shaken, drilled and tied up. Once all of them were in the back of my truck, we had to make a detour to drop them all off at both my parents’ and Michael’s house.

Two hours later, we’re finally back at my house and we just brought the tree inside. While I grab some water to fill the tree stand, I see Olivia fidgeting with one of the couch pillows. We haven’t said much since our almost-kiss, mostly just working together to get the tree situated.

I want to kiss her so badly, but if I start, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.

“Ready to decorate?” I say once I finish filling up the tree stand.

“Yeah, let’s do it.” She perks up. “Any specific way you like to decorate it?”

“I usually start with the lights and garland, and then go from there. Let the vibes take over.”

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