Page 77 of Stay this Christmas
Somewhere, a child’s shrill shriek of joy broke the moment. Why did we keep going places where we’d be surrounded by little kids?
“Got it.”
His ragged voice undid me. I would have flung my arms around him and kissed him senseless in front of a thousand children, I didn’t care. But he took a step back, swallowing hard, his eyes searing me until I wouldn’t have been surprised if the whole tree farm went up in flames.
“So, we’re looking for a six or seven-footer?” he confirmed.
“Yeah.” My breathy voice was the best I could do under the circumstances.
We went back to wandering through the trees as I waited for my heart rate to come back down to everyday levels. Really, probably a good thing those meddling kids kept turning up to interrupt our moments. Just because I’d decided I wanted to try again with Sam didn’t mean I needed to jump straight into the deep end of the pool.
But I did want to try again. Between his sweetness with Finn and Willa, the demonstration of his secret responsible streak at the gym, and the levelheaded way he’d handled my freak out on the climbing wall, he’d pretty well demolished the last shreds of my resistance. My Sam inoculations hadn’t taken, after all, and I’d come down with a full-blown crush.
Maybe worse.
“Why didn’t you get your tree early this year?” he asked, frowning at a particularly misshapen specimen.
“I thought I’d go with the girls the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but that didn’t happen.”
He looked over, catching way more than I’d said. “Because of the whole happy couple thing?”
“Pretty much. But I get it. Of course they want to pick out their tree with the guy they’re nuts for.”
“Oh.” His expression turned naughty again. “So that’s why you invited me.”
I rolled my eyes, but my cheeks burned in an instant. “I can’t talk to you right now.”
“Because you’re so nuts for me.”
I said nothing so I wouldn’t prove myself a horrible liar.
We passed a cluster of too-tall trees, but I spied one that looked the right size and shape in the distance, and headed that way. As long as the small family also wandering that direction didn’t get there first, we’d have a shot.
“What have you been doing for Christmas all this time?” I asked. “Do you participate against your will, or do you just skip as much as you can?”
“Bit of both. At Mom’s, it’s pretty easy. Keith likes to fish on Christmas, so things stay relaxed there. I haven’t been back here for Christmas since high school, but I doubt Christmas with the littles will be as calm.”
“No, I’d imagine they get pretty wild on Christmas Day over there.” With fancy clothes and gelled hair but still wild. “Have you always spent Christmas with your mom, then?”
“Maybe half and half. The rest of the time, I’ve been on my own.”
I tried to imagine waking up Christmas morning knowing I wouldn’t see my family. No dinner around their big table, no stockings in front of the fireplace, no family togetherness. Sounded awful, but I wouldn’t say that out loud.
At my side, Sam chuckled.
“What?” I asked.
“Your face. You’re lost in a daydream of me sad and alone on Christmas morning.”
I pursed my lips at him and tried to relax the rest of my expression. Must have been pretty incriminating for him to guess so accurately.
“Did you picture me in my underwear eating gruel in front of the TV?”
I’d need to see a doctor about all this eye-rolling. Couldn’t be healthy.
“That’s how I picture you every day.”
“You picture me in my underwear every day?”
