Page 28 of OMG Christmas Tree
“It shook loose and then I slid off the road.”
Rob’s eyes nearly fell out. “What? No way.”
Ethan stomped over in his heavy boots. “I told you. You never should have sold her that big a tree. I’m sorry, miss.”
Rob looked past Megan to me. “Hey, Nick. We’ll get to you in a sec.” He turned to his brother. “I swear, I tied it really good. You aren’t going to sue us, are you?” he asked Megan.
Ethan jabbed Rob. “You don’t ask a customer that, dingus.”
“Sorry. I obviously can’t go back in time for a do-over.”
“Actually, you can,” Megan said. “Not the back in time part, but the do-over part. Sell us the rest of your trees.”
“The rest?” Rob turned to the lot. “We’ve got like, twenty left. What are you going to do with twenty Christmas trees?”
I joined the group. “Um, Megan? What are we going to do with twenty trees?”
Rob’s nose scrunched. “You’re with her?”
No use in lying. Both Sawyers would know I’d been holding out if I’d never mentioned Megan working for us. Sharp, captivating, and obviously not a townie like us, they’d have made it their business to get to know her. “We met...later that day.”
Ethan’s eyes widened. “You followed her?”
I cut him a hard look. “Ifoundher in the ditch with the tree she bought from you guys pointed into a bush.”
Megan turned to me. “Did you find me? Or did you have a hot tip from these guys?”
Uh-oh. Fire smoldered in her eyes. I may have come clean how I’d tried to swindle her out of the tree, but she didn’t know I’d sought her out.
She shot me a quick look and turned back to the Sawyer brothers. “If it’s true you did a crap tie-job and you told Nick about it with some kind of hope he could take my tree, well, that makes this deal even more crucial.”
Rob tugged at the cord of his ever-present earbuds. “I didn’t tell him to go after you, I swear.”
Every muscle in my body clenched.Shut up, dude.
“Shut up, Rob,” Ethan said. “And what deal?”
Megan straightened, seeming to rise a few inches. “The deal you’re giving us for these trees. You’re going to deliver them to the mayor’s mansion and place them along the driveway leading up to the house. We’ll need white lights and extension cords. And an external power source.”
Rob and Ethan looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“Megan,” I said half under my breath. “I don’t think—”
“You mentioned you didn’t want me to sue you,” she said, plowing straight ahead. “I know you were joking, but you should consider the legal ramifications. I filed an insurance report on my car after the damage caused by the tree. My attorney in Chicago is familiar with how these mom-and-pop joints work. They’ll clean you out.”
Ethan’s jaw hung open. He looked at me. “Nick, what’s this girl up to?”
I was stumped at the moment. “The Sawyers are family friends,” I told Megan. “We don’t need to threaten them.”
“Then the decision should be easy. The benefit has a budget to cover what the Sawyers will take for the remaining trees.”
“How do you know about our budget?”
“I asked Jill.”
“I was gone for two minutes!”
She gave me a self-satisfied smirk. “I work fast.”
