Page 32 of Grinchland
I waved toward my clothes. “Look, I’m just wearing plain green. And the things I have planned aren’t reserved just for Christmastime.” I held up three fingers. “Scouts honor, I promise the word that shall never be said will not be said while we are out.” Then I leaned in and started to spell it out. “C-h-r?—”
“I know what the word is,” he said. He was watching Isabelle, and I could see the internal battle raging. He finally sighed. “All right, she can come with us,” he said as he glanced back at me.
I didn’t fight my excitement this time. I leaned in, grabbed his forearm, and shook it while I squealed. I’d completely forgotten that he didn’t like to be touched, and his entire body froze. It wasn’t until I let him go that he finally started moving.
“Sorry,” I said, making a mental note to not touch Silas again.
He shook his head before pushing his hand through his hair. “It’s okay,” he said, his voice low. He took in a deep breath. “So what are these Christmas-but-not-Christmas activities we’re going to be doing?”
I tapped my lips with my forefinger. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
FIFTEEN
SILAS
I really needed to stop agreeing to Clara’s plans if she uses the phrase, you’ll just have to wait and see. Every time I let her lead, I found myself doing things I definitely did not want to do.
I knew this was a bad idea, and yet, I’d not only agreed to let Isabelle come, but I’d also agreed to let Clara drive after she’d insisted. I really hoped she’d keep her promise by keeping Christmas out of our plans. Isabelle seemed to be reacting well to the holiday cheer Clara had already let into our small town, but I wasn’t going to trust a full baptism into the holiday season.
And I didn’t believe that Clara was capable of anything short of a full baptism.
“So, where are we going?” I asked for what felt like the hundredth time today.
I was sitting in the front seat next to Clara while Isabelle sat in the seat behind me. I glanced around at my surroundings. “And why are we headed to Jordan?” It was two towns over.
Clara shook her head. “I told you it was surprise. Why do you keep trying to ruin it?” She shot me an annoyed smile before she flipped on her blinker and took a left.
I glared at her. “This isn’t fair, you know. Everything has to be a surprise with you.”
She laughed. “Are you shocked? My favorite holiday is the one day a year you give the most surprises.” She shrugged. “I love seeing people’s reactions.”
“It’s not fair.”
She shrugged. “I think you’ll get over it.”
She began to slow, so I glanced over my shoulder to see a sign that said McCall’s Christmas Trees next left. My eyes bugged as I glanced over at her.
“You promised.” I hated that I felt so betrayed by her. “This goes against our agreement.”
“It doesn’t,” she started, and I whipped my gaze back to her. “Hear me out.” She glanced around the car and finally pulled out a receipt from the cupholder and handed it to me. “What would you call this?”
I gingerly picked it up, confused as to where she was going with this. “An old receipt.”
She shook her head. “Not that. What’s it printed on?”
I held it up. “Paper.”
“And paper comes from…”
I narrowed my eyes, starting to see her intended connection. “Trees,” I said in a tone that I hoped told her I was not amused.
“And how do we harvest trees?”
She’d reverted to talking to me like I was one of her students. I folded my arms across my chest.
“By cutting them down,” Isabelle piped up from the back seat.
I glanced at her from over my shoulder.
