Page 9 of Dreaming of an Omega Christmas
He chuckled. “I know, I was trying to catch it.”
“Well, that's embarrassing. I thought I was rescuing you.”
“It’s only a couple of feet taller than me, and we're going to have to carry it out of here anyway. I think I probably had a pretty good grip on it.”
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“It's all right,” teased Travis. “It's nice to know you care.”
We fell silent, gazing into each other's eyes. We weresoclose we could have kissed. And yet, I still couldn't quite bring myself to pull away. I don’t know why, but I was suddenly certain that any second now he'd lean forward and plant a kiss on my lips. And if he didn't, I was pretty sure I would just go ahead and do it myself.
And then we heard laughter and the sound of crunching leaves. Someone else was coming. The spell was broken.
Travis started to roll a little to the side, enabling me to climb off him. I got to my feet, somewhat reluctantly, and as we stood there for a moment, wordlessly staring at each other, I had a feeling that he found the interruption was just as unwelcome as I did.
“Let's get this tree on the wagon,” I said quickly.
He nodded and together we hoisted it off the ground and onto the wagon, and began to wheel it back through the woods. There were a couple of minutes of uncomfortable silence. At last, I got the brilliant idea to ask how he planned to decorate and he was off; chattering on about what sort of decorations he wanted.
He asked my opinion for several things, which struck me as not only very generous, but unusual. I didn't think anyone had ever asked me for decorating ideas before, and yet Travis seemed more than happy to bounce them off me. By the time we got back to his house and realized we didn't have a tree stand yet, the awkward moment was all but forgotten.
“Well,” he said brightly, pulling out a notebook. “I guess tree stand is first on the list. What else?”
“Lights?” I suggested. “And you mentioned a wreath for the front door.”
“Wreath,” he said, adding it to the list. “And candles for the windows… how many?”
“Depends which windows? How many face the street?”
He thought for a moment and then scribbled down the number of front windows. When we had a decent list formed, we made a second list of what places to shop and then headed out. It was yet another thing I never got a chance to do before, as much as I enjoyed Christmas. Sure, I walked through malls sometimes and admired the decorations, and wished I could get some. And on occasion I even indulged in a small trinket or two that I would leave wherever I was. I always hoped that someone would find it and take it, as opposed to just throwing it in the trash. But it was different being able to pick and choose, and actually stick stuff in a cart with the intent of buying and putting it up. It was sort of thrilling.
Just like the brainstorming session, Travis seemed to genuinely want my opinion about things. “White lights or multicolor? Should we get the kind that twinkle? Oh, let's get some for outside. Should we get just a regular string? Or that dangly kind that sort of look like icicles? Do you like the solid red or the red and green plaid? Frosted or shiny bulbs?”
No matter the question, he seemed to take my answer into account. Sometimes he went with it. Other times he changed his mind. But I felt more a part of the process than I ever had before. I could almost fool myself into thinking that I was going back to my own home to decorate with someone. The thought was rudely doused when I overheard a giggle from down the aisle.
“Look at those two guys,” the giggler said to her friend. She was speaking quietly but it was easy enough for an elf to overhear. “They’re such a cute couple.” The two of them giggled together, and I felt myself flushing at the idea of being mistaken for a couple.
I thought back to that moment, if it had been a moment, in the tree lot and cleared my throat nervously. I had to admit, there was something oddly intimate about buying Christmas decorations with someone, and it was indeed all too easy to think of us as a couple as we shopped. If Travis overheard them too, he didn't show it. Instead, he added a couple of other things to the cart. And then I was distracted as he asked my opinion about what sort of tree skirt to get. Soon our cart was absolutely heaping with decorations and as we wheeled it to the front, it occurred to me that I never threw around the amount of money that this surely would cost. I supposed my life on the move, with minimal things, had made me somewhat frugal.
“Are we going to be able to afford all this?” I asked nervously, as I pulled out my wallet. It wasn't that my blog didn't give me a decent amount of money, but more that I honestly wasn't sure if I had ever splurged like this on material things. When I did spend a little bit beyond my anticipated budget, it was usually for nicer hotel rooms or behind the scenes tours of things that would enhance the blog experience for my readers.
Travis covered my hand with his to push my wallet down. “No, no,” he said quickly. “I dragged you out shopping for Christmas decorations for my house. I certainly don't expect you to help me pay for them. Even though you helped me pick them out, which was really…” He hesitated and his eyes flicked down to where our hands were still touching. He pulled his away, almost too quickly. “Besides,” he added. “I’ve never been able to do this before. Even though I may have gone a little bit… overboard. I plan to…” He paused thoughtfully and looked almost surprised as he continued. “I want to keep these for a long time, sort of a long-term investment.” A small smile tugged at his lips as he spoke. “As for the money, I'm fairly well set with my royalties, thanks to the genie. And considering I don't exactly have a mortgage…” He shrugged.
Before I could argue, Travis grabbed for the cart, pulled it and, started unloading the contents. “Oh,” he said, turning back to me. “If there's anything here you really like that you want to keep. I have no problem buying it for you.”
“Thank you,” I said, surprised by the generosity. “I do travel light though.”
He nodded and went back to loading up the conveyor belt and I started to help. If he weren't a human, I thought in amusement, he’d be a pretty damn good alpha.
Once back at his house, we got the tree into the stand and watered it. We took a lunch break and spent going over our plan of attack for decorating. Elarian called asking if we wanted to come for afternoon tea. So, we joined the little family across the street.
As we sat and chatted, I found my mind wandering back to Traviel and Travis, and their wild story. I kept thinking that Travis had wished for his wonderful house, but I recalled that it had been an accidental wish from Traviel. I couldn’t remember if he ever said he got a third one.
“Did you ever get a third wish, Traviel?” I asked.
Travis dropped his teacup with a loud clank, and Traviel shook his head.
“I don't think I really had three to begin with.” Traviel wrinkled his nose a little. “In fac,t I think the genie was sort of toying with the by granting the first two. He acted like it was just because I used the words ‘I wish’ while he was around, but I think he was enjoying things. And I don't think he had to grant them if he hadn't wanted to.” He paused a moment, looking at Travis, and then looked back down at his teacup.
