“Aw.” She pouted slightly and said, “Okay, lead the way.” My dad took her hand and took her over closer to the trees of the right height.
I made to follow, but Sage hung back, tugging on my hand. I turned around, and he reeled me in closer, putting his arms around me, expression unreadable.
“What is it?” I asked softly. “What’s wrong?”
He gave me a crooked smile that made my panties turn to smoke and said, “I haven’t gotten my kiss today. That’s what’s wrong.”
He lowered his mouth to mine and stole a kiss. I kissed him back, eyes drifting shut, body pressed to his, the layers of our clothes feeling like they were keeping us too far apart. He drew back and caressed my cheek and smiled, the edge of sadness to it dissipating the more he looked at me.
“I don’t know what I’m doing here, Eedee. I don’t. What I do know, is that when I touch you like this, when I kiss you, I feel better. I can’t decide if that’s fair to you or not—”
“It’s fair,” I said cutting him off and fixing him with a grave look. “It’s more than fair. I get it, I really do. I don’t know what this is, but I’ll take it for what it is,” I said gently.
He put his arms around me and held me close, pressing a kiss to the top of my hair and holding onto me like a man being swept away, grabbing onto the only solid object to anchor him and I vowed that no matter what, I would be that for him. I would be the type of strong he required. I opened my eyes to see Harmony slip between trees, smiling at me. I smiled back and knew without a doubt, that even though she and Dante felt like Smoke had narced them out, that she would keep Smoke’s secret. Except I didn’t think Smoke was trying to keep us a secret at all… not when he took me by the hand and led me into the rows of trees after my parents. Not when he stood by with me, pulling me back against his chest, hands on my waist as my mother deliberated and discussed – always looking for the perfect tree.
It was perfect, all of it, the whole day. To me anyway.
Perfect beyond words.
12
Sage…
“I got it.” I got down on my belly in the snow and helped Rev with the tree. He gave me a strange sort of look and I met his eyes and gave him a nod, trying to communicate without words that I was here for it. For Eden. He didn’t say anything. I mean, as close and intimate as it was down here under the tree with its fragrant needles, it wasn’t soundproof and Eedee, Red, and Dante were all right there.
“Thanks.” Rev grunted, and called out, “Dante, grab it!” as he sawed through the last bit and the tree leaned. It was caught and Rev and I crawled out from under it.
“You get the heavy end,” he told me. “Let’s get it to the register and you can go with Eedee to get your Charlie Brown tree.”
I nodded and Eden and her mom fell into step behind us. Rev took the front; Dante took the center, and I had a hand wrapped around the butt of the tree as we tramped through the snow, up the aisle toward the registers and the like. Eden appeared at my hip as soon as the tree was down, waiting to be put through the machine to bind its branches and Rev turned to us.
“See you two back at the truck.”
“Thanks, Dad,” she murmured.
“Don’t take too long, eh?”
“We won’t,” I promised.
I took her hand and led her off in the direction of the farm that held the spindly and pathetic trees.
She didn’t speak, and neither did I. For the first time, I was nervous in her presence and I stopped by a tree about four and a half feet tall with maybe three branches.
“This one?” she asked, laughing.
“I was hoping you would choose.”
She laughed and cocked her head, eyeing me curiously.
“Okay, um…” She led me further into all the trees and I stopped, swearing.
“I forgot a saw,” I said.
“I got you,” Slice said coming over with one. “What’re you doing?”
“A tree, for my club room.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“You good Eedee?” he asked, and she smiled, nodding happily as I took the saw from him. “Okay, I’ll leave you to it. Catch you back at the truck.”
“If it’s cool with Rev, I wouldn’t mind riding back with them.”
“Sure, man. I’ll check for you. If we aren’t at the parking lot, you know your answer.”
“Good deal.”
Slice winked one of his bright blue eyes at Eedee behind me and turned and fucked off, leaving me alone with her once more. I turned around, and she sighed, looking me over with fondness, holding out her hands to me which I took.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked me.
“Talk about what?” I asked.
“Your nightmare last night?” I shook my head.
“No, not really,” I said defensively.
“Okay,” she murmured softly. “What would you like to talk about?”
“I want to know what you want for Christmas,” I said, figuring that was a safe topic.
She smiled and bowed her head for a moment and said, “I am terrible to buy gifts for. I never know what I want.”
“What do you like?” I asked.
“Um, I love to read. I like tea, and there’s honestly nothing better than curling up by the window with a hot cup of tea and a new book while the snow falls outside…” She paused and smiled and asked me, “What about you? What do you like?”
I grinned kind of ruefully and thought to myself sex, but I wasn’t about to say that out loud or pressure her in any way. That wasn’t what this was… at least, I didn’t think so. If anything, I was still trying to warm up to the idea of Eedee and me naked at some point. I mean, I’d watched her grow up, sort of, and I had some mixed feelings about it all.
“I like to ride,” I said, which was true. I think that was true of all of us, though. “I like to fix things. I mean, it’s what I do.” Which was true – I worked with a local contractor doing remodel jobs for the predator class around these parts. Read rich people.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “What else?”
“Big into movies more than books, like to hunt and fish. I also like to grow things.”
“What like a garden?”
“Yeah, is that weird?” I asked. She smiled at me and shook her head.
“It’s not weird at all, you like what you like. What do you like to grow?” she asked, stopping at another tree that was just as pathetic as the last one.
“Oh, now that’s pitiful,” I declared, looking it over.
“Yeah, it’s really bad,” she agreed, laughing.
“It’s coming home with me,” I declared and got down on the ground to saw it. “And to answer your question, I like to grow both flowers and food. I want to learn how to preserve it, you know?”
“I know how,” she said. “My mom and I can things every year.”
“Yeah?” I asked as she grabbed the sad little bent tree between its three or four branches near the top to stabilize it.
“Yeah, pickles and jams, mostly. Fresh salsa. Some tomato sauce for spaghetti… my grandma had a huge garden. We used to help her every summer.”