Even though she’d just saved him, George was ungrateful. He wriggled out of her arms and made a beeline for the door, where he skidded to a stop and started grooming his wet fur without even a glance back at Kristen.
The four of them laughed. Dorothy opened the door for George and then gestured toward the rest of them. “Now that we’re all in agreement, what do you say we all go inside and discuss how we can make the skating-pond decor the best it’s ever been?”
Chapter 28
Dorothy put on a pot of coffee and broke out a tray of Christmas cookies from her seemingly endless supply. They all sat around the kitchen table, talking about the skating-pond design like old friends.
Even George joined them. He curled up in the corner by the fireplace, slitting open one eye every so often as if he was monitoring the conversation.
“I think we should alternate the artificial trees with the real trees,” Kent said.
“The white artificials will be lovely with the silver decorations, and maybe we could stagger different-sized trees or just use small ones to offset them.” Dorothy exchanged a look with Kristen, and Mason worried that the look meant they might not have any tall trees to use for decorating.
“Smaller trees could work really well, especially if we arranged a few around each of the white trees.” Mason wanted to give them an out in case his suspicions were correct.
Kent frowned. “Maybe some smaller ones, but don’t you think some nice tall ones would look good too?”
Mason didn’t say anything. Apparently his earlier mention to his father that the trees might have a problem hadn’t sunk in, or maybe Kent knew something he didn’t.
Kristen cleared her throat. “I agree with Kent about the taller trees, but we want to have a contingency plan.”
“Contingency plan for what?” Kent grabbed another cookie. “Did I mention these are delicious?”
“There might be a little problem with the trees.” Kristen held up her hand at Kent’s look of concern. “It’s nothing too bad. Ethan thinks we just need to feed the trees a different fertilizer mixture, but that might mean we won’t be able to cut trees in time to start decorating tomorrow.”
“And we really need to start tomorrow to get it done in three days,” Dorothy cut in.
“Okay then, small trees will look great too. We can get plenty of garland and wreaths and show off the Woodward tree farm items that way,” Kent said optimistically.
The back door opened, and Ethan stepped in, his eyes widening when he saw the four of them sitting around the table. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No, dear. Come and sit down.” Dorothy explained to him how they were teaming up to decorate the skating pond. “And we have a contingency plan in case we can’t supply trees.”
Ethan did not look pleased at that. “Of course we’ll be able to supply trees. They just need a little more potassium.”
Mason glanced at Ethan. He seemed a little defensive about the trees, but Mason couldn’t stay silent. Ginger might be able to help. “You know, I used to work at a fertilizer company, and my best friend there is a chemist and an absolute genius with plants. Maybe I could have her come out and take a look?”
Ethan frowned, his hand pausing halfway to the plate of cookies.
“I don’t think we need any help. My family has been running this farm for generations, and we’ve been faced with plenty of issues, which we’ve always overcome.” Ethan’s expression softened, and he grabbed an iced Christmas tree cookie. “But I do appreciate the offer.”
“Why don’t you have a seat?” Dorothy pulled out a chair and gestured for Ethan to sit.
He seemed reluctant, as if he wanted to run out the door as soon as he was done with the cookie, but after a pointed look from his mother, he sat.
As soon as Ethan sat down, George jumped into his lap. It was clear Ethan didn’t know what to do by the startled look on his face and the way he held his hands up in the air. The cat was not to be deterred, however. He proceed to turn around in a circle, selecting the best spot before curling up in Ethan’s lap. Ethan didn’t push him out, but he didn’t pet him either. He wrapped both hands around his coffee mug instead.
“I think we need to make a list of things to do. We need to be organized if we’re going to get the pond decorated before the skating party.” Dorothy stood and grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. “I don’t know why Irene waited until the last minute this year.”
“She was probably thrown for a loop by having two parties interested in doing the decorating,” Kent said.
“Don’t worry, we can get it done,” Mason assured her. “I’m used to setting things up in a short time frame.”
“I hope so. I’m really looking forward to the skating party.” Dorothy jumped up from the table again. “I’m knitting scarves for all of us to wear.”
Kristen eyed the knitting bag dubiously. If the things she’d seen falling out of it were scarves, she wasn’t sure she wanted to wear one.
Dorothy pulled out a ragged, disjointed purple fan. “See? I’m getting better. I’m going to be working hard on these to perfect my technique for the skating party. Isn’t that great?”
