Grinning, probably ear to ear, I catch up to her staring at the tree. Her long fingers wrap the jolly mug while her lips whisper air across the rim of the cup.
“I am so glad this thing is pre-lit. Stringing lights on a tree is not nearly as merry a process as Christmas lore suggests. Trying to get them just right makes me want to cuss every time.” Her expression is cutely apologetic.
I laugh. “Perfectionist?”
“I’ve been accused a time or two.”
“Sounds like we both got lucky then.” I locate an outlet behind the counter, plug it in, and do ata-daas I stand back. The tree glistens with twinkly lights. “Clear or color? Lady’s choice, because this baby’s versatile.” I fish my hand around the lower branches to locate the clicker dangling from the cord.
She claps her hands together. “Color, definitely. The white lights are classy, but this place needs all the festivity it can get.”
Agreeing wholeheartedly, I start clicking until the miniature bulbs glow in rainbows. “And…these babies can also flash.” My clunky fingers fumble for the button to make them blink. “Or strobe…or fade…”
I peer over. Everly’s hand rests at her throat, head tilted. “Fade. It gives the tree life but never goes fully dark.”
I dial up the requested setting. “As you wish, milady.”
She claps her hands again and sighs with far too much drama for the exceedingly average tree. “One more thing…” She dances to the light panel near the kitchen door and switches away. All but one row of can lights over the booths by the front windows darken. “Nowthisis Christmas!”
Our side of the diner mellows with the soft lighting. The colorful bulbs reflect off Everly’s skin. From her eyes. Create highlights in her hair.
My breath catches. Forget plastic trees and cheap lights, Everly’s beauty is high wattage.
She’s the one.
My lungs stop functioning.No.
There is no way I can know such a thing. No. Way. Every indication pointed toward Becca beingthe one, and look how that turned out. I’ll never rush into a relationship again.
Huh. I didn’t rush with her either, yet I got my rear dumped on a snowy, pre-Christmas eve all the same. And who’s to say I want a relationship at all?
Then why are you shelling out cash for holiday décor to put a smile on the face of a woman you just met?
Yeah…why?
“Knox?”
I blink out of the crazy-man conversation bouncing off the walls of my thick skull.
Everly eyes me, flopping her pointer finger around with uncertainty. “I can turn the lights back on…”
“Don’t you dare!”It’s perfect.
Sheis perfect, wreathed in the lights of holiday cheer. I clear my throat—as if it helps any—and remove a box of red ornament balls from the plastic bag. “Ready to deck the halls?”
“So ready. But first…”
Sliding my finger to slice the tape sealing the box, I glance up to find her scrolling her phone. Christmas music begins jingling about the dining room.
The other thing jingling is my own folly challenging my belief in my personal intelligence. I’m not impulsive, and I’m not a believer in love at first sight. Especially not after last year. Been there, done that. Still putting fade cream on the scars and hoping nobody sees them.
Of course, they all do, the people who love me, that is. Mom pesters me in thatmomway to move on. Rand has asked twice in two weeks if I’ve found someone to date while I’m languishing in this boring small town. Mr. Big City imagines me in the seventh circle of hell down here. Chandor isn’t that bad. In truth, it’s much closer to my speed than the hustle and bustle of urban living.
Suddenly, I can hardly look at Everly, even though looking at her is all I want to do.
Peering into one of the sacks I brought with decorations, she asks, “You don’t happen to have any ornament hooks in that bag over there, do you?”
“Um…” I clear my throat. “Yeah. Sure.” I find the small box and punch through the perforation on its backside, then hand it over to her impatiently wiggling fingers.
