I rolled my eyes. “No, the back entrance is fine…”
I had to admit it was a good idea. We dragged the tree around to the alley behind the diner, leaving a trail of pine needles in our wake. The service entrance was indeed wider, and with some creative maneuvering, and a lot of cursing on my part, we finally got the tree inside.
“See?” Diego grinned triumphantly, his cheeks flushed from exertion. “Nothin’ to it.”
I brushed pine needles off my coat, trying not to notice how good he looked with his hair slightly mussed and his eyes bright with victory. “Yeah, nothing except nearly breaking our backs and destroying half the branches.”
The kitchen staff watched with amusement as we dragged the tree through to the main dining area. Dolly had cleared a space in the corner by the front window, complete with a tree stand that looked woefully inadequate for the behemoth we’d brought.
“That thing is massive,” I muttered as we positioned it over the stand.
“That’s what he said,” Diego replied with a wink.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Real mature.”
Getting the tree secure in the stand was another ordeal entirely. Diego held it upright while I lay on my stomach underneath, trying to tighten the screws without getting a face full of pine needles. The position gave me an excellent view of Diego’s boots and the way his jeans hugged his thighs, which was both distracting and frustrating.
“Little more to the left,” I called up, trying to focus on the task at hand.
“My left or your left?”
“Your left. No, too far! Back a bit.”
After what felt like an eternity, we finally got the tree standing relatively straight. I crawled out from underneath, pine needles stuck to my sweater and probably in my hair too. Diego offered me his hand, helping me to my feet. He ruffled my hair, knocking all the pine needles free before placing his old hat back on my head.
“There,” he grinned. “Right as rain.”
“Thank god we’re done with that…” I sighed. “Never again.”
Suddenly Dolly appeared next to us, dropping a large plastic storage tub on the table next to us. “Looks good boys!” she smiled, a gleam in her eye that made me just the tiniest bit suspicious. “The rest of the decorations are out in the shed with the ladder. Get to work.”
I stared at Dolly in disbelief. “You want us to decorate it too? Tonight?”
“Well, it ain’t gonna decorate itself, sugar,” she replied, patting my cheek. “And I’ve got the Christmas Eve party tomorrow. Can’t have a naked tree greeting my customers.”
“But—” I started to protest, but Dolly was already walking away, hummingJingle Bellsunder her breath.
Diego chuckled beside me. “Looks like we’re stuck with each other a while longer, Freckles.”
I shot him a look that I hoped conveyed my exasperation, but I couldn’t deny the little flutter in mychest at the prospect of spending more time with him. Three days of avoiding him hadn’t done anything to diminish the effect he had on me.
“Fine,” I sighed dramatically. “Let’s go get the rest of the decorations.”
The storage shed behind the diner was packed with Christmas paraphernalia collected over what must have been decades. Boxes of ornaments, tangled strands of lights, and various holiday knick-knacks filled every available space.
“Jesus,” I muttered as Diego pulled the string on the bare bulb overhead. “It’s like Santa’s workshop exploded in here.”
“Or like Dolly’s been waiting for the right Christmas to use all this stuff,” Diego said, lifting a dusty box labeledOrnaments 1997. “Some of these haven’t been touched in years.”
“Well, she’s got a nephew and a cowboy to exploit now,” I grumbled, though there wasn’t any real annoyance behind it. I’d actually been enjoying helping Dolly with Christmas decorations. It had been a tradition my parents stopped doing after I’d started middle school.
Diego grabbed the aluminum ladder leaning against the wall while I loaded my arms with boxes of ornaments. The scent of fake cinnamon and pine followed us as we made our way back to the diner, where customers were now openly watching our Christmas tree adventure with amusement.
“Y’all need any help?” asked an elderly man I recognized as a regular.
“We’ve got it, Mr. Parsons,” I assured him, setting the boxes down near the tree. “But thanks.”
Diego set up the ladder next to the tree, testing its stability with a skeptical look. “This thing looks about as sturdy as a newborn calf,” he muttered. “Maybe you should be the one to go up. I can steady it for you.”
