“We put our tree up yesterday,” Jack said.
“Of course you did.” He was crazy for Christmas and a big part of why I even attempted to decorate at my house. Last year after he and Hudson had gotten together, I hated that I didn’t have anyone for myself. But now I had Tig and understood why Jack loved being with Hudson so much.
“What are you guys doing for Christmas?” he asked.
“Tig hasn’t seen his family for a while. He was thinking he’d ask if they want to come to town to celebrate,” I said, and hoped he didn’t hear the fear in my voice.
“Doesn’t he have a pretty big family?” Jack asked with a worried look.
“Yeah, almost as big as mine.”
“No shit? How can you have all of them at your house? And what about my family’s Christmas party? You always go,” Jack asked, just as Tig walked over.
“Did you want to go to Jack’s party again this year?”
“Sure,” Tig said.
“Sounds like we’re going. Are we done here?” I asked just as more people walked into the store.
“Go ahead, I’ll help,” Hudson said as he walked behind the counter and slipped his arm around Jack.
“We’ll be back to get the trees.”
“Good luck with your sale,” Tig said as I dragged him out of the store before Jack had a chance to find something else for us to do.
“Let’s go get the truck so we can decorate the trees,” I said, and loaded down with everything we could carry, we hurried back to my house.
“We can wait if you want,” Tig said, but I could tell he wasn’t saying that because it was what he wanted, he was offering to go along with what I wanted.
“No way. I can’t wait to see it all decorated.” I unlocked the door, and we set our bags down on the kitchen counter. “How about you go get the trees and I’ll dig out what decorations I have. We’ll need the tree stand anyway,” I said.
“Okay,” he said and after making sure he had his keys he left.
“Now to find all that shit.” I knew it was in the shed out back but there was a lot of other shit that had nothing to do with Christmas out there too. I walked out and swung the door open and hoped to spot the plastic totes I’d put everything in. “Fucking rats,” I grumbled as I noticed a few boxes they’d been chewing on.
After shoving my toolbox and another box of random crap out of the way, I could reach the totes. I pulled them out and hurried back inside. The tree stand was there so I assembled it and set it behind the couch in front of the window where I usually put it. This year it would be different though. After I had it where I wanted, I took everything out of the bags and couldn’t wait to see the tree. Just then headlights out front told me Tig was back.
“Hey, that was fast,” I said as I hurried outside to help him.
“They’re slammed. I kinda felt bad leaving but I’m sure Jack will be thrilled that his sale was successful,” Tig said as he jumped out of the truck and walked to open the bed.
“Jack will complain but he’ll definitely be thrilled,” I said and lifted the box the artificial tree was in while he grabbed the live tree and pulled it close to the front door.
“Do you have a leaf blower?” he asked.
“Yeah, in the shed. I’ll go get it.” Thank god I’d just been in there. It had been one of the things in the way, so I knew right where it was.
He took it from me as soon as I returned with it and told me to take the artificial tree inside. “Go get everything ready and I’ll make sure there isn’t anything hiding in the branches,” he said and grinned.
After thinking about the rats in the shed I didn’t want to dwell on what else could be hiding, and even though I had everything ready to go I went and acted like I was doing it all over again. When he finally dragged it inside, I was shocked at how big it looked in the house. “Whoa, it’s bigger than I thought.”
“It’s perfect, and don’t worry we’ll make it fit,” he said and shoved it into the tree stand.
“Here let me get that.” I dove under the branches and tried not to complain as I twisted the bolts that would hold the tree in place. My hand was healed from the accident at work a few months ago but still wasn’t 100%, and at times like this I could feel it. That didn’t mean I let it stop me. “Is it straight?”
Tig shoved it a little to the left before standing back and looking at it from a distance. “That’s pretty good, just make sure it’s tight enough to not fall over,” he said and I cranked it down a few more turns.
“That’s as tight as I can get it.” After extricating myself from the branches I stood next to Tig and looked at it. Even without lights or ornaments it was beautiful. “It smells amazing.”
