Magically linked.
Something lit up inside her chest, something that blotted out the irritation in her temple and in her mind, something just as warm as what she felt out in the forest.
“It wants to be here.” She gave the nearest branch a light pat, the needles still sharp.
“It doesn’t know what it wants, it’s atree.” He snapped the device shut which would have been quite a bit more dramatic if he didn’t have to fold it over two more times after. “It could change its mind tomorrow and want to die, or maybe it turns on you and fights back. Whatever the case, it has to go home—to its real home.”
He made it all sound so dire though it should have been silly, a man claiming to be an elf, a tree older than Methuselah, the threat ofbirds, but there was a strumming in Piper’s chest that told her it wasn’t silly at all. That experience in the forest, it had been different than all the others, and if this was all real, if he was an elf, if trees could feel, and there actually was magic in the world, then maybe…
She backed away from him, somehow knowing he was right about everything and yet he was wrong too. “But it’s our Christmas tree,” she said with a weakness that made her feel infinitesimally small.
“You can just get another one,”—he gestured wildly to it, and she winced—“a non-magical one.”
Piper shook her head, jaw clenched, heart racing. “I don’t want another one.”
“Why in the nether not?” His next step closed the space between them.
The seat of the couch hit Piper’s calves, and she fell backward. “Because my mom picked it out.” Squeezing her eyes shut, she covered her face, feeling it go hot and red at the admittance as she sank into the sofa.
The voices in the basement were getting louder, but his drowned them out. “Well, where is she? I’ll convince her instead.”
“She’s dead!” Piper took several deep breaths through her nose, the crushing truth bearing down on her like it was new all over again. There was a stinging in her eyes as she shook her head, but she blinked it away, and when she opened them again, she found he had taken a huge step back.
“What, like…”—a visible lump traveled down his throat—“she diedtoday?”
An awkward laugh burst past the sob that was threatening to ruin her at the horror on his face. Maybe he was human after all if he could look as reproachful as that. Piper wiped at her cheeks and fidgeted uncomfortably on the seat. “No, it’s been a little over five years.”
“Then how did she pick out…”
She dropped her gaze to her lap along with a deep sigh. The hardwoods were slick under her socks, and she rubbed the ball of her foot against them. “She didn’t, not really, but it felt that way when I was out in the woods. I know it’s dumb, but she was always the one who found the perfect tree when she was alive, and it’s like there’s a little part of her left out in the forest waiting for me every year.” Piper picked at a stray thread on the couch, hands hidden in the excess of her sleeves. “And this year she—er, that feeling led me right tothistree, so—”
“Fine.”
Piper inhaled sharply, gaze lifting. “Fine?”
His jaw was clenched as he focused on anything but her. “I can’t sever the tree’s bond with you tonight anyway. For that I’m going to need someone highly skilled and more familiar with enchanted flora and…oh, gods, I’m going to have to talk tomymother.” He rubbed a hand down his face and already looked exhausted at the thought. “Regardless, the spruce will have to stay here for at least a little while, and too much of you being sad might depress the tree into an early compost bin through your connection. How long do you need the thing?”
“Christmas is in twelve days,” she said quietly.
“Ugh, gods, twelve days.” He pinched the bridge of a long nose. “I can probably figure out how to safely separate you two by then, but that’s a long time to be out of the grove and away from its roots. I know you don’t want me here, but I’m going to have to stick around to keep it alive.”
She studied his face as he gave the tree another look, this one much more worried than irate. He had a chiseled profile full of sculpted angles which would have been much nicer if he didn’t consistently hold his features in that irked way. But his jaw was sharp, his lips were full, and those eyes—well, it was going to be a hard enough sell to her family that she was dating anyone at all, let alone someone who looked like him. Then again, apart from her father, all the rest of her family ever wanted was for her to date again, and wouldn’t it be a nice change to not be constantly questioned about her lack of a love life?
“I guess I sort of need you to stay now, otherwise it’ll look like I got dumped on Christmas.” There were footsteps coming up from the basement, and Piper dropped her voice low as she stood from the couch. “That might be the only thing more pathetic than having a fake boyfriend for the holidays in the first place.”
This time when he snorted there was less disdain, and when he flashed his teeth in a rueful grin, she guiltily thought that faking it with him might not be the worst thing in the world.Don’t kid yourself, Piper, this is just another responsibility heaped onto all the rest, and it’s going to suck.
“So, we have a deal?” He extended a hand. “You get the tree, I get to play gardener, and we both get…each other’s company, I guess?”
When his eyes trailed down her body, it didn’t feel as awful as the time before, and somehow that was even worse. But the basement door was creaking open, and voices were calling for her, so she clasped onto his offered hand and shook. “Deal. But you better be convincing because my dad isnotgoing to be cool with this.”
The whirlwind of MacLeans that ascended the stairs swept the shock right off Kol’s face—Kol, that was his name, which thankfully Deb was still announcing to everyone, including Piper’s father who looked utterly bewildered. That made sense considering they lived together and she had failed to ever mention seeing someone, let alone someone who was worthy of an invite to their family’s holiday.
Questions poured in, pressure mounted, and Piper blurted out loud enough for the whole family to hear, “He’s from Canada!” And despite that no one should have believed in the significant-other-from-another-country excuse, everything was smoothed over, like magic.
5
Fuuuuuckiiiiing Aaaaannoooooyed
