“Sky?”
“Yeah?”
“I think it wants out to see what Mad and Red are doing.” As Nolan spoke, Sky could hear the scratching at the front door. “Do you think we should let it out?”
“Let me call Red. If we surprise them with the tree, Red will scream and wake everyone.” Sky pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialed Red.
“Oh my fuck, it’s cold out here,” he greeted in a harsh, chattering whisper. “What’s up?”
“We’re sending the tree out.”
“I beg your pardon.”
“Shit! Keep your voice low,” Maddox growled. “I’m almost done.”
“The tree wants to come out and see what you’re doing,” Sky explained.
“Um…how about no?” Red replied.
“It’s scratching up my door. It’ll behave. Just don’t attack it, and it won’t attack you.”
“This is a horrible idea,” Red muttered as he ended the call.
Sky giggled and put the phone into his pocket. “Come here, baby! I’ll let you out the back door.”
He’d barely finished talking when the tree thundered through the hall in a flash and nearly pressed its branches against the door.
“Now behave. Don’t hurt the new tree or my friends, or you’re staying outside permanently. You got it?” The tree made a little noise that Sky couldn’t decipher, so he shrugged and opened the door, letting the tree outside.
Nolan joined him at the window, and they watched as the tree hurried across the porch and into the yard where Red and Maddox were in the deep shadows, replacing the neighbor’s missing tree. Sky held his breath as he watched their tree circle the new tree Mad had brought over. It was like the tree was inspecting its replacement. Once it was content with whatever it discovered, the tree moved on to watch Maddox dig a hole.
After a couple of minutes, Maddox had the new tree in the ground. The Yule tree even helped him tamp the dirt, getting it set. A sigh of relief slipped from Sky’s lips. With any luck, his neighbor would never notice that it wasn’t the same tree he’d planted months ago.
While Maddox grabbed the shovels, Red began running around the yard, kicking up snow. The tree followed him around until they were both sending sprays of snow into the air. Maddox’s shoulders shook as if laughing and then set his shovels aside to join in their nonsense.
“How fucking drunk am I?” Nolan whispered. He stepped away from the window and rubbed his eyes with one hand before looking out again. “Are your friends really having a snowball fight with a tree?”
Sky grinned as he watched Red and Mad make snowballs and throw them at the tree, while the tree had no problem dodging each one. When they were too slow in making new ones, the tree would circle them as if taunting them.
“My friends are weird,” Sky admitted.
“Yep. And this life, it’s never boring.”
Sky nodded. That was so very true.
Chapter 9
January 3
Nolan loved all the Christmas decorations Sky had lovingly spread throughout his home. He loved it even more when Sky had demanded he bring some of his decorations to the house they shared so they could be woven in with Sky’s, making them feel even more like a couple.
However, by the time the new year celebrations were finished and the ball had dropped, Nolan was ready to get the house back to normal. He didn’t want to see another cheery snowman or jolly Santa until after the next Thanksgiving.
And now that they’d celebrated the end of one year and the beginning of a new one, it was time to get all this holly-jolly crap packed up.
After enjoying a mug of coffee and a sausage sandwich with his lover, Nolan tromped into the basement to grab the boxes that would hold the decorations. Not an easy task. Sky had almost a dozen boxes and plastic containers holding his Christmas decorations. They were now stacked in the hallway and all over the dining room.
“Are you going to give Frank a call later to drag the dining room table and chairs up from the basement?” Nolan shouted as he set the last box on the stack in front of him. He thought he’d heard Sky rummaging in the kitchen a minute ago, but his boyfriend’s voice echoed from the second floor.
