Nolan wrapped his arms around Sky from behind and pressed a kiss to his neck. It would have been pleasant if not for the brush of Nolan’s ice-cold nose. Sky squealed and pushed his laughing boyfriend off him. The sneaky bastard had done that on purpose.
“It smells like you’ve been busy today,” Nolan stated, following his nose to the kitchen.
“That isn’t the only thing I’ve gotten done,” Sky said to his back.
Nolan stopped in the doorway to the kitchen. “I see that.” He continued into what had been the dining room, but the table and chairs were missing. Now, in the center of the room, was his artificial Christmas tree.
“I’m assuming you had help. How’s Frank?” Nolan teased.
Sky rolled his eyes at Nolan. “Yeah, like I was going to carry the table and chairs to the basement.” Sky snorted. “Besides, I had some deli meat in the fridge that was going to expire in a few days. The minions got sandwiches, and I got my Christmas tree.”
“Except you’ve already got a Christmas tree.” Nolan jerked his thumb toward the living room, where the Yule tree was resting.
“Yes, but it’s tiny, and it can’t hold all my pretty ornaments.” Sky pouted.
“Shhhhh!” Nolan waved his hands at Sky and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Watch what you say. If that tree overhears you, it’ll probably find a way to grow into a six-foot spruce. I think the neighbors are going to notice a six-foot tree following me back and forth across the street every day.”
Sky laughed. “You’re ridiculous. It’ll be fine.” He turned to the tree and released a happy sigh. “I got the lights on it this afternoon. I figured after dinner, we could decorate it together. We could even run to your house and get any ornaments that you have.”
His grumpy boyfriend melted in a second. It was their first Christmas together, and despite all his grousing and grumbling, it was clear Nolan loved sharing all these firsts with him.
“Okay, but that’s assuming you don’t put me into a food coma first.” Nolan slipped into the kitchen and began poking at the various pots on the burners before peeking into the oven. “Pork roast, tiny potatoes, brussels sprouts, and cornbread muffins. You’re going to be lucky to get me off the couch after this meal.”
Sky hurried into the kitchen and closed the oven door, stopping the heat from leaking out. “I might have also made a batch of snickerdoodles, but you only get those after you help me bring up the ornaments.”
“Wait. You had the minions take the table and chairs down to the basement, but you didn’t tell them to bring up the last boxes of ornaments?”
Sky huffed. “I was out of cheesy puffs. If I had asked for that, Frank would have thrown a fit.”
Nolan wrapped his arms around Sky, cuddling him close. “I think I can get behind the ‘carry a box, get a cookie’ exchange program.”
“I thought you might.” Sky tipped his head up for a kiss, but it never happened.
A loud crash behind them caused them to jump apart and turn at the same time. The Christmas tree Sky had set up in the dining room nook had fallen.
“What the hell,” Nolan muttered. He was a step ahead of Sky, who was still staring openmouthed at his poor tree. Nolan reached through the prickly branches to grab the pole that ran through the center and stood the tree up. “Can you check the base? Did one of the legs break?”
Sky dropped to his knees and peered under the lowest branches at the four plastic legs that kept the tree upright. “No. Everything looks okay here.”
Nolan set the tree where it had been, and they took a step back, watching the tree as if they expected it to topple again.
“Another ghost?” Nolan teased.
“You mean like our sock thief?”
As one, they turned their heads in the direction of the living room, but they couldn’t see the creepy tree because of a wall blocking their line of sight.
“You don’t think…” Sky whispered.
“What? That the creepy tree that steals socks and follows me to work every day knocked over your tree?” Nolan countered.
Sky glared at his boyfriend. He did not appreciate it when he was right about things like this, but it made the most sense that their guest had pulled down his tree, considering the thing had been standing just fine for hours until Nolan and the creepy tree had returned.
He slowly walked the rest of the way through the dining room to the living room, where the tree was standing in its usual spot with its white lights glowing in the dimly lit room. It didn’t appear to have moved, and they hadn’t heard its roots scrabbling across the wood floor. How the hell would it have moved so silently?
“I don’t know,” Sky mumbled. “Maybe it wasn’t as steady as I thought it was, and our moving back and forth past it finally knocked it over.”
“Uh-huh,” Nolan said, sounding completely unconvinced. “Well, it’s steady now, and it has no reason to fall on its own.”
