It was practically a national holiday. Many businesses closed for the day, with some residents joining in the festivities across the country’s many tree farms and others waiting in their towns and villages for the trees to be brought in. Tonight, families across Wexstone would play their favorite Christmas records as they trimmed their trees.
Even though I never took a tree home to my own cottage, I still loved this day. While Isobel’s office oversaw organizing the groups this year, I’d spent the last week of November assigning leaders to specific farms, and I always led the charge in cutting down the tree for the grand foyer and the royal family’s private tree, around which we would all gather to open gifts on Christmas morning.
But this year, I couldn’t shake the anxiety that had settled into the pit of my stomach knowing Birdie would be at the cutting. Hardly a moment had passed in the last few days without thinking about my near-kisses with her, first at the garden party and then in her bedroom on Thanksgiving. I couldn’t believe I had let myself cross that line again, but the way she had held my hand and asked about my parents had ignited a spark in me I had thought was long dead.
She is here for Oliver, I reminded myself yet again as I zipped up my coat, making sure my gloves were in the pockets.
Yeah, but she didn’t pull away from you either,the devil on my shoulder whispered.Who knows where things would have gone if Eugene hadn’t interrupted you…
I couldn’t deny that every time we were alone together there was a hum of electricity in the air, a pull to get close to her and have some part of my body touching hers. The more time I spent with her, the harder it was to fight those urges.
Eugene loped up to me and plopped down, tail wagging in excitement, next to the front door. He greeted me with a sassy bark.
“Sorry, buddy. You can’t go with me today; there’s gonna be too many people there and I won’t be able to keep an eye on you. We can go on our own adventure soon,” I promised him, scratching his favorite spot behind his ears. He huffed at me before trotting off to his bed.
At the front of the palace, Vince was waiting for me by ablack SUV. In typical guy fashion, we had long moved past our disagreement over his suspicions about my interactions with Birdie. He had apologized to me the morning of the school donation drive and I had gladly forgiven him. I pushed down the guilt that gnawed at me now as I tossed my work bag into the back of the vehicle; I wondered if he would ever forgive me if he knew how close Birdie and I had come to kissing this past week.
Isobel had arranged for Vince and me to ride together to set up at our assigned farm, The Green Grove. Given the country’s increasing interest in the competition, additional security detail had been added, including riding as groups in palace-provided cars that had been swept and cleared by security.
None of us had truly anticipated how big of a deal the competition would be to the people of Wexstone; they tuned into every single news special about it, and a few of my landscapers had told me there were even podcasts discussing each and every detail of the suitors and events. It was wild.
“Good morning,” Vince greeted as I hopped into the passenger seat.
“Hey,” I said, buckling my seatbelt and taking the cup of coffee he offered me. I suspected it was a peace offering. That didn’t help my guilt.
“You ready for today?” he asked as we hit the road.
“I think so. I sent the farm assignments off to Mirabel on Friday morning, and the farms are supposed to have all the equipment we need on site. I just hope none of the women cut their fingers off or anything disastrous.”
“Unless it’s Renata or the cousins,” Vince muttered.
I laughed. “You’re not wrong. But can you imagine the legal shitshow that woman would rain down on us? You know it would be our fault no matter what.”
“Good point. Although you can’t deny that the Thornes’party was ever so slightly more peaceful with only two of them there. Never thought I’d be so grateful for lip injections.”
I huffed a laugh as my phone buzzed with an email notification. I opened the app to find a note from Mirabel:
Hi Knox,
So sorry for the last-minute email; we just finalized the groups for today. Queen Isobel wants all the women to take part, so she and King Leroy are choosing to observe rather than participate this year. We’ll have three groups on site at The Green Grove, with yours selecting and cutting down the tree for the grand foyer and the royal family as per usual. Please find below the group assignments—see you shortly!
-M
Group leader:Oliver
Adelaide
Gemma
Ginny
Group leader:Xavier & Vince
Renata
Sabine
Rosalind
