Zander narrows his eyes at me. “Why do I get the feeling you're not talking about the ornament anymore?”
I shoot him a wink before glancing back down into the box in front of me. “Okay, let’s get started.” Looking back up, I scan the living room. “Right… where’s the tree?”
The other guys freeze and I watch as their eyes go wide with the exact same realization.
Owen scratches his cheek, which is sprouting a 5 o’clock shadow already. “Did we, uh, talk about getting a tree?”
“No.” Jensen slowly shakes his head. “I think we just assumed we’d have one.”
Wilder furrows his brow. “Like it’d just manifest? Appear out of thin air?”
Jensen rubs the back of his head and scrunches up his face. “Admittedly, a bit of an oversight.”
“Okay,” Zander cups his chin thoughtfully. “So what are we going to do? We have to have a tree. It’s not really Christmas without a tree.”
“What if we just…build one?” I suggest.
They stare at me.
“Out of what?” Jensen asks.
“I dunno,” I shrug. “Determination? Hope? Wood? I don’t know, Jensen, I’m running on vibes and sugar-free Red Bull.”
“Uh… can’t we just cut one down?” Owen asks.
Jensen gives him an exasperated look. “You want to cut down a random tree in this park? Pretty sure that’s not legal.”
“It’s one tree,” Owen argues. “You think they’ll miss one tree?”
“I mean…there are a ton of trees out there.” I gaze out the living room window and wonder how hard it would actually be to cut a tree down. It can’t be that difficult, right? People cut down trees all the time.
“Well, wedohave to have a tree,” Jensen murmurs thoughtfully.
“We should’ve just picked up a fake one before we came here,” Wilder grumbles. “Any place selling them has them for like 80% off.”
“What if we chopped down a bush?” I suggest. “They’re like mini-trees. How much trouble could we get into for cutting down a bush?”
“Hold on, hold on. Don’t go whacking any bushes just yet.” Zander grabs his backpack, which is resting against one of the living room chairs, and pulls out his laptop. “I’ll Google it. There’s gotta be something about trees and Christmas and what not…”
We wait while he types and searches, and within a few minutes, he gives us a triumphant grin. “Ha! Here we go. We can cut down a tree on National Park land with a permit, which we can get at this website for a small fee.”
“Great!” Jensen exclaims. “Go ahead and get the permit.”
A little more typing and Zander nods. “Done. Now we just need to figure out who’s going to get it.”
We all look between him and Wilder. They both frown.
“Hold on,” Zander sputters. “You want us…?”
“You’re joking.” Wilder points his finger between himself and Zander. “Why us?”
“I mean…” I wave my hand between them. “Come on. You’re both the biggest of any of us, and you both look like different versions of Paul Bunyon. Most of all, you’re both wearing matching flannel shirts, so you should be able to handle this no problem.”
They eye one another’s flannel shirts.
“You guys get the tree,” Jensen says. “Carson, Owen and I will decorate and start dinner.”
“Ah, come on,” Zander protests. “I’m a gamer nerd! I don’t mess with the outdoors.”
