Page 19 of Boats, Moats, & Root Beer Floats

Instead I slept alone and did none of those things. I did listen through the thin walls, but I didn’t hear any of the deep groans he let out that woke me from my morning doze before. Nor did I make any of my own. A sadness overcame me, filling the room until it hit me that it wasn’t just my sadness I experienced, but Al’s, too.

And then I slept, realizing that I wasn’t alone, and that sadness could have company too.

Which made Covin’s kindness now that much…more.

“You know it’s Christmas in two days,” he murmured when we reached the kitchen.

My garlands were stretched across the giant wooden kitchen table I suspected was built of a giant English Oak or something equally sturdy. He’d laid out all the decorations I bought too. It had looked like a lot at the time and for a normal house plus the walk up the hill toward the castle it probably was but now in the kitchen and considering the magnitude of decorating the castle it hit me…

“Maybe we could do one room? The tower you study in?” I suggested, nibbling my bottom lip.

Covin’s fingers squeezed mine. “I’m here for weeks after Christmas, Lindy. This should be something festive for your visit.”

The way he laid that out reminded me how alone I was yet again, despite the other person standing in the room with me.

“Um, sure. How about we do the entrance way, then?” I tried.

But Covin shook his head again. “How many times are you going to go out there? Come on. Let’s do the place you are going to spend your time the most, and your room, alright?”

I shrugged, letting him lead on. In the end we had enough to do my bedroom, the strange open air space I chose to paint in, and we even had a cowbell laced with holly for Buttercup’s stable area.

The coo—I would never be able to say cow again properly after this visit—nuzzled my hand, licking me plaintively.

“I’ll come back with treats later, I promise,” I whispered, as Covin, who seemed to be on a garland decorating mission though it was nearly sundown now after a full day of climbing ladders to affix greenery to every surface he could reach and some he couldn’t, tugged on my other hand. “You're my other favorite,” I promised the coo.

She lowed and nuzzled some more until finally I let Covin drag me away. “Where are we headed?”

“I think we have enough to make your other wish come true,” he said, a slightly fanatical gleam in his eye.

Part of me was curious to see where this was headed. The other half was utterly terrified.

“Uh, okay?”

I followed along aiming for some distance as my tired legs threatened to give out. “Covin, I’m done. I need a nap or something.” Outside, the rain let go from clouds that spent the day starting white and heading steadily darker. The temperature plummeted with the onset and the winds came up as well, whistling around the castle. “Where are we headed? Oh hell no.”

“That mouth.” Covin shook his head and shot me an amused look. “Do you need me to carry you?”

“No carrying required, thank you,” I lied, perching my butt on the bottom step of the tower. “You go. I’ll catch up.”

“Uh huh.” Covin wound the end of the garland around the arch of the tower entrance, pinning it in place with an apparently never ending supply of tacks and string.

“You’ve got a Mary Poppins vibe going on there.”

“Best I could come up with from the pantry that only seems to array root beer and tinned salmon otherwise.” He jammed some holly in at the top of the archway—the castle had an excess of the things—and stepped back. Whaddaya think?”

I shook my head and held up both hands. “Lift.”

“I thought you said no carrying?”

“I lied.” I balanced on the knee he held out, reaching up to adjust the stuffed in holly with both hands. “There. That’s a bit…better. Pass me another bit?”

A bunch of fresh holly that wasn’t part of what I bought was placed in my palm.

“You know we need to ration.”

“Not unless you stripped the entire tree.”

“Actually, it was a grove.” He grinned impishly up at me. A lock of sandy brown hair dropped into his eyes.

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