Page 41 of Second Down Scrooge

I reach across the front seat and wrap a hand around the back of her neck, and I pull her a little closer. “I never did. I never had a reason to celebrate. But you make me feel like I do.”

I press my lips to hers as she sighs softly into me, and I can’t believe howgoodthis feels. Howright.

“This is perfect,” she says, and she kicks her feet with a little bit of giddiness. I feel it too—the excitement and fun of this little adventure that’s sort of a date and sort of a family outing all combined into one.

We get out of the car, and I carry Mia toward the gate as my hand finds Kelly’s. There’s a hot chocolate stand to one side and rows and rows of evergreens in front of us. And then the magic really happens.

Little snowflakes start to fall all around us.

It's obviously some sort of machine that creates little bubbles that look like snow since we’re in Vegas, and it’s only going to be a high of fifty-seven today in the middle of the desert. Vegas isn't exactly known for its blizzards. I lean down and press my lips to Kelly’s, and I hear Mia squeal from the side of me where I'm holding her.

An attendant with a camera around her neck approaches us. “Photo for the adorable family?” she asks.

“Absolutely,” Kelly says, moving into place in front of the sign with the tree lot’s name on it.

Snow falls around us as we wear our ridiculously ugly knit gingerbread man sweaters to pick out Christmas trees, and this is exactly the sort of fun family adventure I feel like I never got to have in my own childhood. It's everything I want for my own kids even though I wasn't sure I ever wanted kids. I didn’t—until Kelly told me she was pregnant.

And then suddenly, just like that…I did. Mia was born, and there was this tiny little human who was part me and part Kelly and total perfection. I fell in love the second I saw her, and I’llnever forget the kiss Kelly and I shared after she delivered Mia. It was wrought with emotion, and I think that might’ve been the moment I first realized I was in love with her.

It just took me almost an entire year to admit it to her—in part because she kept pushing me away, and I chose my moment when I finally felt the two of us starting to reconnect again.

We meander through the rows of trees as these thoughts cross my mind, and Kelly stops in front of one. She backs up and looks at it from a few different angles, and she twists it a little to look at the other side. She backs up again, and I can see the way her mind is working. It’s fascinating to watch her, but she’s got an eye for these things—obviously, given her talent with wreath-making.

“This one,” she announces.

“Why that one?” I ask, chuckling.

“It has a halo.” She says it so matter-of-factly, as if I know what she’s talking about.

“A halo?”

She nods. “You know, like in those Christmas movies when they cast a light on the perfect tree with a little halo above it to show how angelic it is in its beauty. When I look at this one, I see the halo.” She shrugs. “It’s the perfect tree. Full, no bald spots, good height.”

“And a halo,” I add.

She nods and smiles. “See? You get the idea. What do you think about this one, Miamiga?”

I lift Mia closer to the tree, and she squeals and giggles.

“I think that means it’s perfect,” I say, and Kelly laughs.

The attendant swings by and grabs the tree to wrap it up for us as we search for one for my place next.

“Where are you putting it?” Kelly asks.

In your pussyis the first thought that comes to mind, and then I remember we’re talking about Christmas trees and not mycock. I clear my throat. “In the family room where the table with the lamp is.”

She nods as she squints a little, and I think she’s picturing the space in her mind. “The ceilings there are, what, twelve feet?”

I nod.

“And you probably want something on the skinnier side. I saw one over here…” She trails off as she takes off for another row, and she weeds through a few trees before she pulls one out.

She spins it around, backing up to look at it from a few different angles, and she turns her gaze to me. “What do you think of this one?”

“Does it have a halo?”

She studies it a few seconds, tilting her head and backing up before she nods resolutely. “I think it's got an even brighter halo than the one I picked out for my place.”

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