Page 15 of Say Yule Stay
“Yeah, yeah.”
“A little to the left!”Lacey calls again, making me curse under my breath as I try—and fail—to get this damn tree to sit level on the hardwood floors.
“I think you’re just messing with me.”
“Oh, stop being such a baby—you’re almost there.”
The last part has me mutteringthat’s what she saidunder my breath as I shove a thin piece of cardboard under the one side of the tree stand and crawl out from beneath the fake branches.
“Happy?” I grunt as I stand and glare at her.
“Almost.” Sneaking around the back of the tree, she plugs the lights in and jumps out with a flourish. “Ta-da!”
“Very nice.”
“Come on! It looks great!” She waves her hand at the tree that’s been sitting in my attic for the last couple of years. I think I only put it up one time, but it’s exactly like I remember.
Very fake.
Definitely lopsided.
But Lacey is looking at it like a band of woodland creatures offered it to us as the prized gift of Christmas.
She’s enamored—adorable—and for her sake, I can play along. “It was a good idea.”
“See? Just wait till we frost cookies and drink hot chocolate!”
“You turn into one of Santa’s elves in the last five minutes?” I chuckle because her enthusiasm is unmatched right now.
“Why? Does the thought of me in an elf costume turn you on?”
Well, hell, it does now…
13
LACEY
Ihad no idea I could be this fun.
Or flirty.
Or open about what I want.
Sure, Walker and I have always been playful, but something about being stuck in his house with the snow falling outside and Christmas music playing through the speaker has me feeling brave.
And I like it.
Digging through the box of ornaments, I find one of a polar bear on a sled and hand it to him.
“Huh, I don’t remember Mom giving this one to me,” he says wistfully, fixing the little metal hook and hanging it on the tree.
“Was it yours?” I ask as I find a surfboard one wrapped with Christmas lights and scour the branches for a good spot.
“I don’t know if it was mine per se, but I always liked it, and when I moved back to Starlight Bay, Mom gave me a small box of decorations,”—he nods at the cardboard box at my feet—“to get me started.”
“It doesn’t look like you really added anything,” I observe, pulling out a reel of unused lights.
“I ordered a couple of things online but,”—his gaze sweeps around the room before landing back on me—“I didn’t really have any real reason to do it.”
