Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“It was super fun,” Lark said, as he put on his Santa hat and tucked his dark hair behind his ears. “I’m always down for being a holiday elf and spreading cheer. Now I’m ready for a hot bath with my boyfriend, so we’re going to head home.”
Dylan grinned at that and kissed Lark’s forehead before murmuring, “Excellent idea.”
Lark took Dylan’s hand and called, “Text me tomorrow, Em, and send me photos of phase two,” as they headed down the sidewalk. I assumed phase two had to do with the pile of dead stuff that Dylan had moved from the driveaway into the garage.
After they took off, we did a lap around the block with the dog. “This was such a fun day,” Embry said, as he linked his arm with mine. “Thanks for letting me do all of that to your house.”
“Thanks for making it the cutest house on the block.”
“It really is, isn’t it?” After a moment, he glanced at my profile and said, “I’m sorry about scaring you when I fell out of the basket.”
“I overreacted. You were using safety equipment, so you were going to be okay.”
“But it still upset you.” He glanced at me again and said softly, “I guess you must care about me.”
“Of course I do. You’re my friend, and I can’t stand the thought of anything bad happening to you.” He hugged my arm a little tighter.
Once we got back to the house, we turned the dog loose, and I helped Embry clean up the boxes and wrappers in the living room. After that, he helped me clean the kitchen and load the dishwasher.
When that was done, I turned to him and said, “Okay, I have to know. What’s with the dead forest in the garage?”
Embry smiled at me. “You’ll see.”
“Can I help with whatever you plan to do next?”
“You don’t have to.”
“I’d like to, though.”
“Well, okay. Put on warm clothes, and make sure it’s stuff you don’t care about. We’re probably going to get pitchy.”
“Pitchy?”
“Yeah, you know. Covered in tree sap.”
I went upstairs and changed into my oldest jeans and a sweatshirt before joining Embry in the garage. The space was pretty narrow, designed to fit two cars end to end with maybe three feet to spare on each side. Some shelves and my dad’s old BMW took up the back half of the garage. A lot of the remaining space was filled with branches and clumps of greenery, stacked four or five feet deep.
Embry had set up two folding chairs in the center of it, and he handed me a pair of work gloves. “Dylan left these here. I’m sure he won’t mind if you borrow them.”
I surveyed the piles of greenery, which had more or less been sorted by type. “Where did this stuff come from?”
“Dylan interns at a landscape company, and they just ripped out an entire backyard, because the new homeowner wanted to start fresh. Normally, it would all go to a place that turns it into mulch, and that’s what’ll happen with the stuff we don’t use. But some of it is about to get one last chance to shine.”
“So, this is everything that used to be in that yard?”
“Well, no. Dylan was nice enough to sort through it and set aside what he thought I could use. He knew I wasn’t going to make holiday magic out of a muddy root ball, or whatever. There’s a ton of great stuff here though, including several types of pines and lots of boxwood. There’s even a huge holly bush, which is a total score. Be careful around that one, though. It’s pretty stabby.”
“Okay. What should I do first?” He asked me to find my old Christmas tree stand, and I made my way to the shelves and fished it out. Then he produced the saddest, scrawniest Charlie Brown Christmas tree I’d ever seen. “This goes in the living room,” he told me. “I want to put it in the front window.”
“We don’t have to use that. You already won the bet and proved you can work miracles on a small budget. Let’s go out tomorrow and buy a real tree.”
I instantly regretted saying that. Embry looked like he wanted to cry. He actually hugged the pathetic pine and said, “No way. This little guy is going to be gorgeous. All he needs are a few hair extensions and some cute accessories.” I didn’t know what that meant, but sure.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to insult the tree. If that’s what you want, I totally support you.”
“Then please take him to the living room and put him in the stand with plenty of water. He’s had a rough day.” I took the tree from him and did as I was told.
When I got back from setting up the very sad sapling in the front window for all to see, Embry was wearing work gloves, wielding a set of pruning shears, and turning big branches into little branches. I asked what we were doing, and he explained, “We’re gathering little bunches of different types of foliage and wrapping the ends with florist’s wire, like this.” He held up a bundle he’d made. It resembled a small bouquet, but with greenery instead of flowers.