by ID Johnson
“Do you see him?” Melody asked, placing her hand on Delaney’s shoulder.
“No,” she said with a sigh.
“That doesn’t mean he isn’t here,” Melody assured her. “Maybe you should ask one of the other workers.”
“What am I going to say? ‘Hi, my name is Delaney and I just drove all the way from Charles Town to see if Josh was working today’?”
Melody held back a giggle. “Maybe you should’ve worked that out before you drove all the way from Charles Town.”
Before Delaney could respond, Reid clapped Melody on the shoulder and walked off in the direction of one of the employees, clearly denoted by his festive green half-apron, and the girls exchanged glances and followed, Delaney grabbing Melody’s arm as they went.
“Excuse me,” Reid said, stopping the young man who looked like he might still be in high school. “Is Josh around?”
“Uh, yeah,” the kid, whose name tag announced that his name was Payton, answered. “He’s out on the tractor right now bringing in a few trees for customers, but he should be back in a few minutes. He’ll be over by the shaking station.” He pointed to the area where a few families were waiting on another employee to shake the loose needles from their Christmas tree.
Reid thanked Payton and then turned back to face Delaney and Melody, and echoing Payton’s tone exactly he repeated, “He’s out on the tractor right now bringing in a few trees for customers, but he should be back in a few minutes.”
“You’re a lifesaver,” Delaney exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. “I could kiss you. I won’t—but I could.”
Melody watched as a faint tint of red began to creep up his neck. She noticed he didn’t return the hug though, and she knew Delaney’s personality well enough not to be threatened by her friend’s antics.
“Asking questions is one of my specialties,” he replied with a shrug as she unwound her arms from around his neck. “I learned it from Michael. He can ask forty-five questions in a minute. Easily. Without taking a breath.” He raised and lowered his eyebrows rapidly, and Melody covered her mouth to hide a giggle.
“Well, he’s an awesome teacher,” Delaney said, matter-of-factly.
“All right. We have some reindeer to greet,” Reid said, looking at Melody.
“Okay. I’ll just have a look around at the trees and come find you in a bit,” Delaney said, bouncing up and down on her heels.
“Good luck,” Melody said with a quick squeeze of her shoulders as she walked around her.
Michael was eagerly offering a particularly unimpressed reindeer a handful of hay he’d somehow managed to free from the bale in the corner of the enclosure, and Melody couldn’t help but admire his tenacity. “Thank you for helping Delaney out,” Melody said, walking alongside Reid at a leisurely pace. As long as they could see Michael, there was really no need to rush.
“I’m kind of surprised she didn’t have that worked out already,” he replied, his hands deep in his coat pockets. “She really didn’t know what she was going to say if she couldn’t find him?”
“Well, in her defense,” Melody offered, “sometimes it’s a lot harder to actually carry out those types of plans once you’re in the situation. I mean… sometimes even the best planning doesn’t quite go as as expected.”
“Yeah?” he asked. “I guess it just didn’t seem like that big of a deal to me. I mean, there are a million reasons why she might have been looking for Josh that have nothing to do with the fact that she finds him attractive. Why does she assume that’s what he would think if he saw her here? She does need a Christmas tree, right?”
“Right, but there are lots of places to get them in Charles Town.”
“So maybe she just thought he made a good case for his family tree farm, and she’s a small business owner, so she wanted to support another one.”
“You’re so logical,” Melody said, with a smile. She was wearing a white beret, but the wind was blowing a bit and a strand of her hair kept catching in her mouth. She brushed it back out of the way again. “I always assume that people can see right through me.”
“Really?” he asked, pausing for a second and turning to look at her before continuing. They were nearly behind Michael now with only a few more steps to cover.
“Yes. But then… I have a tendency to ramble, and that means I say more than I intend to. So I end up spilling my intentions pretty easily.”
He smiled a crooked grin in her direction, and Melody felt her knees buckle just a tad. “I know we just met, but I have never known you to ramble.”
“Really?” It was her turn to be surprised. “I think I ramble all the time. Maybe we just haven’t talked long enough for you to notice yet.”
“Maybe. Guess we’ll just have to keep conversing and see.” He raised his eyebrows and lowered them, just once, and then turned to his son, leaving Melody melting into the snow behind him. “Whatcha doin’, Mikey?”
“This reindeer does not want to eat this straw!” the child exclaimed, tossing it back into the pen.
“Maybe Santa just fed him,” Reid offered, his hands resting on his son’s shoulders.
“Dad, these aren’t Santa’s reindeers, silly. They’re Farmer Taylor’s.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Reid replied, shaking his head as if he couldn’t believe he’d made such a ridiculous mistake.
“We should’ve brought some carrots.” Michael dropped both hands to his side as if he felt utterly defeated.
“I am sure that they get plenty of healthy food, perfect for reindeers,” his dad assured him.
Melody glanced over her shoulder at the sound of a tractor in the distance. She could easily spot Delaney’s red coat offset against the green of the pines and spruce, and she noticed her straightening her hair and laughed. She hoped her friend was able to think of something to say to Josh, since Reid wouldn’t be there to rescue her this time. But she knew Delaney was extremely outgoing and likely wouldn’t have any trouble at all carrying on a coherent conversation with the man she’d driven so far to see. Her friend was definitely more suited toward that type of thing than she was.
“Do you want to pet him, Miss Melody?” Michael asked, tugging on the bottom of her coat.
She wondered if he’d asked more than once. “Oh, sure,” she said. “Can you show me how?”
“You just stroke his nose, like this,” Michael demonstrated, running his hand up and down the nose of the animal, “and be careful of his mouth. They have sharp teeth.”
“Right,” Melody nodded, certain that these animals had to be as tame as the trail horses she used to ride with her parents on vacation when she was Michael’s age. “Like this?”
“Yes,” he replied, as if he were now the reindeer expert. “Ms. Swanner says you must be gentle with all creatures.”
“Whose Ms. Swanner?” Melody asked over her shoulder to Reid who was standing just behind Michael.
“His teacher.”
“Oh, right,” Melody nodded. “Ms. Swanner is very wise.”
“Yes, and she also says you should never forget to wash your hands after you go to the bathroom. And keep your finger out of your nose….”
“All right, Michael. I think we have had enough examples of Ms. Swanner’s wisdom for today,” Reid spoke up.
Melody was doing her best not to laugh, afraid she’d continue to encourage Michael to list off Ms. Swanner’s advice. “Are you about ready to go look for a tree?” she asked.
“No,” Michael answered, turning to face his father. “Can I go play with those other kids? It looks like they are building a fort, and I am a great snow fort builder. I can help them.” He pointed off in the distance where a group of about six other boys and a couple of girls were digging in the snow, constructing some sort of a mound which could potentially become a fort with a bit of work.
“It does look like they need your help,” Reid admitted, with a nod. “All right. But don’t go any further than where they are right now.”
Without a response, Michael ran off in their direction, shouting, “Hey guys! I can help!”
Melody couldn’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm. “At what age do they stop running wherever they go?”
“I don’t know,” Reid sighed, “but it doesn’t matter how many times you remind him to walk, he has no comprehension of that word.”
Melody smiled at him. He was only a few inches away and despite the crisp smell of the snow, which was still lightly falling, she caught the faint scent of pine and leather. Clearing her voice, she turned and looked over her shoulder. She could see Delaney talking to a man a little taller than Reid with broad shoulders and tufts of brown hair sticking out from beneath his winter hat. It was too far to see exactly what he looked like, but she thought he seemed to be quite attractive in his own way, certainly the type that Delaney was usually drawn to, although right now no one could’ve held a candle to Reid in her book.
“I guess that’s Josh?” he asked, turning to see what she was looking at.
“Guess so. And she seems to have worked out her inability to talk.”
He laughed, a sound that made Melody’s stomach flip flop. “Shall we find a seat on one of those benches closer to Michael? I think this reindeer has tired of us.”
Melody turned to look at the reindeer. “I’ve never seen an animal look quite so bored before,” she said, turning her head to the side to more closely examine the animal’s disposition.
“Maybe we should tell it a joke.” The sincerity in his expression was enough to send her into a fit of giggles. “What’s so funny?” he asked. “You never know. He might not be bored; he might just be unamused.”
Still struggling to regain her composure, Melody said, “I liked your first idea better. Let’s leave him alone.”
“Yeah?” Reid asked.
“Yes,” Melody replied, beginning to walk toward an empty bench near where Michael was running around gathering armfuls of snow to add to their construction project.
Reid followed, and just before she reached the bench, he hurried around her and wiped the thin layer of snow from the seat.
“Thank you,” Melody said with a smile, taking a seat. He found a spot next to her, and Melody was glad to see he chose to sit only a couple of inches from her instead of completely on the other end of the bench, which was also an option.
“So no tree for you today?” Reid asked, folding his hands in his lap and leaning forward, his eyes following Michael across the snow.
“No,” Melody said, trying to keep her voice cheerful. The song playing now, “Jingle Bells” had no true significance, which made it easier. “My dad always said, ‘Only Murphy’s pick out the Murphy Christmas tree.’ So Mom and I will go in a day or two, I guess.”
“Why haven’t you gone already?” he asked, glancing at her for a moment before returning his stare to his son.
“Well,” Melody let out a sigh, “we were going to go last weekend, but one of Mom’s friends got hurt and needed some TLC. I asked her a few times during the week if she just wanted to run down to one of the lots in Charles Town, but she said no, she was too busy.”
“And you think she’d mind if you went ahead and got it while you’re here?” he asked, his voice sounding completely sincere.
Melody considered the question. It hadn’t even crossed her mind to actually pick out the tree without her mom, but had she been ignoring her mother’s actual preference? “She did say I could go ahead and get one while I was here if I wanted to,” she admitted with a shrug. “But I thought she was just being nice.”
“Or maybe she just never really liked picking out a tree and would just as soon you did it without her.”
Dismissing his remark almost immediately, Melody said, “No, there are certain Murphy Family traditions that my mom and I would never want to break. I mean, my dad was very particular about how the holidays were supposed to go. Christmas was his favorite time of the year, so I’m certain my mom wouldn’t want to do away with family customs now.”
It took him a moment to say anything at all, and Melody glanced over to see his blue eyes trained intently on his son, but it looked as if he was pondering exactly what to say next, perhaps how to phrase it. “Do you follow all of your father’s traditions?” he asked quietly.
Somehow, Melody had the feeling he knew more than he was letting on, and she wondered precisely what Mrs. Gregory had said to him. However, she couldn’t answer that question quite the way that she wished she could. “No, not all of them.” Her voice was quiet, and she wondered if he could even hear her over the laughter of the children and the whoosh of the falling snow.
“It’s definitely not my business, Mel, and I wasn’t trying to pry. I’m just saying, if you’d like to get your tree while we are here, Michael and I would be happy to help.”
The second the words were out of his mouth, the upbeat holiday song ended, and another song, one that brought back a flood of memories came on over the PA. Her father had loved “Oh, Holy Night” more than just about any other Christmas song he’d ever sang, and while she did her best to tune it out, to focus on Michael running around with his newfound friends, she felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. Other than the song he had written for her to sing at the festival that last year, this had been the song that held the most remembrances of her father.
Perhaps to drown out the sound of the music, Melody suddenly found herself speaking, hoping that the single tear that ran down her cheek on the side away from Reid might go unnoticed. “We would go out and find the perfect tree every year. Sometimes, if we were in a rush we’d just go to a lot, but many times, my father would find a tree farm like this one, though I don’t think he ever took us here. We’d spend all day—have lunch, maybe do some shopping. It was so much fun. Even when I went away to college, he and Mom would fly to Chicago to help me find a tiny tree for my tiny dorm room. And then, when I got my job and my own apartment, a week or so after Thanksgiving, they were there, just so we could pick out my tree together.
“Then, of course, I would fly home for Christmas each year as well. I had more time off while I was still in school, but when I was working, the years right before he died, I flew in just a few days before Christmas Eve. I’m sure it was driving him nuts not to have the tree up already. But he waited for me. I didn’t know then…. I didn’t know that would be the last tree we picked out together.”
She didn’t realize his hand was on top of hers between them on the bench until after she’d finished talking. She glanced down at it, and he moved it, only to put his arm around her shoulders, though resting on the bench and not actually on her. She hadn’t meant for him to move his hand. Even with thick gloves on, she found the gesture quite comforting.
“I’m sorry, Melody. I really didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t.” She turned and offered him a smile, hoping the tear was gone by now, though her face was so cold she couldn’t really tell. He smiled back at her, his eyes showing concern, and she cleared her throat and said, “I don’t usually talk about my dad. Thanks for listening.”
“Any time,” he assured her, his smile becoming less empathetic and more sincerely joyful.
“I’ll call Mom and see if she really meant for me to get the tree without her,” Melody said, fishing her phone out of her pants pocket and turning back to face where Michael was playing. Reid removed his arm, and seemed to scoot over just a bit, as if trying to give her a little privacy, though it wasn’t necessary.
The phone rang twice before her mother answered with a cheery but distracted, “Hello?”
“Hey, Mom. How are you?”
“Hi, Melody. I’m good. Just getting some baking done. Are you at the tree farm?”
“Yes,” Melody replied. “I just had a quick question.”
“Is it snowing there?” her mother continued, as if she hadn’t heard Melody’s last remark.
“Flurries, nothing too heavy.”
“Oh, it must be so pretty. And did Del
aney find her farmer?”
Images of Delaney standing next to an older gentleman with a pitchfork next to a pigsty filled her mind, and Melody stifled a giggle. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Delaney still talking to the man who must be Josh. “She did. She’s talking to him now.”
“Wonderful. And you’re enjoying your time with… Michael?”
Why did everyone always say it like that? “Yes, Mother. I am enjoying my time with Michael. Hey, I was just going to ask, this morning when you said that you didn’t mind if I went ahead and got the tree on my own, did you mean that or were you just trying to keep me from having to go to another lot with you?”
“Oh, no, dear. I meant it. I know you and your father always enjoyed traipsing through a foot of snow, looking for the perfect Murphy Family Christmas Tree. I, on the other hand, would rather stay in where it’s warm and enjoy the snow from the window.”
Melody was shocked. She’d had no idea her mother didn’t appreciate looking for the Christmas tree. “Okay,” she said quietly.
“Oh, honey. I’ll go with you if you want, but I thought, as long as you and Michael and Reid were already out there, why not just go ahead and pick it out, you know?”
“No, that’s fine, Mom. I understand. I just wanted to make sure.”
“Did he offer to help? It would be great if you could get him to bring it in and set it up.”
Her mother… never afraid to ask for a little favor from someone. “Not that exactly….”
“You should ask. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
“Right. Okay—I’ll see what I can work out. You do realize I actually came here with Delaney though, right?”
“I know, dear,” her mother assured her. “But maybe she won’t mind if you catch a ride back with… Michael.”
“Would you stop saying that?” Melody asked, gritting her teeth and lowering her voice. She glanced over at Reid, who had a questioning expression on his face, and she smiled nervously.
Sarah laughed. “You’re right, honey. I may as well be more direct. Maybe you can get a ride back with the handsome handyman.”
“Mom!”