Dying to Celebrate

by Lynn Cahoon

  Amy turned her laser focus from me to Greg and her face softened. “Well, isn’t that the most romantic thing I’ve heard of. I can’t even get Justin to talk about his Christmas memories and you two are starting your own traditions.”

  I watched as my friend wiped a tear from her eye. “Yeah, we’re just so excited.”

  This time the kick I aimed at him was a little lighter and more playful. He reached down and squeezed my thigh, just above the knee. Then he turned his charm on Amy. “We’re just two peas in a pod. You know how much Jill loves Christmas. I’m just glad I’m here to help her enjoy the celebrations. Hopefully there won’t be any emergencies on Tuesday night. But I’m sure she can muddle through without me if I get called out.”

  Now I narrowed my eyes. Had he just threatened to leave me alone with all this cookie mess? “I’m sure Toby or Tim can handle any trouble that may occur. You know, everyone has to be good at Christmas or Santa won’t bring them presents.”

  I thought I heard a hearty ho ho ho from the lobby and turned my head to check it out. A flash of red dashed across the hall. Blinking, I stared at the now-empty doorway. I felt Greg’s hand on my arm.

  “Jill? What’s going on?” He leaned close and looked in the same direction, seeing nothing.

  I shook my head and turned back toward the table and my friends. The waiter had joined us, and his gaze followed ours across the room, a questioning look on his face.

  “Sorry, I just thought I saw something.” I faked a smile and focused on the menu. I really needed this Christmas thing to be over and done with before I had a nervous breakdown or something. “I’m starving, how about you?”

  When we were in the truck on the way home, Greg turned down the music. When he glanced over, I could see the worry in his face. “So what really was going on tonight at the table? Did you see someone you thought you knew? An old friend, maybe?”

  “No blasts from the past. I thought I heard a Santa coming into the restaurant, and saw a red coat go by.” I talked fast to get the words out.

  “Jill,” Greg spoke slowly, which made me start to steam, just a bit. “There was no Santa in the restaurant. Maybe you’re just seeing Santas because you’re so busy with the Christmas party. I promise to make cookies with you on Tuesday. I was just kidding with Amy. Besides, my mom always said I was the best baker out of all her kids.”

  “I’m sure you’re right.” But in my mind, I was sure he was wrong. For some reason, Santa was stalking me this Christmas, and I was going to find out why. Even if I had to be naughty to do it.

  CHAPTER 3

  Trying to get past my Christmas slump, I pulled out the Christmas ornaments I’d stashed in the third bedroom. I thought I’d turn it into a library someday, but Greg kept making comments about my needing a workout room. I thought the shed in the back would work better for that, and for days I didn’t want to exercise, the room wouldn’t be in my house, making me feel guilty. Out of sight, out of mind.

  When I got everything downstairs, I looked at my artificial tree and picked up my phone. “Hey, what are you doing today?”

  “I was going to watch a game, why?” Greg was a big football fan. Well, actually, football, basketball, baseball—if it was a team sport, he watched it.

  “Can I borrow you and your truck this morning? I’ll buy coffee and donuts.” I moved the table I had below the front window over to the other side of the room.

  “What are we doing?”

  Smiling at the now-empty space, I answered, “I need help picking out a tree for the house.”

  “I thought you had an artificial tree. Strike that, I know you do, I moved it to the second-floor bedroom last summer.”

  “I want a live tree this year. When can you be here?”

  Greg mumbled something that I didn’t hear, but when I asked him to repeat it, he said, “I’ll see you in twenty minutes. I’ve got to shower still.”

  I started unpacking the boxes and had the living room in a huge mess by the time he came in the front door.

  “It looks like the elves threw up in here.” He walked over one of the piles of garland and into the kitchen with his travel mug. “Let me grab some coffee and I’ll be ready. There’s a tree lot in Bakerstown.”

  “Now who’s being a scrooge?” I followed him into the kitchen. While he grabbed travel cups out of the cupboard, I let an uncooperative Emma out into the back yard. “You know if we don’t take her with us, she’ll eat some or all of the decorations.”

  “Which will mean a trip back to Bakerstown for the vet and more tree-trimming stuff.” He poured coffee into the cups. “I’m not taking that chance. Besides, I haven’t spent nearly enough time with my girl this week.”

  “I’d be flattered, but I’m sure you’re talking about Emma.” I came up behind him and put my arms around his waist.

  “Are you?” He turned in my arms, then leaned down and kissed me.

  When we came up for air, I stepped back and let Emma in, grabbing her leash from the back door. “You could stay for the day and help me decorate the tree.”

  “I can stay for a while, but I told Jim I’d meet him at the Locker Room to watch the game. The holidays are hard for him.” He looked around the room. “Do you need anything else?”

  “Just my purse. I’ll go lock the front door and you get Emma in the truck. I’ll be out in a second.” I headed into the living room. Greg’s brother, Jim, had lost his wife a few years ago. Holidays would be hard since everything I’d heard about the woman said she was devoted to her husband and her home. We’d hosted Thanksgiving at my house for the last two years. But Christmas had always been about just us and Aunt Jackie and whoever she was dating. I made a mental note to talk to Greg about inviting Jim as well this year.

  If he even wanted to come. The guy didn’t like me, as he was still in the pro-Sherry camp and thought his brother had moved too hastily in the divorce. I don’t think he liked Sherry all that much, but he was a true believer in marriage vows.

  I grabbed my tote and locked the front and back doors behind me. Greg and Emma were already in the truck and they were both watching out the window, waiting for me to join them. Emma might not be our child, but at times we felt like family. I just needed to get over that feeling scaring the crap out of me.

  Greg headed the truck onto Highway 1 for the second time in two days. Which reminded me about the key.

  “Did you find what the key opened?”

  He looked over at me in amusement. “You realize banks are closed on Sunday, right?”

  “Oh, yeah.” I slumped back into my seat. Baby had carved out a piece of my heart, and it was hard to think of him in that cage, waiting for someone to pick him as their forever pet. “I’m just hoping that there’s some extended family who would want to take Baby. It must be hard for him to be with someone for so long and then be all alone.”

  “He’s not alone. There are thirty other dogs in the shelter right now.” Greg rubbed his arm. “I’m sure I bathed all of them yesterday.”

  “You have one in the back who could use a bath and a brush when we get back.” Reaching back, I rubbed the top of Emma’s head.

  “Did you miss the part where I said I was meeting Jim?” He glanced over and grinned at me. “It’s a hard life, but someone has to watch the game. The players put so much energy into playing, it would be rude for no one to watch.”

  “And you are definitely not rude.” Smiling, I curled my leg up underneath me. “I’ll get her in the bath as soon as I get the living room done. It was on my list anyway. I just thought, since you’re such a dog washing professional after yesterday, you might want to show off your talents.”

  “You were just trying to get out of bathing her. I bet she’s heartbroken that you’re trying to push her off on someone else.”

  “Whatever. You know she loves you just as much as me.” I leaned forward when
I saw the flashing Christmas lights. “Is that the lot?”

  “Yep. According to Esmeralda, the lot has been here for over thirty years and is still run by the same woman. She gets her trees out of a small town in Oregon in the mountains. Sherry never wanted a real tree, so I always sent Esmeralda to get one for the station once I moved back here.” He grinned as he turned the truck into the parking lot. “Having a real tree is one of the best parts of Christmas.”

  “Besides the presents.” She clicked the leash on Emma’s collar.

  Greg turned off the engine. “And the cookies.”

  “You are still on the hook for coming on Tuesday to bake with me. I’ll start when I get off my shift, but I expect you to come as soon as you can leave the station.” I focused my gaze on him. “Right?”

  “Of course.” He stared at something over my shoulder, then pointed. “Isn’t that the Santa you saw in the restaurant?”

  I spun around in my seat, but there was no one there. When I turned back around, Greg had already left the truck and was walking toward the trees. I climbed out of the truck and opened the door so Emma could jump out. “Why do I think I’m going to be baking eight dozen cookies by myself?”

  Emma barked as if to say, Don’t worry Jill, I’ll be there. Or more likely, Let’s hurry up and catch Greg. I love Greg.

  My dog was a traitor, through and through.

  We caught up with Greg a few minutes later, and he took Emma’s leash and put an arm around my shoulder.

  “If we weren’t in short sleeves and sandals, this would almost feel like Christmas.” He kissed me on the top of the head.

  “Oh, no. Don’t think you’re getting out of cookie baking that easily, buddy. Distracting me only works for so long. I would have thought you’d learned that about me by now.” I reached out and ran my hand over a tree’s needles. They were soft, and the smell that covered my hand was Christmas in a bottle. “This was a really good idea.”

  “Well, thank you.”

  I stared at him. “I’m the one who suggested a live tree, not you.”

  “Yeah, but I knew where the lot was. You only had a vague idea of a tree. I had a workable plan.” He pointed to one down the row. “What height were you thinking about?”

  “I don’t know, lower than the ceiling so I can put an angel on top?”

  An older woman pushed through a row of trees and stood next to us on the path. “You’re probably going to want a six-footer, then. If you’re in a normal house. But if you have vaulted ceilings, the sky’s the limit.”

  I studied the woman. She had a red-checked apron on with a picture of Mrs. Claus as well as what must be the name of the lot: Lumberjack Phil’s Christmas Pines. “Do you work here?”

  “Yes and no.” She grinned. “I’m Beth, I own the place. So at least I don’t have to pay myself an hourly wage to wander through the trees and pretend to get lost in the forest. What about you two? This your first Christmas together?”

  “Second,” Greg said.

  “We’re not together,” I blurted out. Greg stared at me.

  “What?” He stepped back and held up his arms. “Did I miss a memo?”

  “No, I mean, yes, we’re together, but we’re not married or living together or anything like that.” I could feel the hole I was digging getting deeper. I was definitely baking all by myself on Tuesday. “We’re dating.”

  Amusement twinkled on Beth’s face. “Well, you look like the perfect couple. Especially with that dog. I had a beau once. He…well, you’re not here to learn about me. Let’s get you a tree. Or are you getting two? One for each place?”

  “Just one. I’m over at the house more than I’m at my place anyway.” Greg nodded toward a large tree in the center of the lot. “Although I may come back and get that one for the station.”

  She turned back and considered him. “You could be a fireman.”

  “Police. I run the guys over at South Cove’s station. My dispatcher usually comes and gets our tree from your lot.” He held out a hand. “Greg King. And this is my girlfriend, whether she admits it or not, Jill Gardner.”

  As we shook hands, I added, “I own Coffee, Books, and More. It’s a…”

  “Coffee shop and bookstore, I got it.” Beth looked out in the direction of the ocean, though you couldn’t see the actual water from where they were. “I don’t leave Bakerstown much anymore. I used to love to travel, but oddly enough, this place doesn’t support the high life. I do good to pay my bills and have a bit left over for food and the essentials.”

  “Where did you like to travel?” I was always curious about where the locals went to get away from the paradise we lived in. Why go to another beach, just to see the beach? Amy did that, but she liked to ride the waves, and apparently—based on some things she keeps telling me and I always ignore—waves are different.

  “I used to get in my car and just drive. When I saw somewhere that looked fun, I’d stop for a few days, then take off again.” Beth shook her head. “I’m not sure what it is about you two, but you sure get me jawing about myself. I don’t think I’ve talked this much with one customer for years. Let’s go find a tree before I tell you about my childhood. Are you sure one of you isn’t a shrink?”

  Greg walked behind her and Emma trotted next to him. The rows were narrow so only one person could go at a time. Or one person and a dog. Finally, we stopped in a clearing and Beth pointed to a tree. “What about that one?”

  I gawked at the tree. It was perfect. Well rounded, just the right height, and exactly the vision I’d had when I decided I wanted a live tree. “How did you do that? This is perfect.”

  “My job is to put people with the right tree. Something about you two made me come here. I’ve been saving this tree for someone special, and I guess that’s the two of you.” Beth grinned. “Is that going to be cash or charge?”

  As we drove home with the tree in the back, Greg turned down the music. “I don’t know what her overhead is, but it has to be huge if she’s charging that much for trees and she can barely make her rent. I guess Esmeralda must have negotiated a price. I’m sure we didn’t pay this much last year.”

  “Don’t you think that’s some of the spin? You want to buy a tree from her because she needs the money. She’s not looking for a handout, just a sale.” I squeezed his arm. “You didn’t have to pay for the tree. I would have bought it.”

  “Give me this. After you saying we weren’t together, I felt like I needed to show my manliness by buying you an overpriced pine.” He turned onto the exit for South Cove. And slowed as he passed Esmeralda’s house. She had a Hummer sitting in her driveway. “Esmeralda told me when she left work on Friday that she was booked solid this weekend. Christmas must be a good time for reaching the other side.”

  “You are such a skeptic.” Emma started whining when we pulled into the driveway. “Hold on, girl, I’ll let you into the backyard.”

  As soon as I opened the door, she ran to the side of the driveway and did her business. Then she followed me into the backyard where I shut the gate on her. Going through the back of the house, I came out the front door. “The path is clear.”

  He put down the tailgate and waved me away as he pulled the tree out of the back. “I can do this. Manly, remember?”

  “You’re going to pull a muscle.” But I stepped back and let him carry the tree into the house through the front door. He lifted it up into the tree stand I’d already set up in front of the window.

  “Hold it steady for a minute while I tighten the tree down.” Greg’s voice came from behind the tree.

  I reached into the tree and grabbed the trunk. A guy in a red-checked shirt had sawed off the end of the trunk before he lifted the tree on one shoulder and walked it to the truck. Beth had told us it was so the tree would drink water while it was in the stand. Now, I just had to remember to actually water it. As giddy as I fel
t about having it in the house, I didn’t think that would be a problem. “It fits perfectly. I have the small twinkle lights in different colors, or I could do all white. What do you think?”

  “Colors, definitely. I like the way they bounce from one color to the next. You can let go now.” He scooted out from under the tree. And then stood behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

  “Hey, about what I said back there, about us. I didn’t mean we weren’t together. I just never know what to say about our relationship.”

  “Someday you’re going to accept the fact that maybe we don’t need a label.” He squeezed me tight. “I’m perfectly happy just the way we are.”

  “You are poetic today.” But I agreed with him. I just needed to find a way to stop caring about what other people thought. “Too bad you have to leave. This is feeling kind of cozy.”

  “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”

  “Earworm,” I complained, but I leaned back into him and smiled stupidly at the tree. It was beginning to look like Christmas.

  CHAPTER 4

  The shop was open on Mondays for a short shift. We closed at four, which meant Aunt Jackie’s weekly evening shifts didn’t start until Tuesday, giving her a full two-day weekend. As I dragged myself out of bed to go make coffee for my morning commuters, I was beginning to think my aunt had made the schedule change just so she had a full weekend. On the other hand, she deserved some downtime. I decided the shower would wash away my grumpiness.

  Once I was at the shop, customers kept me busy until way after eight. When I saw one of my regulars in yoga pants and a sweatshirt instead of her typical power suit, I realized my aunt wasn’t the only one with the day off.

  “Hey, Candice. You off today?” I paused before making her regular. A lot of times on a day off, people wanted something special. Something with calories, like my favorite, a mocha with whipped cream.