Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“I could do it.” I sat up a little taller, eager for this opportunity to show off how fucking handy I was. “I happen to be amazing with a saw.”
She laughed. “What if someone sees us at the tree farm?”
“I’ll wear a disguise,” I told her. “A mask over my face.”
Still laughing, she shook her head. “That’s terrifying. No.”
I thought for a moment. “Could we go to a tree farm a little ways out of town?”
“I guess we could.”
“What night do you want to do it?”
“I have those deliveries tomorrow that I think will keep me busy all day. Maybe Wednesday?”
“That’s fine.”
“And you’re sure you don’t mind staying that long?”
“I’m positive. What am I going back to in San Diego?”
Her cheeks grew pink. “I don’t know.”
I realized I didn’t either.
After tucking her back into bed, I went down to the kitchen and called Jackson.
“Hey,” he said. “You back in town?”
“No.”
“You’re still in Chicago?”
“Uh, no.” I leaned back against the sink. “I’m in Michigan.”
A pause. “Interesting.”
“I drove Millie home. She wasn’t feeling well, and I didn’t want her light-headed behind the wheel,” I said defensively.
“So you’re at her house now?”
“Yes.”
“Do I even need to ask if you had the talk you were supposed to have?”
I closed my eyes. “No.”
“No, I don’t need to ask, or no, you didn’t do it?”
“Yes.”
He exhaled. “Okay, then. So you’re there. Are you going to see your son and have the talk with him?”
“No.”
“I’m a little confused, Zach. What are you doing?”
“I’m going to spend a couple days here lying low, and when she feels better, we’ll have the talk. Then I’ll leave.”
If I said it, maybe it would happen that way.
Jackson chuckled. “Okay. Whatever you say.”
CHAPTER 22
MILLIE
“This one?” Zach gestured at the balsam fir.
I studied it critically through softly falling snow. Took a sip of my hot chocolate. “No. There’s something weird going on at the top.”
He gave me a look. “This is like the tenth tree you’ve rejected.”
“I know, but I have to look at it every day. I want it to be perfect.”
He grit his teeth and walked up the row a little more, bow saw in one hand, blue plastic tarp in the other. “How about this one?”
I walked around the tree in question. Poked in its branches to check for animals. Leaned in and sniffed it. “It doesn’t have a scent.”
“Yes, it does. You have a cold—you can’t smell.”
I shook my head. “This isn’t the one.”
He exhaled, his breath making a little white puff in the icy air. “It’s a tree, Millie Rose. Not a wedding dress.”
“Let’s keep looking.” I nudged him forward with one elbow, and we turned up the next row.
“How about this one?” He pointed the saw toward another tree. “It’s nice and full at the top.”
I took a step back and looked it up and down. “It is. I like it.” Putting my nose in its branches, I inhaled as deeply as I could. “And I can smell it!”
“Is this the one?”
I nodded enthusiastically. “This is the one.”
“Finally.”
“Hey, you’re the one who said you wanted to come with me.”
“I didn’t know how particular you were going to be.” He pulled the tape measure from his pocket and double-checked it would fit.
“I can’t help it. The tree sets the whole tone for the holiday.”
He grumbled as he got down on his knees to examine the trunk.
“Don’t be grouchy around my tree.” I poked his butt with the toe of my boot. “You’ll give it bad juju. I want a jolly tree.”
“One jolly tree coming up.”
Honestly, I had no idea how sexy cutting down a tree could be until I watched Zach sawing through the trunk of that evergreen. My insides did all kinds of twisting and tightening as he crouched down and gripped the handle of the bow saw, his arms and back muscles flexing. Could I see them beneath his winter clothing? No. But I knew what they looked like, and I had no trouble picturing him performing the task with no shirt on.
Since it was only about thirty degrees, though, we were both layered up with sweaters, coats, and gloves. My cold was getting better, but I still had a packet of tissues stuck in my pocket, and I wouldn’t let Zach kiss me in bed.
Which he said was fine, because there were plenty of other places on my body he enjoyed putting his mouth.
The first night at my house, we actually didn’t mess around at all. But falling asleep next to him was pure bliss, and waking up next to him the next morning was enough to make me smile even though I was still all stuffed up. It was a long day at work, and when I got home, I was tired but also bursting with excitement, because my first sample dresses had arrived, and I’d spent the day unpacking them, steaming them, hanging them up. When they were all displayed, I got tears in my eyes.