Chapter 9: Austin

So there was no way that I was going to admit this to Colt, but he’d been right, having a real Christmas tree in the house is amazing. The smell of it seems to have spread to every room. The house smells like Christmas.

It’s been two days since we came back from the Christmas tree farm. All ten trees had been placed in the barn. Two outside, and eight inside, all set in different places. We had them all decorated already. It didn’t take us long to get them finished because there wasn’t a huge amount of decorations, but they still looked good. My favorite thing that we, well no, I purchased at the farm was a huge Christmas wreath. I had seen Colt staring at it, knew that he wanted it, and I also knew that it would look so good above the barn door.

Holly had explained that they were a new venture this year. Made with branches from trees that couldn’t be sold. So, she stripped the branches off and made them into wreaths. They even came with lights, not something Colt was aware of, he just thought it was for display purposes. Colt hadn’t been happy I bought it, especially when it just barely fit in the back of the truck once all the trees were in there. He kept saying that the trees were enough.

When we had gotten back to the ranch and spent far too many hours getting it in place, Colt had to admit that it did look good, and that he was glad that I had bought it. That it had been nice to add something new to the festival.

But that was two days ago now, and we really hadn’t spoken much. We had been so busy that I’m amazed that we had any time to eat. Between collecting the donated toys that Santa would give out, to sorting out the animals, I was exhausted. Especially as I was staying up later working on my surprise.

“Austin!” And I can’t help the smile that is already on my lips at hearing Colt shout my name.

“Living room!” I yell back from my position on the floor.

At the moment, I have all the toys laid out in front of me, and I’m trying to organize them into ages, so that age appropriate toys are given out. Something that’s taking me a lot longer to sort out than I had planned, and they still need to be wrapped. Maybe I can persuade Colt to stay and help.

“Hey,” I say over to him, as he walks in the room, but then he stops dead in his tracks.

“You haven’t decorated the tree.”

“What?” And I follow his line of sight to my tree in the corner. “Oh, no, not yet.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because we’ve been busy.”

“That’s not a good enough excuse. Mine is all done. I couldn’t leave it bare like that,” Colt adds, and he genuinely looks appalled that I haven’t decorated it yet.

“Colt, I still have no decorations,” I argue.

“Bullshit. Come with me.” He holds out his hand to me, and I’m not sure if it’s to lead me to the decorations, or help me up off the floor, but I take his hand and try to ignore the jolts of electricity running up my arm at the connection.

Colt doesn’t let go of my hand like I thought he would, and leads me through the living room, up some stairs, and then down a corridor to another door. Only then does he drop my hand, and I miss the connection already.

“Here,” Colt states as he opens the door and flicks on a light switch, illuminating the stairs, and the space above. “We are getting Gran’s decorations out and taking care of this house.”

“Tonight?” As I look at my watch and see the time.

“Yes, tonight.” He spots me looking at my watch. “You can sleep in tomorrow. Meet me at six,” Colt huffs out.

“I can get up,” I argue, but the thought of having an extra couple of hours in bed sounds appealing.

“Yeah. Okay. I will believe that when I see it. Now come on. I know where the boxes are,” Colt says, and he walks up the stairs.

For the next ten minutes we carry boxes down from the loft that are labeled Christmas, and place them on the living room floor

“Now, one of these is all the Christmas tree stuff. If we can get that decorated tonight that will be something,” Colt adds.

“But what about all the toys? They need to be wrapped. We’re running out of time,” I tell him, as I point to the pile of toys.

“I’ll come around tomorrow and help. With the two of us doing it, it won’t take long,” Colt adds, but he’s already opening boxes, and yelps in triumph when he finds the box he was looking for.

My only problem is that I don’t want to help Colt decorate the tree, or the rest of the house, I want to stand on the sideline and watch him do it all. The smile on his face is breathtaking. Joy is pouring out of him as he starts to pull out baubles and lights.

“Test these,” Colt asks, as he hands me a coiled up string of lights. “I know that I checked them before I put them away last year, but still…”

Doing as I’m told, I plug in the lights and they all start lighting up. I thought that they might be multi-colored ones, I always remember Gran having multi-colored lights when I was little, but these are all clear.

“They’re not colored lights,” I say, but I’m not really talking to Colt, more like talking out loud.

“Yeah, Gran changed them a few years ago. When they’re on the tree, they look a lot better, trust me,” Colt replies, as he takes the lights out of my hands.

I watch, fascinated, as he strings the lights around the tree, taking his time, and then once he’s done, he steps back to look at his handiwork, before going over and adjusting the lights.

“What are you doing?” I ask, as he walks over and turns the living room lights off.

“Checking for gaps?” Colt tells me, like I’m going to understand that.

“What gaps?”

“Gaps on the tree where there are no lights. Look, here,” Colt answers, as he walks back over to the tree, and points to an area that is darker, before he adjusts the lights again, and walks back around the tree.

“Happy?” I ask, biting my lip to stop laughing.

“Light placement is the most important part of tree decorating. It can make or break the look,” Colt replies, and I lose it. I’m not able to contain my laughter anymore.

“Seriously, Colt. It’s just a tree,” I say over to him.

“Maybe. But it’s the focal point of Christmas. For me at least,” Colt adds, and there is a hint of something in his voice, and I remember him saying something about decorating the tree for Christmas with his grandparents.

“Okay,” I start. “Show me what to do. Is there a special plan for where to place the baubles? Do they need to go a certain way?” I ask, as I turn the lights back on, and go over to stand next to him.

“Shut up,” Colt replies, as he gives me a smile. “I like doing this, okay?”

“Colt. I can clearly see that, but it’s still just a tree.” And I bump my hip with his and am rewarded with a chuckle.

“Fine. There isn’t a special technique to bauble placement. It’s a feeling. Like, you know, the bauble wants to hang there,” Colt says.

“Oh my God. You’ve got to be kidding me. There is no way you think that.”

Colt doesn’t say anything for a moment, and he looks so serious. Holy shit, he genuinely thinks that. Oh, I can’t.

“Of course I’m teasing you.” Colt finally says a smile spreading across his face, “lights are important. Baubles, it’s a free for all. Gran had favorite ones that she liked to place at the front, but other than that there isn’t a plan.”

“You enjoyed that way too much,” I say over to him.

“Just like you enjoyed the teasing about the lights. I would say that we’re even.”

“Fair point,” I reply, and the smile that Colt gives me has a warm glow rushing through my veins, and I have to fight the urge to reach out and touch him. To pull him into my arms and kiss him. To tell him that we could be so much more than friends.

“Austin, standing around is not going to get this tree done. Come on. I want to get to bed at some point tonight.”

“You could stay here.” The words fall from my lips, unaided, and hang between us. I only meant in the house, but even I could hear the invitation laced in the words to join me in my bed.

“We’re friends,” Colt replies, gently.

“I meant the spare room. I swear.”

“I’ll go home, Austin,” Colt confirms, before he bends down and picks up a small box, opening it up, and starting to place decorations on the tree.

Needing to put some space between us, even if it’s just the tree, I pick up another box and go to the back of the tree, and start placing the decorations on the branches, but I soon find myself taking them off and rearranging them.

“Okay, my turn. What are you doing? I have seen you put that decoration on the tree at least three times now,” Colt asks, making me jump, and when I look over to him, he has a bemused expression on his face.

“The colors,” I reply, like this is going to explain my thinking.

“Yes, they’re colored decorations,” Colt replies.

“No, look,” I say over to him, because I don’t think that I’m going to be able to explain my thinking.

Colt comes over to stand next to me and I show him what I’ve done. All the decorations have been grouped by color but done in a way so that they almost blend into the next shade.

“Holy shit, Austin. That is amazing. We’re going to have to move the tree. This can’t be at the back,” Colt exclaims.

“Or I can just do it at the front,” I tell him, and walk around him to where he was decorating, and within a few minutes, I have moved all the decorations around so that I have the same effect.

“There is one special decoration that Gran always left till last, before she added the angel,” Colt adds, as he reaches down and pulls out what looks like a ball of bubble wrap. He carefully unwraps it and holds up the most gorgeous decoration. It looks like it’s made of glass, with a wide ball at the top that has bands of blue and red that start at the top and twist around to the bottom, which is edged with gold. The bottom then extends down into a thin point.

“Oh, that is gorgeous,” I exclaim.

“Pops had it made for Gran. It became her most cherished decoration,” Colt adds. “Here.” And he hands it to me. Taking it from him, I gently hold it in my hands before placing it on one of the center branches.

Taking a step back, I look at the tree and I have to admit that the tree looks stunning. The clear lights, reflecting on the shiny surface of the decorations makes it look enchanting. There is something missing, but I have no idea what.

“Something is missing?” I say over to Colt.

“This,” Colt replies, holding up an angel figurine.

“I remember her,” I say, as I take the angel out of his hands, and run a finger over the gold dress and over the wings. I remember Gran giving her to me to place on the top of the tree. I can’t believe she still has her. “Colt.”

On hearing his name being called, he looks over to me, giving me another smile, and I can’t help but copy him as I hand him the angel.

“Austin?” he questions, confused, looking at the angel, but not taking it from me.

“I wouldn’t have decorated this tree tonight. I wouldn’t have learned about ideal light placement if it wasn’t for you. I think you deserve to give the tree its crowning glory.”

Colt takes the angel, and standing on his tippy toes, places her on top of the tree, and even moves her dress about so that it’s bent in at places.

“Thank you,” I say over to him, and not for the first time, I wish I could kiss him, and in that moment, tell him how much he means to me. Because over the space of this evening, watching Colt’s joy at decorating a tree, I have realized that I love that man more than I ever thought possible.