Chapter Fifteen
Bones
“How the hell am I supposed to know what tree she’d want?” Wick griped and squinted at the rows of Christmas trees lined up in the grocery store parking lot.
I just glared at him and tried to keep my patience. “Just pick one you like.”
We were out here in the freezing cold, surrounded by a small forest of fresh-cut trees, each one practically begging to be taken home and decorated. Snow had mentioned that she hadn’t even had the chance to put up her decorations yet, let alone get a tree. It was all the excuse I needed. I knew I wasn’t much help in the kitchen, but this? This I could do.
Wick, however, was making it more complicated than it had to be.
“That one’s got long needles, and that one’s got the short, stubby ones,” he observed as he pointed from one tree to the next.
I nodded. “Yeah, so which do you like better?”
He tilted his head to the side and gave them both a hard look. “I mean, they’re both nice…”
Jesus Christ. I thought this would be a quick trip—a grab-and-go kind of deal—but here we were, still staring at the damn trees.
“Hell, I’ll just pick one. We’re going with the long needles,” I said and nodded to the first tree I saw that looked halfway decent.
Wick immediately pulled a face. “I mean, it’s nice, but you gotta think about putting ornaments on it. Long needles make that harder.”
I glared at him and crossed my arms. “Are you some kind of tree-decorating expert all of a sudden? What’s next, you gonna tell me the exact height for hanging stockings?”
He just glared back, unbothered. “I’m just saying, you want it to be nice, right? I think things through, okay?”
“Great, glad to know you think things through.” I was ready to grab him by the arm and drag him out of there with the next tree in sight. “And for the record, you’re not the one decorating it.”
“We’re not decorating it?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No,” I clarified, starting to feel a little smug. “We’re gonna get the thing in the stand, you guys are gonna hightail it out of there, and then Snow and I can do the decorating ourselves tonight.”
Wick raised his brows like I’d just said the most brilliant thing he’d ever heard. “Oh, I get it now. You’re putting the moves on Snow tonight.”
“That’s the plan. It’s taken me a damn year to even get in her house. I’m in now, and I’m putting the pedal to the metal.”
Wick smirked and gave a sage nod. “Then, if I were you, I’d go with the short needles. You’ll both be less frustrated when you start putting ornaments on.”
I gave him a look but couldn’t deny he had a point. With a resigned sigh, I nodded to the guy who’d been standing by, watching our little debate with a look that said he thought we were crazy. He shook his head and muttered something under his breath as he walked over to grab the short-needled tree and hauled it over to the wrapping machine.
“About damn time,” he muttered quietly as the machine bound it up with twine and dropped it off to the side.
I handed him a fifty and didn’t comment on the fact that the price was ridiculous.
Wick and I hauled it to my truck and tossed it into the bed.
“You really think we’re gonna manage to sneak this tree into her living room without her noticing?” Wick asked as we strapped the tree to the back of my truck.
“I don’t know, man, but we’re gonna fucking try.”