“Oh!” Everything clicked for me. “That’s what the smell was. Yeah, not a good tree at all.”
“I never thought she’d go back out to get another.” Kim rubbed her eyes as Blake handed me a flashlight. I immediately tugged on my boots and jacket.
“Let’s go see if we can find her. It’ll be hard because the snow would have covered her tracks by now, but hopefully, she didn’t get too far.”
We headed across the property and disappeared into the woods, each taking turns calling her name into the frigid night air.
A few times, I slipped, but Blake was right there to help me. “Please be careful, hun, I need you walking.”
I chuckled at his comment and tried to be mindful of where I stepped.
“Shannan!” Kim was ahead of us. Her flashlight scanned back and forth near the base of the tree trunks, while she struggled forward through the snowdrifts. Though the thick branches provided a degree of protection from the snowfall, some places were much deeper than others.
By minute fifty-six, Kim’s tone had changed from nervous to full-out panic mode. Not that I was ready to admit it yet, but I was starting to worry, too.
Blake was calculating time, versus steps, versus where the cluster of Douglas fir were. I found his detective head fascinating.
Kim grabbed my arm and stopped me mid-step. It was hard to see her face, but I could tell by the way she was breathing, bad thoughts had worked their way into her head.
“Hey,” I covered her glove with my mitten, “we made a deal no one else was allowed to leave.” I squeezed her hand, referring to the loss of my parents. “We all agreed. Right?”
“Right.” She took an uneasy breath. “Right, that’s right.”
We continued to call as we trudged through the deepening snow, each of us deep in our own thoughts, trying to keep our worry from each other. The night was so cold, and the darkness suddenly seemed ominous when you considered someone dear to us could be lost and freezing and possibly frightened out there.
Blake suddenly rushed ahead. “Shannan!” he called, and I followed the beam from his flashlight to see what looked like a strange ghostly shape struggling to walk toward us.
“Shannan?” Kim raced toward her.
“The neighbors are going to call the police if you all keep on yelling my name.” Her voice came from under the bushy tree she struggled with. “Step away from this tree.” Her exhausted tone held a spark of defiance as Kim tried to hug her. “I’m not leaving here without it. It’s damn well going up in our living room if it kills me.”
“Fine, but put the damn thing down for a minute.” Kim pulled her into her arms for a hug then checked her over. “Are you crazy going out alone like this? Are you freaking kidding me? Do you even know where you are?” she sputtered. “You’re freezing, and you are damn lucky we found you. What the hell were you thinking?”
“What on Earth?” I came up behind Kim.
“A tree! It’s almost midnight, and you’re carrying a tree out of the woods!”
Shannan shrugged even as she shivered. “I told you I wanted to get the perfect tree, one that doesn’t smell like piss, so here I am, getting it.”
“You’re crazy. You are a damn crazy, beautiful woman.” Kim finally let her worry go and hugged her again. “Seriously, you scared me half to death.”
“Us. You scared us half to death,” I joined in.
“I’m sorry.” She directed her apology to Blake, who leaned down and hugged her hard. “Oh, well, maybe it was worth it in more ways than I thought. How about a little tongue, darlin’?” She managed a laugh as Blake chuckled and swatted her arm playfully.
“I was five minutes away from calling it in to the station.”
“Oh, please, no need for that.”
“At least let me help you with the tree.” Blake took the tree from Shannan, and we started the long walk back home. I was happy he knew the way, because I was completely turned around.
“Babe,” Kim said when we finally arrived back to the edge of the property.
“Yeah?”
“Promise me one thing?”
“Maybe.” She chuckled, but when she looked over at her wife’s expression, she knew it was a bit too soon to joke. “Okay, sure.”
“Next year, we do the tree lot.”
Shannan leaned her head on her shoulder. “Fine. But remember a girl can change her mind.”
“Let’s get you into a warm bath, pour a drink, and put this sucker up. Then, after that,” she wiggled her eyebrows, “we can have a little Christmas fun with that whipped eggnog.” She ogled her wife as we all laughed.
We said our goodbyes and headed along the path back to the cabin. Once inside, we both took a moment, beyond relieved that everything had turned out all right. We all had been through enough the past few years, and it was definitely time for things to get better.
I barely made it through the door before Blake turned me around, pressed me into the door, and kissed me hard.
“The whole time,” his lips brushed over mine, “I was thinking what if that was you lost in the woods.”
I ran a finger down his stressed face and realized how serious he was.
“I’m not sure what I would have done.”
“You would have done exactly what you did to find Shannan, and you would have found me because you are damn good at your job, Blake. I admire how talented you are with that sexy head of yours.”
He pressed his forehead to mine with a sigh.
“Come on. Let’s go to bed.”
He nodded and followed closely as we turned off the lights, locked up, and headed to the bedroom.
We lay in bed, Blake wrapped around me from behind, watching the snow fall outside our window. It sparkled as it passed through the beam of light from the outside lamp.
I closed my eyes, living in the moment, happy in the knowledge that at this point in time everyone I loved was safe and sound.
CHAPTER 4
Spencer
“Blake?” I called from the top of the steps. “Are you ready?” He had been up since five working on something for G. I didn’t want to point out it was Christmas Eve day. I knew he needed to busy himself with work. Last night seemed to shake him slightly.
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
I threaded my mother’s diamond earrings on and hurried down the stairs to grab my phone and purse.