Wrapped Up In Christmas

As delicately as it was possible to wrench your hand free from a very green older lady, Bodie pulled his hand from her gloved one.

The woman batted her eyelashes, looking overly impressed. “Have you noticed how big and

strong his hands are, Sarah?”

Sarah made a noise that went from sounding as if she were clearing her throat to an outright cough.

Bodie winced. An awkward situation was growing more and more awkward by the second. He’d had enough.

“Sarah must’ve been out here too long,” he told Rosie, injecting a lot of concern into his voice and keeping a tight hold on Harry’s leash as the dog still hadn’t decided if Rosie was friend or foe. “I’m going to find someone to let them know we want this tree so we can have it loaded onto the truck, and I can get Sarah back home before she catches a cold.”

“I saw that,” Rosie accused Sarah the moment Bodie walked away. The older woman did an excited little green shimmy as she gave her an I told you so look.

Still a bit dazed from what had almost happened—from what she’d wanted to happen—Sarah fought to keep from going after Bodie to demand answers.

What had it meant, that almost-kiss they’d almost shared? Anything? Had he gotten caught up in the magic of this place, or did he truly feel something for her?

“Saw what?” she asked Rosie, trying to keep her voice calm and casual, even though she knew the odds were against her. Especially when she turned to see Maybelle and Claudia had joined them.

“Phew!” Claudia seemed a bit breathless beneath the green floral scarf she had tied around her head. “I didn’t think we were ever going to find you.”

Maybelle elbowed Claudia, then smiled at Sarah as if their being there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Both women also wore multiple shades of green—all of them either ugly all on their own, or never meant to be matched together. Usually the women were decked out in full style and never dull, but today must be Ugly Green Outerwear While Tree Hunting Day. Sort of like an ugly Christmas sweater party. If so, the trio were shoo-ins for a three-way-tied win.

Claudia’s get-up was putrid green pants with old olive rainboots and an even older camouflage jacket. The scarf around her neck was a faded green knit number with lime polka dots that had seen better days. Maybelle wore tight lime green pants, green riding boots, a dressy green jacket that Sarah had seen her wear to church in the past, and a bright green scarf that she’d tied around her head. Apparently, she hadn’t had any green gloves as she had on black cloth ones that she’d pinned a green ribbon to.

She loved her friends but would admit they made her eyes hurt.

“Don’t go getting distracted by their nursing home camo, you know what I saw,” Rosie warned, drawing Sarah’s attention back to the grinning woman.

Sarah didn’t know. Had Rosie seen…what, exactly? Nothing had actually happened, even though for a moment she’d thought Bodie was going to kiss her.

Yet she hadn’t wanted him to kiss her. Not really. Had she?

Hadn’t she learned anything from her ex leaving her?

Besides, a kiss probably didn’t mean a thing to someone as worldly as Bodie. She shouldn’t read anything into something that hadn’t happened anyway. Bodie was no more destined to stick around in Pine Hill than Richard had been.

As much as she enjoyed Bodie being around, as much as she’d wanted to lean toward him moments before, she was grateful Rosie had shown up when she had. A kiss between her and Bodie would only further complicate things that already felt more than complicated enough.

“We lost sight of you,” Claudia said, still sounding breathy as she ignored Maybelle’s jab and Rosie’s description of their outfits, “and had to split up to cover more ground. You and that man sure can move fast when you’ve a mind to.”

Maybelle glared at her floral-scarfed friend.

“We were looking for a Christmas tree,” Sarah defended. “This tree.”

The perfect Christmas tree for Hamilton House’s Grand Opening.

Eyeing the three women, she narrowed her gaze. “Why are you here?”

“What most people do when they go to a Christmas tree farm?” Maybelle told her with her usual dryness.

How the woman could produce sass in so much mismatched green was beyond Sarah. Had they really believed they’d blend with the trees?

“See, I told you that’s why we were here,” Rosie added, still looking at Sarah with a smug smile. “But then we spotted you and needed to come talk to you.”

“I’ve talked to all three of you at different points this morning. Has something happened that you needed to talk to me right now?” She looked back and forth between them.