“I am—with some help from you.” He looked around. “Obviously, no one lives out here in the middle of nowhere. So what are we doing here?”
“Haven’t you ever cut down a Christmas tree?”
He sat there for a moment, hoping this was some sort of joke. Did she have any idea how much snow was out there? But she got out of the truck. When he looked around, he found Kate standing at the rear of the pickup.
He got out and joined her. “I must admit, I’ve never done this. When I was a kid, if my family had the money, which wasn’t every year, we would get a tree from a lot in town.”
“Then let’s get busy.” She lowered the tailgate and withdrew a chainsaw.
He looked at her with admiration and a little bit of apprehension. That was a mighty large chainsaw. Still, she turned and trudged off. She was going Christmas-tree hunting with or without him. And he wasn’t about to let her go alone.
He yanked up the zipper on his coat, grabbed the knit cap from his pocket and pulled it down over his head. With a resigned sigh, he trudged after her.
The cold air nipped at his face. A gust of wind sent the snow from a tree limb showering down upon him. He shrugged deeper in his coat. Still, he could feel the cold clear down to his bones. He swiped at his sleeves, brushing off the snow. What part of this was fun?
Kate laughed. “And here I was beginning to think you weren’t going to join me.”
“And miss all this fun?” He let the sarcasm drip from his voice. “Never.”
She laughed again. “You’d think you weren’t used to snow, but I know for a fact there’s snow in New York City.”
“Except they plow the roads and shovel the walks.” He stared down at the snow covering his boots. “It’s nothing like this.”
“This is mountain living.” She inhaled a deep breath and blew out a cloud of warm breath. “You don’t have this crisp air in the city.”
Another gust of icy wind made him clench his teeth. “But we stay dry and have a coffee shop on almost every corner.”
“You just had a pot of coffee.” She started walking toward the line of trees. “Come on. It’s warm, with the sun out.”
Warm? They definitely had different definitions of the word. Very different indeed.
His boots creaked as they moved over the deep snow. The cold seeped in every opening in his clothing. He frowned as he hunched down in his new coat, minimizing exposed skin. He wondered how she would describe the weather in Florida—warm, sunny Florida. Right about now, a warm Christmas was sounding pretty good.
They moved past a line of really tall pine trees lining the path. A hundred yards farther on, they came to a grouping of smaller trees. He was relieved to realize they didn’t have to hike to the top of the mountain.
He stopped next to a tree that was almost as tall as he was. “How about this one?”
Kate paused and scrutinized it. “Too short.”
“Wait. Are you calling me short?”
Amusement twinkled in her eyes. “For a man, you’re tall. But for a tree, that one is short.”
They both started walking again. He noticed how quiet Kate had become. She must really take this Christmas-tree hunting seriously.
“I still think you’re calling me short,” he called out, hoping to tease her into a good mood.
She shook her head and kept moving, stopping at a tree, inspecting it from every angle and then moving on to another one.
“Mind telling me what you’re looking for?” he asked.
“I’m thinking seven or so feet would be good for me. For Aunt Penney, she won’t go for anything less than nine feet.”
“Nine feet? Seriously?”
Kate nodded. “Is that a problem?”
“I guess not. If you don’t mind hauling an entire forest to town in the back of your pickup.”