He paused working on his knot to take in the snow-covered town square. “Gotta say, Heartsprings Valley has a great-looking downtown.”
“If there’s time later, I’ll take you on a tour.”
“I’d like that.”
Penny finished her final knot. “Ready to head inside?”
“Almost,” he said, returning to his task. A few seconds later, he nodded. “Okay, done.”
“I’ll bring the tree kit.”
“Thanks.” He opened the front passenger door, retrieved the cardboard box, and handed it to her. He then pulled the tree off the car and hoisted it over his shoulder.
Box in hand, she hurried to the cafe door and held it open as Daniel eased the tree inside, Eva a step behind.
As the cafe’s always-welcome aroma of fresh-baked goods wafted over her, Penny let out a happy sigh. With the afternoon sun streaming through the big front windows, the cafe’s holiday decorations —gobs of tinsel and lights and Christmas ornaments —were literally sparkling.
Over at the counter, Holly was ringing up a customer. She caught Penny’s eye and pointed to an open spot near the front windows. “You made it! Join you over there in a sec.”
Deftly, Daniel maneuvered the tree past tables and chairs and gently lowered it to the floor. “Here, right?”
“Yep,” Penny said as she joined him. She set the tree kit box on a nearby table. “First things first. Let’s get the mat down.”
She retrieved the mat from the box and set it on the floor between the tables. “Okay,” she said, eyeing the distances. “That looks right.”
“And next up is…?”
“The stand.” She grabbed it from the box and set it in the center of the mat. “We’ll fill it with water once the tree is screwed in.”
She took a step back as Daniel placed the tree in the stand.
“Does it look straight?” he asked.
She moved around, taking in the tree from different angles. “Almost. Move the top a bit closer to you.”
He shifted the tree and looked at her for confirmation.
“Yes, that’s good.”
“I need to tighten the screws at the base. Would you mind…?”
She stepped forward and took hold of the tree. “Happy to.”
“I’m letting go. Ready?”
The tree was a lot taller than Penny, but holding it steady proved easy enough. She breathed in, enjoying the fresh evergreen smell. “I’m good.”
He dropped to the floor and started tightening the screws.
“Here’s a holiday question for you,” she said as he worked. “Did you have Christmas trees growing up?”
“Not live ones. We had a silver artificial tree we stored in a box in the front closet.”
“Those can be nice,” she said, trying to be diplomatic.
“This one’s much better.” He finished with the last of the screws. “Okay, time for a test. Let go of the tree.”
She took her hands off the tree and, to their mutual relief, it stayed upright.
