He’d tried to take a nap, but ended up daydreaming about how nice it might’ve been had Sheila come to his place for that nap she’d mentioned, and that ended up keeping him awake.
Across the way, he saw Sheila walking with the rest of her team. “Hey,” he shouted, and broke out into a jog to catch up to them.
Natalie was the first to turn around. “Hey, Tucker!”
The cute swivel of Sheila’s hips as she turned to wave wasn’t lost on him, and left him a little breathless.
“It’s the big day.” Tucker stopped between Sheila and Natalie. “Mind if I join you?”
He was talking directly to Sheila, but Natalie answered. “The more the merrier. We’re going to do a quick walk-through to see all the competition now that everything is set up.”
No one said much of anything as they walked through admiring the competition.
“There are so many trees, and they’re all so different,” Sheila said. “It would be hard to pick even ten favorites out of all these.”
“It’s like comparing apples to oranges.” They stopped at the last aisle. “I’d hate to be a judge,” Natalie admitted.
“You and me both.” Sheila paused. “I do think we have a shot. Our tree holds up, but the competition is stiff. One of my favorites was the snowflake-themed tree with the white fur tree skirt. All the silver, white, and mirrored snowflake ornaments were simple, but I just couldn’t take my eyes off of it.”
“Yeah, I’m not even sure what kind of lights they were using. They were tiny like fairy lights but they were more twinkly. That one is definitely a front-runner,” Amanda agreed.
“And the Woods Brothers racing team tree with the checkered flags and how they have those cars racing on those tracks all up that tree and not going off the track is a mystery,” Tucker said. “It defies gravity. And their tree skirt with the drivers’ names lit up was pretty cool.”
“I was here when the judges came by this morning,” Natalie told them. “They had clipboards and looked all serious, making notes the whole time.”
“Did they seem to like what we’ve done?” Sheila asked.
“It was hard to tell. They seemed to spend more time at our tree than the others, but I don’t know if that’s good or bad. That could have totally been my imagination. I heard one of them say something about the handmade ornaments, and touching the golden tassels to see if they were real pine needles. I hope we didn’t break a rule or something.”
“I don’t think so,” Amanda said. “We should be proud of it no matter what.”
Tucker squeezed Natalie’s arm and pointed toward a judge walking down the aisle. “Look, they are starting to hand out the envelopes.” The judge stopped at each tree, talking to the team and handing each an envelope.
“My hands are sweating.” Natalie wiped them on her pants. “I’m so nervous.”
“Don’t freak out,” Tucker said. “They personally thank every team when they provide the scores. They’ll announce the winners from the stage after everyone has their individual results. Good luck. I’m going to go over with my team.”
“See you later. Good luck,” Sheila called after him.
“I see that look in your eye. You really like him,” Natalie said. “I’ve been poking fun, but there really could be something here, couldn’t it?”
“I don’t know. I think I’m just super emotional. It’s Christmas.”
“I know this is a hard time of year for you. Ever since your mom’s diagnosis and the big falling-out with Cassie over it.”
“Cassie and I are in a better place now,” Sheila admitted. “The visit with her was nice. I feel horrible for giving her such a hard time.”
“Sheila, you were just trying to do what you thought was best. It’s not an easy situation.”
“I made it worse for all of us.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I regret that.”
“No regrets. No, ma’am. Apologize, put it behind you, and make every next day the best you can.”
“I’ve done a lot of wrong things.”
“Like what?” Natalie looked confused.
“Like trying to hold you back in Richmond with me when you needed to move on,” Sheila admitted.
