“What about me?”
I laughed and put my hand on Alan’s head. “Blue. A light blue.”
“Ah, what the he—heck. I hate blue,” Alan said, looking adorably disappointed over something he couldn’t experience, nor had any control over.
“It’ll probably change to a deeper shade when you’re a bit older.”
“Why’s that?”
“Puberty,” I said.
Alan pursed his lips. “Oh.” He pointed at Felix. “What about my dad?”
I smiled to myself. “Amber.” I sounded hopelessly dreamy.
“I guess I have to learn the violin the hard way?” Alan concluded.
I tore my gaze away from Felix. “Hmm? No, I’ll help you.”
“You… will?”
I was sort of surprised by my knee-jerk reaction. I hadn’t even considered my answer; I’d just blurted it out. But… I did love teaching string instruments, and I liked Alan, so it seemed like a win-win situation.
“Sure,” I reiterated.
“Well, that’d be really cool…,” he murmured.
“Bo,” Felix called.
“What?” I stopped walking and looked to see Felix standing beside a tree, the makeshift bow tie still wrapped around the top, and a sign hanging from a branch that said Not For Sale. “Hey… that tree has style.”
“Like it?” Felix asked.
“Yeah, it’s nice. Usually I have those fake three-foot trees shoved into a corner collecting dust bunnies until mid-February. This will be my first big-boy tree.” I reached to kiss Felix, the tips of our cold noses briefly touching.
“Since this is such a novelty to you,” Felix began, “I’ll let you cut it down.”
I paused from tugging my scarf up over my mouth again. “Huh? Oh no. I’m not a lumberjack.”
“Dad, he’ll kill himself,” Alan piped up from behind us.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, dude,” I called over my shoulder.
“I’ll help you,” Felix insisted.
“How about you just be the sexy outdoorsman that you are and chop my tree down?”
I considered how much of a euphemism that sounded like.
Felix patted my arm. “I’ll be right back.”
I frowned and cocked my head, following his figure through the trees as Felix went toward the small building off to the left. “What’re the odds of me keeping all my fingers?” I asked Alan.
“I dunno. Have you used a hacksaw before?”
“No.”
“Probably not that good, then,” Alan answered.
