“Shannan?” Kim raced toward her.
“The neighbors are going to call the police if you all keep on yelling my name.” Her voice came from under the bushy tree she struggled with. “Step away from this tree.” Her exhausted tone held a spark of defiance as Kim tried to hug her. “I’m not leaving here without it. It’s damn well going up in our living room if it kills me.”
“Fine, but put the damn thing down for a minute.” Kim pulled her into her arms for a hug then checked her over. “Are you crazy going out alone like this? Are you freaking kidding me? Do you even know where you are?” she sputtered. “You’re freezing, and you are damn lucky we found you. What the hell were you thinking?”
“What on Earth?” I came up behind Kim.
“A tree! It’s almost midnight, and you’re carrying a tree out of the woods!”
Shannan shrugged even as she shivered. “I told you I wanted to get the perfect tree, one that doesn’t smell like piss, so here I am, getting it.”
“You’re crazy. You are a damn crazy, beautiful woman.” Kim finally let her worry go and hugged her again. “Seriously, you scared me half to death.”
“Us. You scared us half to death,” I joined in.
“I’m sorry.” She directed her apology to Blake, who leaned down and hugged her hard. “Oh, well, maybe it was worth it in more ways than I thought. How about a little tongue, darlin’?” She managed a laugh as Blake chuckled and swatted her arm playfully.
“I was five minutes away from calling it in to the station.”
“Oh, please, no need for that.”
“At least let me help you with the tree.” Blake took the tree from Shannan, and we started the long walk back home. I was happy he knew the way, because I was completely turned around.
“Babe,” Kim said when we finally arrived back to the edge of the property.
“Yeah?”
“Promise me one thing?”
“Maybe.” She chuckled, but when she looked over at her wife’s expression, she knew it was a bit too soon to joke. “Okay, sure.”
“Next year, we do the tree lot.”
Shannan leaned her head on her shoulder. “Fine. But remember a girl can change her mind.”
“Let’s get you into a warm bath, pour a drink, and put this sucker up. Then, after that,” she wiggled her eyebrows, “we can have a little Christmas fun with that whipped eggnog.” She ogled her wife as we all laughed.
We said our goodbyes and headed along the path back to the cabin. Once inside, we both took a moment, beyond relieved that everything had turned out all right. We all had been through enough the past few years, and it was definitely time for things to get better.
I barely made it through the door before Blake turned me around, pressed me into the door, and kissed me hard.
“The whole time,” his lips brushed over mine, “I was thinking what if that was you lost in the woods.”
I ran a finger down his stressed face and realized how serious he was.
“I’m not sure what I would have done.”
“You would have done exactly what you did to find Shannan, and you would have found me because you are damn good at your job, Blake. I admire how talented you are with that sexy head of yours.”
He pressed his forehead to mine with a sigh.
“Come on. Let’s go to bed.”
He nodded and followed closely as we turned off the lights, locked up, and headed to the bedroom.
We lay in bed, Blake wrapped around me from behind, watching the snow fall outside our window. It sparkled as it passed through the beam of light from the outside lamp.
I closed my eyes, living in the moment, happy in the knowledge that at this point in time everyone I loved was safe and sound.
