Chapter Five
When Natalie slippedon her jacket, as she was leaving her apartment, she discovered a spool of red ribbon in one of the pockets. She’d forgotten Mason had handed it to her while he tied the ribbon around a tree branch. She had slipped it into her pocket, forgetting to return it.
She could bring it to Pony Expresso and give it to him whenever Mason delivered her white fir Christmas tree. Except, this was risky as she might forget. Or he could buy another spool. This was cheap gift wrapping ribbon, after all, and easily replaceable.
Regardless, she should tell him.
On her way to her car, she found their previous text exchange and typed,
Before you file a police report, your ribbon wasn’t stolen. I put it in my pocket and forgot to give it back to you. Remind me to return it when you deliver the tree.
As Natalie drove to her parents’, she thought about the text, wondering how quickly he’d respond. Was the texttoofriendly? Perhaps she should have stated,Got your ribbon,and left it at that. Did he really need a whole explanation about sticking the ribbon in her pocket, as if she was being cute or something? Which was absolutely not her intention at all.
Her parents’ standard-tract home was a mere five-minute drive away. After parking in front of their house, she checked her cell.
No reply.
He was probably busy felling Christmas trees or whatever a person normally did on a tree farm. Serving eviction notices to owls and squirrels? He did say the farm was busy preparing for the season. Besides, it wasn’t as if her text required a reply or anything. Only…he seemed like the kind of guy who’d give someone a response, even a small one.
Whatever.
She didn’t care anyway.
Natalie entered her family home, finding her grandmother sitting in the gray-blue rocking recliner, watching some kind of reality-TV garden makeover show. “Ay, mi amor,” the older woman said.
She went to her, pulling a wrapped gift from her bag and depositing it into the older woman’s frail hands. She dropped a kiss into the center of her grandma’s head. “Abuelita. Para tu cumpleaños.”
Her grandma went through the usual spiel of telling her granddaughter that her love was enough, and she didn’t need any gifts and to save her hard-earned money. All this was said as the woman eagerly ripped into the wrapping paper.
Natalie waved off her grandmother’s words which she’d heard a hundred times before. “Lo sé . Just open it.”
“Ay!” Abuelita said. “Mi amor, mi amor.” She hugged the Chris Evans calendar to her chest as though Natalie had presented her grandmother with jewels.
“You love it?”
“Sí.”
Natalie’s sisters thought their grandmother’s obsession with Chris Evans was hilarious, but she found it sweet and didn’t mind indulging the woman. She hoped when she was her grandmother’s age, she had her own Chris Evans items to get excited about. A Chris Evans calendar, like a fake tree, wouldn’t disappoint her.
“Natalie?” her mother called .
She walked into the kitchen, checking her phone and, again, being confused at the lack of notifications. Were text services down? She should text Mia to be sure.
lol I accidentally stole Mason’s xmas tree ribbon
Natalie’s phone vibrated as she took a seat at the table and reached for a chip to dip into the guacamole her mom set out.
Mia responded,You should definitely put that in a keepsake box. Maybe it’s a sign.
She replied with a laughing emoji and a rolling-eyes one, because they both knew she was the last person who’d ever have a keepsake box. But the exchange proved her phone still had the ability to receive text messages. The mystery of why she wasn’t getting a response from Mason was still unsolved.
“Who are you talking to, mija?” her mother said, putting a glass of water in front of her. “Un hombre?”
She resisted another eye roll even though her mother’s inquiry deserved it. “I’m just talking to Mia.”
“You should have invited her. You know she’s welcome to join, especially since it’s Abuelita’s party. There’s plenty of food. Ask her and tell her to bring the family.”
“She and Ross went out of town to visit her family in Sacramento.”
