Chapter Twelve
On Black Friday,Natalie returned to the horse trailer, but this time with Mia. She commended herself on a brilliant idea because, as she had predicted, the farm was busier than the previous week. Having another pair of hands made everything run smoother. It was also colder, evident by the foot of fresh powder that had fallen over the last week, giving the Christmas tree farm more of a winter holiday appearance. While normally having an extra body inside the small coffee truck would be stifling, Natalie was happy to have another person producing body heat. The heating lamp was still there but another had been added to the opposite side of the truck, plus all the snow around the area had been shoveled.
Having Mia was nice, even if she appeared in her corny Christmas sweater with the decorated reindeer antlers. Her friend grinned while pulling a wrapped package from her bag, handing it to Natalie.
“What is this?” she asked.
“I came across it while scrolling through the Internet and thought it was perfect for you.”
She undid the wrapping and found a blue Christmas sweater. She was about to protest until the front was revealed. It had typical holiday sweater motifs like snowflakes but in the center was a skeleton wearing a Santa hat and drinking from a mug with the wordsChilled to the Bone. “I love it.”
“Quick. Put it on. I’ll finish setting up.”
As busy as the day was, Natalie was pleased with how smooth it all went. The one time Mason stopped by, she made sure to mention his beehives to Mia. As her friend took an authentic interest in most things, she asked him a ton of questions. In the end, Natalie’s interaction with him was minimal. She hardly had to do anything besides making him another Mexican hot chocolate because he insisted on trying the drink again. Mia proved to be the perfect buffer.
Natalie hoped Saturday would go as smoothly as Friday and, at first, it did.
“Oh, Ross is here!” Mia said excitedly, as if she didn’t see her tall, dark, and handsome husband every day. She pushed her way past Natalie in order to escape the horse trailer. Acting as though it were the last reel of a romance movie, she flung herself into Ross’s arms and kissed him.
“Hey, Natalie,” Ross said over his wife’s shoulder as he continued holding his wife close.
“Hi. How’s it going?” Okay, it was cute how much Ross and Mia were clearly still into each other. If anyone was going to make her second-guess her whole opinion on the existence of love, it would be them. Their relationship was somewhere between being utterly content with each other while still being excited to spend their days together. Natalie tried to imagine her parents at that stage, but she couldn’t see anything past their mutual contempt. How long would it take Mia and Ross to get to that point? The thought made her sad.
“Are you okay if we go pick out our tree now? It’s not too busy. Plus, I need to take some pictures for Poinsettia Paradise’s Facebook page.” Mia was two birds, one stoning it again. Natalie didn’t know how she’d convinced Mason to pay her to take pictures for him, but it worked like a charm.
“I see she was able to convince you about this whole Christmas tree thing,” Natalie said to Mia’s husband. Ross B.M. (Before Mia) never would have been the type to care about things like holiday decorations. At the time, Natalie didn’t realize the jewelry store owner next to Pony Expresso had a personality. She and the rest of the coffee shop employees simply thought of him as the jewelry guy with the dog because that was all they knew about him. In fact, his three-legged dog ambled into the coffee shop more than Ross did in those days, begging for muffin scraps.
He shrugged, tucking Mia’s hair behind her ear with care. “You know how persuasive she can be.”
“I don’t need to be persuasive when I’m right. I haven’t had a Christmas tree in a few years. And you probably don’t even remember the last time you had—”
“All right, Russo. All right. You’ve already convinced me. You don’t have to keep trying,” he replied.
Regardless of how Ross pretended he was being forced into this, the truth was clear enough. Mia simply had to ask and he would pretty much say yes to anything.
She watched the couple put their dog, Hermes, on a leash, who was greeted by Bentley. Mia pulled her husband toward the path where the trees grew, still chatting away. She was probably sharing everything she’d learned about bees. Natalie caught herself smiling. She jumped when she noticed Mason stood at the order window. “Oh, hi. You scared me,” she said, pressing a hand to her chest.
“Sorry. Was that Mia with her husband?”
“Yeah, they’re going to pick out a tree.” She hoped by mentioning this, he might excuse himself to help the couple personally, but he didn’t move from where he leaned against the counter. Nervous energy returned to her stomach. She didn’t like to be here without her buffer. Damn Mia for being married and wanting things like Christmas trees.
“Did you want a drink?” she asked, making minimum eye contact.
“Sure. I’ll take the Mexican hot chocolate.”
At this, a smile lifted the edges of her mouth. “You know, you can order something else. I’m not going to judge you or anything.”
“I’m actually starting to like it. It has a warm kick to it. I think you were right that you need to appreciate it as its own drink and not compare it to American hot chocolate.”
She proceeded to make the drink for him. Maybe this could still be normal, even with Mia gone.
He cleared his throat. “So…” he started, his hands rubbing the back of his neck. She got a sinking feeling. “Are you, uh, doing anything after you close up today?”
Was he actually asking her out? If she wasn’t dealing with anxiety, she’d be impressed with his guts. Her mind scrambled to come up with a convenient excuse. Natalie could say she and Mia were already doing something after work, so she could avoid him without making it sound like a rejection.
“I just thought that—I really enjoyed hanging out with you after closing and sharing waffle wraps. Also, now that we have snow, we have this really great hill just on the other side of the barn and it might be fun to go tubing.”
“Oh.” It was a sweet invitation. Natalie couldn’t remember the last time she went sledding or snow tubing. Some of her older cousins had kids and it was enjoyable to watch them have fun. These days, she was beginning to feel too much of an adult to participate in such activities herself.
