“That’s nice.”
She nodded. “The fake one is always fancy, with silver and blue ornaments, and the real one is decorated with all the ornaments I’ve made through the years or things Mom and I have made together or ornaments we’ve picked up on vacation.”
“Since we don’t have a real one this year, why don’t we save most of the fancy ornaments for next year when things are back to normal for you and put all the most cherished ornaments on this one?”
“Okay.”
“You and Lydia can start going through the boxes and see if you can find the ornaments you’d like to use, as well as the garland and whatever tree topper you usually have out here.”
“It’s an angel my mom said my grandma used to hang on the tree.”
He had totally forgotten that angel. With a sudden rush of nostalgia, he remembered how much pleasure Laura used to get in taking the angel out of the box every year and setting her atop the tree.
He used to talk to the angel, he remembered, with no small amount of mortification.
“Perfect.” Holly smiled at Audrey. “We’ll save that job for last, since that’s something you and your uncle can do without us, if we run out of time and have to leave for our shower.”
“Sounds good.”
“While you’re looking through the boxes, set aside any other holiday decorations you are absolutely sure your mother would want you to put out.”
“Okay. Lydia and I can do that.”
“Great. Meanwhile, your uncle and I will head outside with that box of lights and hang them on the tree out front. As I recall, that’s what your mom did last year.”
Audrey nodded. “She was so happy after we moved into this house. We had always lived in apartments before we started renting this one and we never had our own yard to decorate.”
“How lovely,” Holly said.
“Even when we lived in apartments, Mom always decorated our balcony or patio with lights and a little Christmas tree.”
Kim had loved Christmas. He should have remembered. After their mom died, when they would both come home from their respective boarding schools, she would insist the two of them decorate the house. She used to say it was her way of connecting to their mom, who had also loved the holidays.
He was suddenly grateful he had asked Holly for her help. With everything Kim was going through, his sister deserved to be able to return home to lights and decorations and holiday cheer.
“I can probably decorate the trees and shrubs outside on my own, if you want to stay here and help Audrey and Lydia.”
She appeared to consider his suggestion, then shrugged. “I expect things will go faster and be less frustrating if there are two of us. In my experience, lights are easier with a team. You can string the lights while I work on keeping them untangled as much as possible.”
“Good plan.”
“I should have left my coat on,” she said ruefully.
“Here. Let me help you.”
He grabbed her coat from the rack and helped her slip her arms into the sleeves. As he did, he couldn’t help noticing the sweetly seductive scent of her, vanilla and lemons and apples.
He grabbed his own coat from the rack and donned it before fishing his gloves out of his pocket.
She grabbed one box of lights and he picked up the other one and they both headed outside into the cold December day, where sunlight gleamed off the snow.
He couldn’t help an instinctive shiver and she sent him a sidelong look.
“Sorry. I’ve been living in San Diego for two years and before that I was in Hawaii, with Guam before that.”
“Must be tough.”
“Well, I did spend six months deployed on a carrier in the North Atlantic, but that’s been a few years. I’m still trying to get used to winter weather again.”
