“I’ll send you copies of these for your files,” I said.
“Thanks. Just email them to me,” Chase said. He yawned and stretched his arms. “I guess I should get home. I had a long day, and I still have to work on a couple of reports when I get home. Thank Iris for the dinner for me and tell Camille goodnight.” He paused, then added. “I do understand about the redcaps. Sometimes you just have to accept that some of the bad guys are really bad, and there’s nothing you can do to change that.”
With that, he left, and Menolly and I watched him until he was in his car and safely driving down the road.
“I really shouldn’t tease him so much,” Menolly said. “But it’s so much fun.”
I snorted. “Well, I think he might secretly enjoy it.” But I stopped when we heard a short screech from the woods. It sounded like a bird in pain. I hurried inside to check on Cromwell, but he was asleep in his house. Relieved, but wondering how long it was going to be before we felt safe in our home again, I returned to the living room, where I tried to distract myself by talking to Menolly before her shift began down at the Wayfarer.
CHAPTER SIX
Next morning, I came downstairs to find Camille and Iris discussing a shopping trip.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“We’re going shopping for a tree. Apparently, they decorate trees for the holidays here too, though a lot of people celebrate Christmas instead of the Solstice. I think I remember Mother talking about that when we were young,” Camille said. “Iris is going to help us get everything we need.” Her eye sparkled, and she seemed to be more excited than I’d seen her in a long while.
“That sounds like fun. I’ll come, too. I wish we could take Menolly with us,” I said.
“I know, but she can help decorate tonight. We’ll make popcorn and cocoa and just spend the evening together. Hopefully, we won’t be interrupted by those freaking redcaps,” Camille said.
Iris handed me a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast. “I’ll make fudge today. And you haven’t seen any of the season’s movies. I’ve got several DVDs we can watch: It’s A Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Carol—which you’ll like regardless of what holiday you celebrate—and a few others. I love this time of year,” she said, beaming. “It reminds me of being home in Finland.”
“How long have you been gone from there?” I asked.
“A long time,” Iris said. “I don’t like to talk about it, though. There are some memories that should stay in the past.” She looked so serious that I wondered what had happened, but she obviously didn’t want to talk about it, so I changed the subject.
“How tall of a tree can we get?” I asked.
“Well, the ceiling in the living room is at least fourteen feet,” Iris said. “How tall of a tree do you want?”
“Ten feet, at least,” I said.
Camille looked at me. “Are you sure? That’s a lot of tree.”
“We should create our own traditions. And since Father didn’t like a lot of fuss for the holidays, at least after Mother died, we can go all out this year. Please? Pretty please?”
Letting out a sigh, Camille gave me a begrudging grin. “All right, we’ll find a nice, full, tall tree. But we should move some furniture out of the way first so that when we get it home, we aren’t stuck with doing that before we bring it inside.”
“What kind of ornaments do you want? I know a couple little boutiques that carry some of the most beautiful pieces,” Iris said.
“I don’t know—something wintery and magical,” Camille said.
We spent the rest of breakfast discussing what was available, and how we wanted to deck out the house. It felt freeing, one more step to having our own lives, even if we were a world away from our relatives.
After stopping to put a ‘closed for the day’ sign on the Indigo Cresent, we headed out in search for a tree. It seemed every open lot had been taken over by tree salesmen, with bold signs advertising the best of the best for low, low, low prices. None of the prices were that low, but by now I was used to the hyperbole of sales hype.
The tree lot was fairly empty. Most people seemed to buy their trees after work. The morning was cloud-free for a change, though cold. All bundled up, we wandered around the lot, looking at the different types of trees. The smell of wet timber was intoxicating to me, though I knew it was my Tabby responding to the fragrance. When I was in my cat form, I loved wandering through the woods, taking in all the sights and smells.
Iris gave me a wary look. “Don’t you dare shift forms here. There’s too much traffic on these streets and you’d get your fuzzy little butt run over first thing.”
“I’ll try to restrain myself,” I said, rolling my eyes.
The salesman headed our way, and before long, we were standing in front of an eleven-foot tall blue spruce. It looked like a sprinkling of snow had showered its branches, but it was just the shimmer of the needles.
“This is so pretty!” I said.
“I know,” Camille agreed. “I’d like to grow a few of these in the yard. We could decorate them each year, as well.”
