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By the time we arrived home from breakfast, a heaviness had settled on my shoulders. I was pretty sure Mom’s talk was supposed to reassure me, but it somehow made me all the more anxious. At any second, my world could be flipped upside down.
I just wished they’d get it over with.
I hopped out of the car and walked next to my mom to the front door. A large box sat on the front porch. Taped to the top of it was a card with my name on it, written in the small, sloppy scrawl I recognized as Carson’s handwriting.
“What’s this?” Mom said, picking up the card.
I yanked it from her hands, then blushed. “Sorry. Um, I think it’s from Carson.”
“Brooks?” Her eyes widened, conveying her surprise.
Welcome to the club.
“Uh, yeah,” I said, avoiding her gaze.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Oh. So, how’s the Angel Program going? Good, I take it?”
“Yeah, good.” I nodded. My fingers itched to open the box. All I wanted to do was take it up to my room so I could see what was inside.
“Good,” Mom repeated like it was a new word. “Well, I’m glad,” she said with a knowing smile. “You know, I always thought he might have a crush on you. When you guys were kids, he used to watch you and Ethan at the beach playing. He was always trying to get your attention.”
I grinned. To think all these years, all I had to do to get Carson to stop antagonizing me was to pay him attention.
“Well, go on. I know you’re dying to open it.” She shooed me inside. “I won’t hover.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I called out as I picked up the box. Then proceeded up the stairs, the box balanced in front of me.
“Don’t fall,” she hollered after me.
I hurried into my bedroom, set the box down on the floor, and opened the card. Inside was a small note.
Mia,
You deserve the best. And though the quality of this tree is questionable, it’s little like you. Maybe it’s kismet.
Or maybe it’s all the drugstore had left. But everyone deserves a tree. Especially you.
Merry Christmas, Shorty.
Yours,
Carson
I smiled as I opened the box, and, sure enough, inside was a little two-foot Christmas tree. The pine branches stretched to the top of the box, reaching like little arms. Scooping it up by the plastic base, I pulled it out and set it on top of my desk.
Hanging from the little branches were small plastic bulbs in pink, blue, and silver. Strung across the artificial pine, on clear twine that looked suspiciously like fishing wire, were diamond-shaped crystals. And when I clicked the red button on the box at the base, bright, white lights twinkled like stars.
It was maybe the best tree I’d ever seen. And it was mine.
Sinking down into my desk chair, I stared at it, memorizing every little detail before I picked up my cell and dialed Carson’s number to tell him thanks. When he finally answered, and I heard the deep rumble of his voice, my stomach somersaulted, and all I could think was that it felt a lot like falling.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I wiped my damp palms on the top of my jeans and glanced at the people around me, wondering if anyone else could possibly be as nervous as I was.
That morning, I put on my Wild Cats hoodie and a pair of cute jeans, then took a ridiculous amount of time to weave my peachy locks into a fishtail braid underneath a baseball cap. Some light makeup and lip gloss completed the look. All in all, I thought I looked cute, but not like I was trying too hard.
