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By the time they finished the meal and the cleanup, it was dark outside, and a chilly breeze was blowing. Cooper helped Jess into the Jeep and let Maggie and Trevor into the back. Christmas music was playing on the radio. At Maggie’s insistence, they sang along as they drove to the Christmas tree lot on the south end of town.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way . . .
Cooper went through the motions, but he wasn’t feeling the spirit. There were just two things he wanted for Christmas. The first was for his son to be happy here in their new home—a wish that was still hanging in the balance. The object of the second wish was sitting next to him in the passenger seat. She was laughing and singing, but he wasn’t fooled. By looking into her past without her permission, he’d lost her trust. And he’d made her angry enough that all she wanted was to leave him.
It was too bad that Santa, or somebody like him, couldn’t just slide down the chimney or knock on the front door and bring him the answers he needed.
The Christmas tree lot was set up in a fenced-off area next to the hardware store. Tonight it was a lively place, with Christmas lights strung overhead, Christmas songs playing on a speaker, and the fresh aroma of pine perfuming the air.
Customers, mostly families, strolled up and down the aisles between rows of trees. Two teenage girls, behind a long table, passed out miniature candy canes and served free hot chocolate in little Styrofoam cups. A couple of husky boys helped carry the trees out to vehicles and tie them in place.
The assistant manager, Hank Miller, stood by the gate, greeting people as they came in. A stocky, balding man in his late forties, with an artificial leg that gave him a slight limp, he was all smiles tonight. The tree lot had been his idea, and it was a rousing success.
Cooper remembered Grace telling him how Hank had lost his leg in a farm accident. After his wife and son left him, he’d become an alcoholic. It was Sam who’d gotten him into AA and found him a job at the hardware store—the job that had turned his life around.
“Come on! Let’s find a tree!” Maggie gripped Jess’s hand and tugged her down the rows. Trevor followed a little behind. Cooper hung back. He would pay for the damned tree, but the others could pick it out.
Scrooge. You’re a Scrooge.
Guilty as charged.
“Look at this one!” Maggie pointed to a medium-sized tree. “What do you think, Trevor? It’s going to be in your house.”
“I guess it’ll do,” Trevor said. “Dad? You’re the one buying it.”
Cooper went through the motions of inspecting the tree, which was full, fresh, and not too big for the house. “It looks fine,” he said. “Let’s get it and go.”
“But don’t you want to look at more?” Maggie argued. “You have to look at them all and find the perfect one. That’s part of Christmas.”
“The tree is fine, Maggie,” Cooper said. “You and Trevor both have school tomorrow, and it’s getting late. We need to take you home.”
Maggie pouted a moment, then tugged Trevor over to get some hot chocolate while Cooper paid for the tree. Jess stood at his elbow. “Good man,” she said. “I knew you’d do the right thing and get a tree.”
“No man could stand up to you and Maggie.”
“You’re going to need some decorations,” she said. “I’ve got a box of them stored in the unit I rented for my furniture. I’ll stop by after school tomorrow and pick them up. There’s even a stand that holds water. We can decorate tomorrow night if you want.”
“Or we can wait for a good time. Since Maggie was so keen on our getting a tree, she’ll probably want to help. The tree will be fine outside for a few days.”
They loaded the tree in the back of the Jeep, leaving the rear window down to accommodate the top. The piney aroma filled the space inside the vehicle, evoking Cooper’s memories of boyhood Christmases, before his father left the family and his mother sank into depression. Both he and Grace had suffered scars from that time—hers worse than his because she was younger. Now Grace was happily married to a good man, with a child who needed her. But Cooper was still looking for his happy ending.
Would he find it here, with the woman beside him? Or had he already made too many mistakes?
“That’s a nice smell,” Trevor said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had a real tree before. Mom had one of those plastic ones that she put out every year. And with just you and me, Dad, we never even had a tree.”
“Do you like it?” Cooper asked. “The tree, I mean.”
“Yeah, I guess I do. It smells like . . . Christmas.”
“See,” Maggie said. “I told you that you needed a tree.”
“Since you’re such a smarty, you can help us decorate it,” Cooper said. “Ask your mother to call me after school tomorrow and we’ll arrange it.”
“Goody! I love decorating trees!” Maggie clapped her hands as the Jeep pulled up to her house. The outside light was on, and Grace had come out onto the porch. Maggie scampered up the steps to her mother. Both of them returned Cooper’s wave as he pulled away from the curb and drove off.
A cheerful Christmas song was playing on the radio as he drove back to the ranch. Cooper hadn’t given much thought to Christmas this year, except for having it over with. Trevor had at least pretended not to care about the season. And with her house in ruins, Jess could hardly be in a mood to celebrate.
But it was as if the Christmas spirit was reaching out to surround them with its glittering promise—the promise that somehow things would be better, and that the gift of what each one wanted most would be under the Christmas tree, just waiting to be unwrapped.
