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“Why did you lose your job?”
Brandon’s question caught her off guard. She fumbled with the ax.
“Careful, you don’t want to cut yourself.”
She gained control of the ax. For a few minutes there was nothing but the sound of them breathing and the crunch of snow under their feet. “I set up a deal along with the help of a man who I thought cared about me. He stabbed me in the back. When the artist decided not to sign the contract with our company, Joe blamed it all on me. He kept his job and I lost mine.”
“Why would he do that?”
She stopped, faced him. “Because I was the up-and-coming person who knew her stuff while he was hanging on my coattails, but I just couldn’t see it.”
Brandon looked at her for a moment. “You cared about the guy.”
“Yeah. I thought he would ask me to marry him.”
“That stings.”
“Yes, it does.” But for some reason not as much as if had before she’d met Brandon.
“I’m sorry that happened to you.” He sounded sincere.
“I guess we have more than art in common. We have poor judgment in people.”
She walked on. Brandon said nothing more and neither did she.
At the cabin he laid the tree at the front door. “How much do you want me to cut for the tree?”
She showed him. He took the top off.
“I’ll cut the limbs off and bring them in.”
“Okay. I’ll get the tree set up.” She headed inside.
Brandon said softly, “He was a jerk, you know.”
“Yeah. I know.” She gave him a tight smile. “But it’s nice to have someone else think so too.”
Inside she placed the treetop in an empty can of water she found under the sink. She put it on the table. She wrapped a bright red scarf around the can as a tree skirt. Gathering the packages of ornaments and a string of battery powered lights, she began to add them to the limbs.
Brandon entered with an arm load of boughs. “Where do you want these?”
“Just put them on the floor beside the door.”
“What do I need to do next?” He added a log to the fire.
“Why don’t you come help me?” He gave her a dubious look but shucked his coat. She had most of the ornaments on the tree. “You can help put on the tinsel.”
They worked together placing the shiny strings, occasionally their fingers touching. She was too aware of Brandon. “You’ve gotten the hang of this. I’m going to start with the greenery.”
“You’re leaving me?” He sounded like a small boy who wasn’t sure of himself.
She laid her hand on his shoulder without thinking. “I think you got this.”
He looked at her hand. Then his gaze met hers.
“I better get started on that greenery. I have to drive to my cousin’s tonight.” Laurel placed limbs along the mantle and added some large red plaid bows and round gold ornaments.
“All done,” Brandon announced. “I could use some lunch. How about you?”
