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Maggie had winced and apologized profusely, but Katie had brushed her off, insisting that she loved it. And she had. They’d needed to go out to buy more decorations to fill it, but Katie had loved every second of it. She still had a picture of a puzzled and slightly embarrassed Maggie standing next to it stuck to her refrigerator.
But she hadn’t minded when, the very next year, Maggie had shown up with a tape measure and a notebook to ensure they picked a tree with the correct dimensions.
And so their Christmas tree tradition had begun. Never quite getting over that first tree, Maggie measured the space before they left every year, and, when they found one they liked, they measured it from every angle, and they made it through the Christmas season without having to squeeze around the tree, or missing half the TV screen.
Maggie examined the tape measure in front of her, stretched out between the two of them. “Not bad. Looks like it’ll fit.”
“Great,” Katie replied, grinning. She’d known it would. She’d grown up with her mom training her to have an uncanny eye for the size of the tree they needed, and it was a skill that had never seemed to leave her. But she didn’t want to ruin her tradition with Maggie.
“Does it look a little uneven to you?” Maggie asked, circling it slowly.
Katie watched her, Maggie’s words bouncing around in her head. She looked at the tree the same way she looked at the things she photographed. There, in her eyes, was that incredible, assessing thing she did. The one where she lined everything up perfectly, saw the very best way to capture every little thing. And there was that magical twinkle Katie had never seen in anyone else—assessing but in awe. Maggie saw the beauty in everything. She captured the beauty in everything.
Katie was fairly certain it didn’t matter whether she thought the tree looked uneven or not. Maggie wasn’t asking as a reason to reject the tree, she was considering it, seeing every little thing about it. Katie knew how to assess someone medically, knew how to factor in every contingency she needed to best help someone, but she seldom got to see the world the way Maggie did. Maybe that was part of why she loved Maggie’s photographs so much—why Maggie’s photographs were so beautiful. They captured how she saw the world, and it was wonderful.
As Katie watched her, her eyes catching on the pink in Maggie’s cheeks, the tip of her nose, red with cold, and that glimmer in her eyes, she felt for the first time like she was seeing it in real life. Like she’d finally learned how to look at the world and see it the way Maggie did. It was a million times more beautiful than Katie could ever have imagined.
Maggie finished circling the tree, and looked up at Katie, still waiting for her answer.
Katie looked directly at her, unable to take her eyes off that mesmerizing exhilaration she saw in them. “It looks perfect,” she said, her voice a little rougher than she’d expected.
Maggie’s breath caught, her eyes widening, her pupils dilating. She stared back at Katie with something loaded between them.
Katie didn’t understand it, but, as her stomach somersaulted and her heart pounded, she was certain she’d never felt anything like it, and she couldn’t get enough.
Part of her suddenly wasn’t so sure she’d been talking about the tree.
Maggie sucked in an audible breath, her lips parting, and Katie couldn’t help but follow the movement.
She knew it wasn’t the first time she’d looked at Maggie’s lips, but she was cognizant enough to know it was different this time.
“You think?” Maggie breathed, and Katie was aware of how close together they were suddenly standing, even though she couldn’t recall either of them moving.
She nodded, her ribs battling her as she attempted to get enough air into her lungs. “I really do,” she whispered back.
Maggie nodded, leaning somehow even closer.
Katie’s eyes flickered to her lips again. Soft, pink, perfect.
“Nice tree you ladies got there,” called a voice, shattering the moment and prompting the pair of them to jump apart from each other.
Katie looked down, clearing her throat and putting on her best bedside manner. She had no idea what had just happened—and almost happened—but she did know how to put her feelings away to be what someone else needed her to be. “Thank you. We’re pretty happy with it.”
The man in question—a guy easily in his seventies, with a fisherman sweater, and his own saw—nodded and grinned, apparently satisfied that they were taking the tree in question, and it wasn’t available for him to select.
Katie was certain that, even if they hadn’t already been set on it, she’d have been insisting it was the one after… whatever that loaded moment was.
She was wise enough to know what it felt like, but she couldn’t understand at all. She and Maggie spent so much time together and it had never been so electric before, never had they so clearly been about to… kiss. Already, her brain was telling her she’d misunderstood the situation, that it was her and Maggie and they couldn’t possibly have been about to kiss, but what else could it have been? Sure, nothing had ever felt quite like that before, but she’d kissed more than enough people to know what looks like that led to.
As the guy wandered off, joining back up with his party on their quest for the perfect tree, Katie chanced a glance at Maggie.
Her face was aflame, and Katie was certain it couldn’t just be the cold making her so red.
Obviously feeling Katie watching her, and looking for any way out of the moment, Maggie cleared her throat. “So, this one?” She gestured to the tree with her saw.
Katie nodded. “This one. It’s perfect.”
Maggie made a tiny, tortured noise, but cleared her throat again in an attempt to cover it up. She scrambled to the floor, setting about taking it home with them. And Katie stood, watching her, her brain filled with everything and nothing at the same time. The only clear thoughts in her head were the question of whether she’d wanted Maggie to kiss her, and what it meant if the answer wasyes.
