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“Not at the expense of your health.”
“I’m not yours to worry about, dear brother.”
We usually took turns as a family checking up on him, but I wondered when the last time was that anyone had. Talon was good at setting us up with no expectations of him showing up at family events or even working the farm. We all made excuses for him. He’d never gotten over that girl. He was grieving Dad. He was an artist who couldn’t be disturbed when he worked. But maybe we’d been too lenient with him. We should have insisted he talk to one of us. That he’d get some help if he needed it.
“What are you thinking about for the lane?”
Talon pulled out a piece of paper that showed the possible layout of the various decorations. There were different themes, and they were grouped together according to those.
“This looks amazing. But it’s ambitious.”
“I won’t get all of that done this year. But I can work on it in between my other projects.”
“You don’t mind that we might use this to charge people to view it?”
“That’s what you wanted it for, right?”
“What will you do if people ask for them? Will you make more?”
“That’s an interesting idea. Or do we make it exclusive to the farm? If you want it, you have to come here to see it.”
“I like how you think.”
“I might make some pieces for a few special people.”
“Are Sarah and Addy included in that?” I asked, pleased he’d included them.
“You know they are.”
“Why?”
“Because you like them, and they appreciate my stuff.” He nodded toward my phone, where I had the image saved to my screensaver.
“I’d make one for Sebastian, but he lives in town.”
“He’s talking about building his cabin again.”
“It’s about time. We should all be on the farm. That’s what we envisioned when we were kids. Living here and working on the farm. Making it so all of us could have a place here. There’s no reason for him to be in town.”
He put on his goggles, and that was my cue to leave. I left, knowing he wouldn’t want to talk anymore. I was lucky he’d given me as much time as he had. He didn’t like to be interrupted, saying it messed with his creative flow.
I couldn’t help but think all of us were better off with Ireland and now Sarah in our lives. We were grumpy bastards who kept to ourselves. Maybe it was a good thing that I met Sarah and Addy. They were helping me to see the good things about Christmas. The ones I’d glossed over because I was so exhausted from selling trees and dealing with cranky customers.
For the first time in a while, I appreciated the smell of evergreens, the twinkling of the lights on the path, and the random placement of decorations that Ember and Addy left on the trees on Sunday.
I was lucky to live here. Maybe the farm was magical, like Sarah said.
My feet felt lighter as I went through my day. I even cracked a smile or two, mainly at the kids who declared their tree the biggest and best ever.
But Friday night couldn’t arrive quickly enough.
On Friday, I got to work early, determined to leave on time so that I could enjoy my evening with Sarah and Addy. I wouldn’t be able to cook, so I thought of options for dinner if they were hungry, figuring I couldn’t go wrong with pizza.
I found myself humming as I helped put trees on the roofs of cars and vans in the early evening.
“What are you so happy about?” Heath grumbled.
“I have a date with Sarah and Addy. They’re going to help decorate my tree.”
