Bared Souls - Ellie Wade Page 0,53
evergreen.
“I like it. Are we calling it then?”
“Yes. This is the one,” she confirms, and I walk toward the tree. “Wait. Before you cut it down, let’s get a selfie.”
We stand in front of our first Christmas tree, and Alma holds her phone out, taking pics.
“Can you do it? Your arm is longer, so you can get more of the tree in the background.”
I take the cell phone from her, clicking a few pics. “Good?”
“One more.”
I hold the phone back out and smile as Alma kisses my cheek, and I snap the photo.
I return the cell phone to her. “All right, let’s do this.”
After the pine tree is cut, wrapped, and tied to the top of my car, we start back toward Ypsilanti and my house.
Prior to the Christmas tree farm, I’d taken Alma to a seasonal store to pick out holiday decor for both the interior of my house and the tree. There was much debate on what theme to go with—and by debate, I mean, Alma talking out loud to herself. Pink and silver almost won out, but since this is her first time Christmas decorating, she ultimately decided to go with traditional, hence the bags of everything green and red that the store carried piled high in the back seat and filling the trunk.
Shopping isn’t how I’d normally prefer to spend a Saturday—or any day really. Online shopping is definitely my preferred method. But Alma makes even the most mundane tasks enjoyable. She makes the former chore of simply living worth it.
She’s my reason. She’s five foot two inches of beauty, brains, and spunk, and she makes everything better.
Holiday music plays softly through the speakers as we decorate my main living area.
“Christmas is officially my favorite holiday.” Alma beams, hooking glittery red bulbs onto the tree branches. “Let’s do this every year, okay?”
“Yeah.” I grin.
Something deep within my chest aches. The thought of Alma here in my house a year from now is an incredible feeling. I never realized how much love hurts. There’s a thin line between love and pain.
“I can see why people start decorating after Halloween. It just makes me so happy.”
“Hold up. We are not going to be the people who put up our Christmas decorations on November 1. Those people are crazy.” I shake my head.
“So? I bet they’re happy.”
“Well, you can’t get a real tree if you decorate too early, or it will be dead by Christmas,” I offer some logic.
“We could put up a fake tree first, and then in December, we’ll get a second real tree. People can have two trees, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.” I smile. “Whatever you want, babe.”
Truth be told, if Alma wanted to celebrate Christmas fifty-two weeks a year, I’d do it. She can have whatever the hell she wants.
“Let’s string popcorn!” she gasps. “That’s a thing, right? Making strings of popcorn and draping it around the tree. I swear I’ve seen that before.”
“Yeah, it’s a thing.”
“Sweet. We can do that and watch that Charlie Brown show you were telling me about.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Just then, the sounds of voices ring outside the front door, and I watch Alma’s face as she figures out what’s happening.
“Carolers?” she shrieks, and her reaction is exactly as I pictured it when I set it up with Quinn earlier.
I follow Alma to the door, and she opens it, a giant smile plastered to her face. She leans back into my chest and listens as Amos, Quinn, and a dozen of Quinn’s sorority sisters serenade us with Christmas tunes.
After they’ve finished a few songs, they come inside for cocoa and cookies. Yep, I bought hot chocolate and cookies for this occasion. I’m a regular-ass Martha Stewart.
“Thank you so much. That was awesome,” Alma tells Amos and Quinn.
“It was Leo’s idea,” Quinn says.
“Well, thank you. I loved it.”
“Happy birthday, Mutt.” Amos hands her a small gift bag and pulls her into a hug.
“Thank you,” she says to Amos, and the genuine joy on her face is everything I wanted for her today.
Alma’s soul is so pure and good. She deserves nothing but happiness.
The carolers stay for an hour but then head out for some big sorority social event they have planned with another fraternity. As Quinn’s date to the event, Amos leaves as well.
It’s been a long, busy day, and with most of the decorating complete, I stream A Charlie Brown Christmas. Alma snuggles up against me under a fleece throw on the couch.
“I love you,” I tell her and kiss