A Hippogriff for Christmas - Zoe Chant Page 0,17
to appreciate the year and what you’ve done during it.”
Annie glanced at him. “What – you mean like buy myself a present or something like that?”
“Well, why not?” Beau laughed softly. “Sometimes we have to take matters into our own hands. Besides, who better to buy a gift for than yourself? At least you know you’ll get yourself something you like, so you won’t have to bother pretending the concrete frog your aunt got you for your non-existent garden is the best thing you’ve ever seen.”
His words startled a laugh out of Annie. She hadn’t been expecting that! “You sound like you’re speaking from experience with that one.”
Beau shook his head. “Well, let’s just say there’s a very happy concrete frog who now lives in my neighbor’s yard, along with a bunch of concrete fairies, concrete gnomes, and concrete cats. He’s much happier there than he would be as a doorstopper in my apartment, that’s for sure.”
“Sounds like a responsible rehoming to me,” Annie agreed, unable to stop herself from smiling. “I hope your aunt gets you something else this year.”
Beau shrugged, his expression mild. “Well, it’s the thought that counts. I think there was supposed to be a hidden message in it.”
“Which was?”
Glancing at her, Beau shifted a little uneasily in his seat. “I think maybe the message was that it was time to move out of my one-room apartment and find something bigger, with a garden for the frog. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, but they’re not exactly the most subtle people in the world. In their opinion, it’s high time I stopped focusing so much on work and got my life together.”
“Oh… you work a lot?” Annie could feel her face coloring for some inexplicable reason. So… if his family wants him to settle down, then that must mean he’s single.
Well. She’d kind of assumed that from the way he’d asked her out on a date. But it was nice to have it spelled out.
And did that mean he agreed at least a little with his family’s assessment, and he was looking to settle down…?
Furiously, Annie pushed the thought aside.
What happened to your resolve that this was going to be a three-day thing? she asked herself. Even if he is looking, that doesn’t mean he’d choose you! You just met! Don’t let these stupid fantasies go to your head!
Living in a dream world was how disappointment happened. No expectations meant no disappointment, right? It was a tough lesson she’d had to learn long ago. She couldn’t let herself forget it for the first gorgeous-eyed, gorgeous-smiled, muscular, charming, sexy –
Focus!
“We’re here!” Annie blurted out as the sign for Johnstone’s Christmas Trees came blissfully into view, before she could say anything stupid like So, if you’re thinking of settling down… what do you think of girls who work in bakeries?
She turned down the long driveway of the farm, the freshly plowed snow piled high on either side. Despite how close it was to Christmas, she could still see a lot of trees planted, looking, she had to admit, beautiful. Dark green and covered in a light dusting of snow, they looked exactly like something out of a picture postcard. Beau seemed to be appreciating the view too, looking out over the tree-filled field in silence.
“So, uh, how does this work?” Annie asked as she pulled up outside Ben Johnstone’s shopfront, which was designed to look like an old log cabin. “I’ve never really bought a Christmas tree before.”
“Well, if it works the same as it used to, you go out and find the right tree for you, and the farmer cuts it down and sells it to you,” Beau said. “But it’s been a while for me too – the last time I was around for the actual buying of the tree was when I was a kid.”
“Oh, so this’ll be like… something you haven’t done in a while,” Annie said, the thought warming her heart for reasons she couldn’t define.
“Yeah.” Beau’s grin was broad and genuine. “C’mon – it’ll be fun.”
Despite herself, Annie found some small part of her heart believed him as together they got out of the car, putting on their winter coats against the frozen wind. Going and picking out a Christmas tree wasn’t something she ever could have imagined herself doing, but she would’ve been lying if she’d said there wasn’t some part of her that wasn’t at least a little bit excited.
As soon as they stepped into the warmth of