A Hippogriff for Christmas - Zoe Chant Page 0,20

fantasyland. Then it’s back to the real world.

“All right then,” Beau said, lifting the ax once more. “One down, ten to go.”

“Ten?” Annie asked. “The order was only for ten – you’ve only got nine to go.”

Beau shook his head. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten why we came out here in the first place – you still need a tree too.”

“Oh – well, maybe,” Annie said. “But not if it’s going to mean –”

Beau waved away her objections. “It’s no trouble. Especially not for you, Annie. But in any case, it’s kind of good to be out here again. I haven’t had the chance to get out and about in nature in a while. It’s reminding me of when I used to do this kind of thing with my father and sisters. We’d pick out a tree, and then we’d help him cut it down. When we got older, we could do the cutting ourselves. It was a tradition, all my life – but work’s taken me away from it recently.”

“Sound idyllic,” Annie had to admit, images of Beau and his family hiking through the woods in search of the perfect tree flittering through her head. Were his sisters as tall and good-looking as he was?

“Yeah, it was a pretty great way to grow up,” Beau said. “I was lucky in that way.” He cocked his head, seeming about to ask her about her own childhood – but as if sensing her reticence to talk about it, he only smiled warmly before he turned away, swinging the ax down on the trunk of the next tree.

Annie was almost sorry when the last of the trees had been chopped – she thought she could probably stand here and watch the muscles in Beau’s back and shoulders move as he swung the ax all day, no matter how cold it got.

He stood up straight, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead before hoisting the tenth tree onto the trolley, to be hauled away by Mr. Johnstone.

“I guess you’re done then,” she said, looking a little wistfully at the muscled arms that would soon be hidden once more beneath the sweater he’d been wearing.

“Not quite yet,” Beau reminded her. “We still have to pick out your tree.”

Annie bit her lip, wanting to tell him not to worry about it. But she’d agreed to this – if she wasn’t going to commit to it, then she might as well just tell Beau she wouldn’t take up any more of his time, and let him go home to his family.

“Okay,” she said. “But I think I need to tell you my apartment is pretty small. It definitely won’t fit any trees this size in the living room.”

“Okay, so we’re looking for something compact,” Beau said, smiling. He glanced around. “What about that guy over there?”

Annie turned to look where he was pointing, and saw a small, perfectly triangular, bright green tree. It looked cute – almost fluffy.

As soon as she saw it, Annie knew where she’d put it – on top of the wooden box in the corner of her living room, where she stored her old magazines and some comic books she’d had since she was young. Somehow, she could already see it there, a few small fairy lights draped over its branches, a golden star twinkling on top… and her and Beau sitting on the sofa beside it, drinking a cup of warm milk in the glimmering lights, gazing into one another’s eyes, leaning forward ever so slightly as they –

“Yeah, that one should work,” she said quickly, hoping he couldn’t see the way she was flushing bright red.

Honestly, she thought, as she watched Beau make his way over to the little tree. I have to get a handle on this, or the next three days are going to be incredibly awkward.

She’d never usually had any trouble with letting her imagination get the better of her. What was so different about now?!

She watched as Beau, clearly deciding the ax might be a bit of an overkill for such a small tree, put it down and picked up a hacksaw instead. In what seemed like no time, he’d cut through the trunk and was lifting the tree into his arms.

“I think I can carry that one,” Annie said, reaching out her arms. “You’ve done enough work for one day!”

“If you’re sure,” Beau said. “I don’t mind – it barely weighs a thing.”

“Then it’ll be no issue for me to carry it,” Annie said,