A Little Country Christmas - Carolyn Brown Page 0,15
times better. Those are the cutest ornaments on your tree. So original and fitting for a quilt shop. Love the little squirrel. Are you going to make more animals?”
“Plannin’ on it.” Dixie told her the story of the squirrel. “I’m too cheap to buy a tree or ornaments.” She snapped two pictures of it from different angles and sent them to Claire. “That’s money that can be saved up for a car so we can be more independent, and before you say anything, I need to do that on my own too.”
“You’re as stubborn-headed as Patsy,” Sarah said.
Dixie giggled. “Thank you. I want to grow up to be just like the Fab Five.”
“Oh, honey, if you mixed us all up together and put us in one little ole thing like you, it would be more dangerous than a box of dynamite.” Sarah laughed with her. “Now why don’t you get busy and make some more ornaments? If you cover it up with stuff, it might look like something other than a Charlie Brown tree. What are those two pillowcases covering up, anyway?”
Dixie nodded in agreement. “The flowerpots from the porch are under the sacks. Sally can’t get into the dirt inside them that way, and they’re propping up the tree so it won’t fall over again. I’ve got to admit, even though the tree isn’t beautiful, the experience of getting it and sharing time with Landon was amazing.”
“That boy really likes you,” Sarah said.
“I really like him, but…,” Dixie began.
Sarah held up a hand. “There are no buts in relationships.”
Dixie wanted to believe that, but she’d had too many disappointments in her life to let herself think such a thing.
“Would you look at the time? It’s my day to make lunch so I’d better get on home. If you change your mind about the tree,” Sarah said as she picked up her coat and hat, “just let me know, but it is looking better with each thing you hang on it.”
Sally stuck out her lower lip in one of her famous pouts when Sarah walked out the door.
“Turn that frown upside down,” Dixie told her little girl as she scattered toys out on a quilt on the floor that Dixie used for a play mat. “We’ve got lots of fun things going on, like working on Landon’s throw. What do you think, sweetheart? Let’s put a snowman on a quilt square today since we’ll be making one out in the yard tonight.”
“Lan-Lan, snow.” Sally nodded and picked up a stuffed donkey that Sarah had bought for her back on her first birthday. “Lil Bit, snow?”
“No, Little Bit won’t be here to play in the snow with us, but we’ll go see him again, soon.” Dixie made a snowman out of white satin, sewed small buttons on his face for a nose and eyes, and even appliqued a red-and-green scarf around his neck. Then she designed a square with a string of Christmas lights tangled up in the middle.
* * *
The day dragged by for Landon like a snail trying to go from the barn to the bunkhouse in the snow. He spent the morning hefting fifty-pound bags of feed onto his shoulders and carrying them from the truck to the troughs for the cattle and trying not to think about the feelings he’d had when he was with Dixie and Sally the night before. No matter what he did, he kept going back to the aura that surrounded him in the barn when the three of them were all reaching between the old wooden rails of the stall and petting Little Bit. Not even when his mother was alive and the two of them were enjoying all the events of the holiday season had he ever known such peace. Could it be an omen that he was supposed to stay in that area and find what Dixie called his passion right there? He checked the time on his phone and sighed loudly when he saw that it wasn’t even noon yet.
You are so excited about seeing Dixie again tonight that you are wishing away the hours. His mother’s voice was loud and clear in his head. Why are you leaving this place when you care so much for her?
She’s a friend, he argued.
Just a friend doesn’t make you feel like this, my son, she said.
“She’s had a tough life,” he muttered out loud. “And I want to give her the kind of Christmas you always gave me. This is for