Starlight Web (Moonshadow Bay #1) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,23

on him!” Ari stretched, yawning. She was so petite that it was hard to believe she was a black belt in karate.

“I took care of that with the car. Kind of. That reminds me.” I pulled out my phone and peeked at the blocked messages. Sure enough, Ellison had left forty-three texts, every one typed in caps, every one screaming about what a cunt I was, how he would never forgive me, how I was ungrateful. I snickered as I showed them to Ari. “Think he’s still pissed about the convertible?”

“With your background, he’s lucky you didn’t shove the hose down his throat. Your family never was reticent about payback.” She giggled.

“My family knows the power of skillfully aimed revenge,” I said with an evil grin. “He won’t go to the cops, though. He’s too afraid of my magic.”

“Okay, up on your feet, woman. If you want to go tree shopping, let’s get a move on. The lots are open late, and so are the stores. We’ll also shop for decorations.” Ari carried our plates to the kitchen, and I followed with the leftovers, tucking them into the fridge.

“How many glasses of wine have you had?” I asked.

“Only half a glass. When you said you wanted to go tree shopping, I limited myself. You’ve had two, so I’ll drive.” She held up her keys. “My truck awaits, Cinderella.”

“Thanks, Princess Charming,” I said, giving her a hug.

“Hey,” she said, “what are friends for?”

The tree lot by the main fountain in the town square was open for business, but the selection was already sparse. The fountain ran for most of the year but had been turned off with the first sign of freezing weather. I stared at the trees, trying to decide what I wanted. Ari pointed to a massive blue spruce that must have been close to eight feet tall.

“What about that? It’s got that frosted look from the bluish needles.” She shook one of the branches. “They still seem firmly attached.”

“You know, I think I’m actually going to go with an artificial tree. It won’t be a fire hazard and won’t be as messy, and I can keep it up longer.” I had always had a fear of fire, though I wasn’t sure where it came from. My mother had said it was past-life trauma, and she was probably right. Ever since childhood, I’d always worried about leaving on the stove, or that I’d forget to stamp out the last of bonfire embers.

“What, you don’t want sap all over your nice hardwood floors?” But Ari was grinning at me. “All right. Let’s go over to Maxwell’s.”

Ten minutes later at the department store, I found the perfect tree. It was eight feet tall, which would fit in my cathedral-ceilinged living room, and it looked lightly flocked, but shaking the branches showed that I wouldn’t have white dust all over the floor. I asked the nearest sales clerk to find a boxed one and to take it to the cashier while I bought decorations. He politely agreed, though he looked rushed, and I wished I could give him a tip.

“What kind of decorations do you want?” Ari asked.

I stared at the aisles of shining balls and tinsel and garland. My parents had beautiful decorations, but this year, I wanted something that was mine, alone. I wasn’t ready yet to bring out the family heirlooms, the ornaments that I had known and loved as a child.

“I get a fresh start, don’t I? I think…I want blue and silver and ivory. I’m going to need a buttload of them for that size of tree.”

I found a couple patterns I liked—dusky blue velveteen dangles, and creamy ivory balls, and glittered silver balls with cobalt blue trim that shimmered under the lights. I managed to find several boxes of crystal ornaments with delicate ceramic roses piped onto them.

As we pushed through the aisles, I added cobalt and silver tinsel garland, and strands of multicolored LED lights for the outside. The tree was pre-lit with multicolored faerie lights, though I made certain they were incandescent.

LED lights were fine outside, but inside? They hurt my eyes. I added two wreaths that would match my ornament choices—one for the door and one for inside, and then I went hog wild on the snow globe and the Santa aisles. I found the perfect Holly King, dressed in a long blue robe with all the forest animals around him.

“I love this!” I added him to the cart, which was in grave