Page 25 of Merry & Wild

“Yep, it’s in here. Along with about a hundred other things that my mom insisted I take.”

“Awesome,” she replies with a happy smile. “Thanks for running over to get it. I popped the corn, and we’re ready to start decorating.”

“Great.” I can hear the sarcasm in my voice.

“Come on, admit it. This is fun. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have cut that tree down for me.”

“Let’s see how the next hour goes before I admit that I’m having a good time.”

Joy rolls her eyes and opens the box, eyeing everything that Mom sent over. “This is good stuff. Do you want to do a color theme?”

“You’re askingme?”

“Okay, Scrooge, we won’t do a color theme. But let’s do reds and greens and golds. There seems to be a lot of that in here. I’ll hang ornaments while you make the popcorn garland.”

“Can I also eat the popcorn?”

“Fine by me. There’s more over there if we need it.”

“Deal. How’s the ankle?”

“It’s fine. I’m not even limping.”

“Is it sore?”

“Not really. Come on, let’s think about Christmas.”

And for the next couple of hours, I eat and string the popcorn while Joy decorates the tree. She even finds enough extra in that box to decorate my small kitchen table, and she hangs the extra lights around the window in the living room.

“It looks like Santa Claus threw up in here.”

“It doesnot,” Joy says with a laugh. “It looks festive and fun. And the blinking lights are pretty.”

“Here’s hoping they don’t burn my house down.”

“You have to keep the tree watered,” she says. “Don’t forget.”

“I probably will forget.”

“I’ll have to call and remind you, then.”

I grin and pull Joy into my arms, rocking her back and forth while I kiss the top of her head. “Or you could just plan on spending most of your nights here.”

“And commute into town for work?”

“Something like that.”

“What will the town say when everyone hears that I’ve shacked up with John Wild?”

“Who the fuck cares?”

She grins and boosts herself up on her toes to kiss me. “I don’t care.”

With one more glance around the room, Joy sighs and reaches for her jacket.

“I hate to do it, but I think I’d better head home if the roads are open. I have to do a few things before I go back to work tomorrow.”

I’m not ready to say goodbye to her. I wasn’t lying when I said that I wanted her here all the time, if she’d be willing to stay.