Hold On (The 'Burg #6)(184)

Merry broke the kiss, and when he did, my tears had subsided.

This was because Merry’s kiss, as ever, was a good one.

It was also because my man and I were standing in his kitchen in his lake house, which would soon be my kitchen in our lake house, and we were staring at each other, laughing at my kid.

And I was finding I had a life that was filled with a lot of that.

Laughter.

So now, for a different reason, I had no room for tears.

* * * * *

I stood in Bobbie’s Garden Shoppe in her enormous Christmas section that was renown throughout the Midwest. It was this because it was so huge, she had to dedicate half her shop to it and half her parking lot, seeing as she had massive heavy-duty, heated tents where more of her Christmas crap was displayed.

I was there and had been for forty-five minutes.

But I found what I was looking for.

So there I stood, staring at a Christmas tree, and I was pretty certain I was going to buy the whole damn thing as it was—ornament by ornament, garland by garland—and resurrect it in Merry’s awesome new lake house. It was boho to the max, colorful with lots of berries and crystals and differently sized and shaped ornaments, very cluttered, stuffed full, totally awesome.

There was no other tree in Bobbie’s whole shop like it.

But I’d had a look at a couple of the ornaments, and even with Vi’s discount, to recreate that tree would cost a thousand dollars.

It was perfect for Merry’s pad, so I did not care.

Okay, that wasn’t true. It was perfect for me (I still didn’t care).

What I cared about was something else.

I whipped out my phone, jabbed my finger on the screen, and put it to my ear.

“Hey, babe. What’s shakin’?” Vi asked in greeting.

“Do you think Merry would lose his mind if I bought pink and purple Christmas tree ornaments?”

“How many?”

“A lot.”

“Okay, then, one hundred percent affirmative on him losing his mind.”

“Shit,” I muttered, already kind of knowing that was the answer.

“Say one ornament that you put on the inside of a branch close to the trunk that’s mostly hidden and he can’t see, you might get away with that. But more than that? No go.”

I stared at the tree. “What about canary yellow? And teal?”

“Negatory and negatory.”

“Lace cutout stars?”

Her voice was getting shrill either with hilarity, disbelief, or both when she asked, “Have you met Garrett Merrick?”

“Shit,” I muttered again.

“I thought you guys already decorated.”

“We did. My house. But we decided this morning we’re doin’ Christmas at Merry’s. So I need a whole new tree.”

“Ooo, sweet. Christmas by the lake. Awesome.”

She was not wrong.

“Fake tree?” she asked.

“I don’t know. He said he’d get one. That could mean anything.”

“He’s a guy. If he says he’ll get one, that means it’ll be real and you’ll be cleaning up pine needles until February. You’ll also have a time of it talking him out of going somewhere and chopping one down himself just so he can chop down a tree. My advice, babe? Focus on those things, primarily talking him into a fake tree so you don’t have to vacuum pine needles for two months, not wasting time talking him into pink ornaments. Trust me on this. You got a badass in your bed, you learn to pick your battles.”

I had a badass in my bed. I loved him. I wanted to keep him there. So I should listen to Vi. She had a lot of experience. She’d married a badass in the making when she was eighteen, and he’d grown into a full-blown one who unfortunately got dead way too soon. She’d then married an even bigger one who kept knocking her up when she wanted to concentrate on hoping her second child didn’t get knocked up by her own badass boyfriend at the same time keeping an eye on the fact that her oldest daughter had begun dating a badass cop in Chicago.

Yes, I should listen to Vi. She lived and breathed badass.

Whatever you want.

Merry said that a lot.

To me and to my kid.

I stared at the tree.

Not only would it be awesome this year, it’d be even more awesome in the master suite next year. Our tree. Merry’s and mine.

Whatever you want.

“Bobbie gonna give me your discount?” I asked Vi.

“You’re buyin’ pink ornaments, aren’t you?” she asked back.

“Merry likes me to have what I want,” I told her.

“Yeah,” she said softly. “That’s why I have my new lavender bed set that Joe said he’d sleep on over his dead body. Then again, that’s also why Joe’s got his next kid in my womb.”

“Yeah,” I replied, feeling squishy she had that and now I did too. Decision made, I muttered, “This tree is gonna cost a mint.”

“I’ll call Bobbie. See what she can swing for you.”

“Thanks, Vi.”

“No probs, babe. See you later.”

“Later.”

I shoved my phone in my purse and moved to the baskets under the tree. I was filling my cart with boho Christmas when Bobbie wandered up to me.

She looked to the cart then to me. “Shit, I was gonna offer you thirty percent instead of Vi’s twenty-five, but you goin’ whole hog like that this late in the season, I’ll give you forty. Just tell ’em at the register you’re Vi’s friend and Bobbie says forty. They give you shit, make them page me.”