He parked the truck. “No. I am too. This cabin holds some wonderful memories.” He grinned. “Recent memories.”
I returned his grin, the same recent memories flooding my mind.
Van reached for my hand. “Well, first I’ll get the fire going and then the real work begins.”
“Work?”
Van’s green stare went out the windshield to the forest surrounding the cabin. “Yes, we have a tree to find.”
“A tree?”
We both walked to the cabin on a newly shoveled path. When he opened the door, on the floor near the small kitchen area were bags and boxes. “Van?”
“It’s not easy to find decorations on Christmas Eve. I may have pillaged these decorations from my office. By the time we’re done, the cabin will be festive and ready to celebrate.”
Van’s desire to celebrate for me, something he claimed he hadn’t done as of late, brought the holiday to life in a way that decorations alone could never do.
I looked from Van to the window. “I’ve never cut down my own tree.”
Van reached for my hand and brought it to his lips. “Another first.”
As Van started the fire in the stone fireplace, I straightened the bed as it was as we’d left it. I also found some food Van had already delivered to the cabin and organized it along the small counter. The jug of water made me laugh. “No boiling water.”
“There are advantages to being prepared.”
The flames snapped and crackled as the kindling caught fire. Soon the chill within the small cabin began to fade.
“Are you ready to find the perfect tree?” Van asked, his green orbs shimmering in the firelight.
I pulled the orange hat down over my hair and ears. Apparently, the color orange signaled to hunters that we were people not animals. No one should be hunting on Van’s property, but it was better to be safe. I pushed my hands into the wool-lined mittens. “I’m ready.”
Julia
With an ax in his other hand, after closing the cabin door, Van took my hand, our mittens wrapping around one another’s grip. My total experience around the area of the cabin was limited to the journey to and from the truck and to and from the outhouse. This time, we headed into the forest, our boots sinking in the deep snow.
“They’re all so tall,” I said, looking up through the big trees to the blue sky above. I wasn’t only speaking of the pine trees, but also deciduous trees such as the white birch whose white trunks highlighted the landscape.
“There are places on my land where I’ve planted saplings,” Van said. “I’m hoping at least one will still be small enough.”
“You planted trees? There weren’t enough?”
Van grinned, looking down at me with pink cheeks from the cold. “There’s never enough.”
“Oh,” I said with a shake of my head. “I forgot.”
“When I decided to live here, I purchased multiple five- and ten-acre lots. Many had structures. Some were willing to sell, others needed convincing. I had most of the structures demolished. Those spaces then needed trees.”
“How did you convince people to leave their homes?”
“Everything has a price.”
I gave that some thought as we trudged forward. “You didn’t want any other buildings?”
“I kept a few, but nothing I chose to keep is too close to the house.”
Taking a deep breath of cool air, I stilled. “You know, I think I’m in pretty good shape.”
“I think you’re in fantastic shape.”