Chapter 49
“It’s way too cold to go out and do anything.” Rafe tells Morella, who is looking out the massive front window pouting.
Liv is curled up in my lap with a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa. Silas is sprawled out on the chaise part of the couch nodding off every couple of seconds.
“This sucks.” Morella says, crossing her arms like an angry child.
Liv sips her cocoa and then says, “Got any board games?” She places her mug down and turns in my lap. “We could play for awhile?”
Morellas brows are furrowed as she thinks. “We might have some.”
Liv stands and drops the blanket in my lap. My body where hers was touching mine erupts in a chill. Not just from the loss of her body heat but from her. “Let’s go look.” She suggests. Just like that her and Morella are off to find board games.
Rafe takes a seat on couch opposite Silas. “I honestly don’t know if we have any board games.” He tells me.
“Let them look.” I say to him. “They’re bored. It will keep them occupied for a little while.”
“Could’ve suggested a movie.” Silas mumbles from under his arm that is slung across his face.
“We watched a movie. You fell asleep.” Rafe says.
“Mhmm.” Is all Silas mumbles as he drifts back off to sleep.
Rafe and I laugh at Silas’ nonsense when they doorbell rings. We look to each other and then to the door. Confused as to who could be here.
“I’ll get it.” I say as I jump up.
I make my way to the front door and pull it open to find Evan standing on the porch, bag in hand.
“Oh hey! What’s up man?” I clasp my hand on his shoulder with a wide grin and then step aside so he can come in. “Come in man. I was wondering when you would get here?”
“It’s brutal out there. The Uber had to drive so slow.” He runs his hand through his hair, shaking out the snow that had fall in it. “And that was after the bus ride up here.” He drops his bag near the front door and he turns to head for the living room.
Rafe is standing now, mouth wide, brows furrowed. “What the fuck is the janitor doing here?” He questions.
Evan and I look at each other for a second, then back to Rafe. Silas jumps off the couch and brushes passed Rafe and meets Evan for a one armed hug.
“Hey dude! Nice to see you.” Silas tells him.
Rafe looks even more shocked at this point.
“Your sister invited me.” Evan tells him. “Where are the girls by the way?” He asks and walks towards the fireplace.
“I’ll go find them.” I say. I walk passed Rafe who looks like he might explode. “Be nice.” I tell him under my breath and I head for the stairs.
As I’m searching the upstairs for the girls I hear a rustling noise in one of the closets.
I freeze and turn towards the door. I listen a little closer and hear it again.
The door is slightly ajar and I peek inside.
More rustling, this time with movement. I flinch back and shout downstairs.
“Hey Rafe! I think we have a pest problem!”
“Hey!” Morella and Liv shout together as they pop out of the mess in the closet.
“Agh!” I shout, jumping backwards.
The girls burst into laughter at my shock and are rolling around in the mess they’ve made.
“What?” Rafe shouts up the stairs at me.
“Nevermind…” I drag out.
“What are you guys doing?” I ask and peek my head into the closet.
“We couldn’t find any board games but we found decorations.” Morella says.
“Yeah, so we figured we could just decorate a tree but we can’t find one.” Liv adds on.
I just stare at them for a moment while I contemplate a solution. “Maybe it’s downstairs?”
“Oooh!” Morella jumps up. “Good idea!” She hands me a large box. “Here take this.”
“Oof!” The box is ridiculously heavy to have just decorations it in.
Morella grabs a bag and Liv has a few smaller boxes. We take everything down stairs and set it all on the table.
“Evan!” The girls squeal in unison. They both run to him and give him big, exaggerated hugs.
Rafe is still scowling at him when he says, “Evan?”
I step up beside him and cross my arms. “Yeah. Evan. You know, Liv’s best friend?” I say to him as I watch the girls animatedly fill Evan in on what he’s missed so far.
Rafe sighs and his expression softens. “Oh.”
After awhile of looking we’ve decided there is no tree in this house.
“Well this is a bummer.” Morella whines.
Liv nods at her looking awfully sad. “What if we just go buy one?” She suggests.
“No way.” Evan shakes his head. “The roads were so bad I almost didn’t make it up here. I don’t think anything is going to be open.”
Both girls whine and flop back onto the floor. I smirk and roll my eyes. Drama queens.
Morella pops back up, her face alight with an idea. “I’ve got it!”
Liv sits back up and questions, “What?”
“There’s hundreds of trees outside.” Morella points to the window. “We can just go chop one down.” She scrambles to her feet, runs to the front door, flings it open letting in a gust of cold air and grabs the axe off the front porch. “See!” She holds it up in front of her like a trophy.
Rafe is on it faster than lightening. He pulls the axe from her hands with ease and holds it out of reach. “Now hold on Paul Bunyan. You can’t just go out into the forest cutting down trees.”
Morella jumps and reaches for the axe but it’s not use. She’s too short. She frowns at him and then smiles. “I can’t, but you can.” She says poking him in the chest.
“Oh hell no.” Rafe immediately shuts down the idea.
“Oh come on. Why not?”
“Because I’m not a lumberjack.” He tells her.
“But we need a tree!” Uh oh. Here comes the classic Morella gets her way moment. Her eyes go big, she pouts and blinks up at her brother. “Pleeeeaaasssseee.” She begs, lacing her fingers together in front of her chest.
Rafe looks down at Morella for a while. I honestly think he’s about to tell her no when he looks to Liv. She’s still sitting on the floor watching him intently. She’s chewing her bottom lip, knowing this endeavor rests in his hands.
Rafe sighs and lowers the axe. “Fine.”
“Yay!” Morella shouts. She jumps on her tippy toes and wraps her arms around her brothers neck, hugging him.
“This is stupid.” Rafe grumbles as me, him, Evan and Silas trudge through the snow.
“Well, if you wouldn’t have folded we wouldn’t be out here.” Evan teases from up ahead. Him and Silas are leading the way. Silas keeps picking out trees that won’t even fit in the cabin.
“What about this one?” He asks, pointing at a tree that’s at least 30 feet tall.
I shake my head and nod to a much smaller tree. “There. Let’s grab that one.” It’s probably six feet tall and much more manageable than the giants Silas wants.
“Ugh fine.” Silas groans.
Rafe drops the axe head to the ground and leans on it to catch his breath.
“Why’d you stop?” Silas asks. “It’s almost done.”
I take a look at the base of the tree where Rafe has chopping away, to see that it’s not even half way. I take a deep breath and sigh.
“I’ve been chopping for 30 minutes!” Rafe shouts. “This is ridiculous!”
He drops the axe fully and paces away from the tree. “I am not doing any more chopping.” He says through clenched teeth.
I look from Silas to Evan. Evan to Rafe. We’ve taken turns and even that’s not helping.
“The girls are expecting a tree.” I say.
“Oh?” Rafe looks at me, his head tilting, eyes a little crazy. “Are they Archer? Are the girls expecting a tree?”
He turns away from me and searches the area. He turns back to me with a not so friendly smile and hold his hands out towards a…tree?
He stomps over, reaches down at the base of a very, very young pine tree and snaps it. He lifts the tree next to his head and smiles. A smile that does not reach his eyes.
“Here’s their tree.” He turns and heads for the cabin leaving me, Evan and Silas balking.
Rafe flings the front door open, steps inside and tosses the tree on floor. The girls come running, excited expressions on their faces until they reach us. They stop and stare at the floor.
“Are you sure that’s a tree?” Morella questions looking at Rafe.
He’s fuming at her question. I swear I see steam coming out of his ears. His fists are clenched at his sides and his eye is twitching.
Liv leaps into action standing the tree upright. “It’s perfect!” She says. She spins the tree around in her fingers admiring it. “It’s like a Charlie Brown tree.”
All of us look at her confused.
“Nevermind.” She places a hand on Rafe’s bicep and squeezes. “Thank you, Rafe. It really is perfect.” She says softly and then bounces off with the tree.
Rafe’s anger is instantly washed away. His eyes clinging to Liv as she moves away from us. I swear this man would fall to his knees right now for her if she asked him to.