Chapter 6
Six
For someone who’d wanted nothing more than to spend the holiday season alone just a few days ago, even Lila was surprised by how comforted she was to find Sarah in the upstairs sitting room drinking her coffee the next morning.
“Good morning,” Sarah said.
“Morning,” Lila said, making her way to the coffee maker. “Have our deer friends arrived yet this morning?”
Sarah shook her head. “Not yet, but I’m hoping to see them again too.”
While her coffee brewed, they chatted about the previous evening’s game of charades and how hilarious Tom had been trying to act out the Grinch.
He’d looked more like a bear attacking a campsite at first, but Ali had finally guessed it when he made a heart with his hands and showed it growing twice in size.
“Are you joining us for the tree hunt today?” Sarah asked as Lila settled in next to her.
“No, I think I’ll sit this one out,” Lila said as she scanned the tree line for the deer. “I’m not much for hiking around in the snow.”
“It’s so much fun looking for the right tree that you forget how cold it is,” Sarah assured her. “People tend to get a little competitive as they try to be the first to spot the perfect one.”
“I bet,” Lila said. “I didn’t really plan on joining in any of the holiday activities this trip. The cookies were fun yesterday, but I think I might just do some quiet reading today.”
Sarah reached over to pat Lila’s arm. “I don’t know what your story is—and you don’t have to tell me—but I understand how difficult the holidays can be. I lost someone I loved right around Christmas a long time ago, but it was actually this place that helped me heal.”
Lila’s chest tightened. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It was a long time ago but thank you.” Sarah sipped her coffee, her eyes distant. “I spent several Christmases hiding away, trying to pretend the holiday didn’t exist. But I learned that sometimes the best way through grief is to let yourself be part of something larger than your sadness.”
The words hit closer to home than Lila cared to admit. “Did it help?”
“Eventually. Not right away, but gradually.” Sarah’s smile was soft. “There’s something about being in the woods on a crisp winter morning, breathing fresh air and working with other people toward a common goal. It reminds you that life continues and that there’s still beauty to be found.”
Lila found herself reconsidering. She’d come to Pine Ridge for answers about her past, but maybe Sarah was right about needing to be part of something larger than her search.
Her parents had always bought their tree from their local plant nursery, so it wasn’t like she had any memories that would be dredged up on this trek into the woods for a tree.
Besides, there wasn’t anything she could do until she heard back from Cynthia anyway.
“You know what, you’re right,” Lila said. “Maybe some fresh air would be nice.”
Two hours later, after a big breakfast with the group, everyone gathered on the front porch.
Lila was bundled in her warmest coat and the hiking boots she’d thrown into her suitcase at the last minute.
Brady was explaining the plan, his breath visible in the cold air as he pointed toward the wooded area behind the inn.
“The Hendersons, who own the land, have given us permission to cut a tree from the designated area,” he was saying. “It’s about a fifteen-minute walk through some beautiful terrain. Nothing too difficult, and we can stop as often as we need to.”
Lila studied the group assembled around Brady. Eight guests, plus Carol, Tom, and Brady, made eleven people to coordinate through the woods. Her consultant mind immediately began calculating logistics.
“Would it make more sense to split into smaller groups?” she asked. “We could cover different quadrants of the area so we can find the tree much faster.”
“We could do that,” Brady said in a tone that indicated he wasn’t considering it as a viable option, “but half the fun is wandering together as a group, discovering trees, debating their merits. It’s about the journey as much as the destination.”
“But if we’re more efficient, we could spend our extra time back at the inn enjoying hot cocoa by the fire,” Lila pressed. “Divide into teams of three or four, each take a section, and whoever finds the best tree calls the others over.”
“Lila,” Brady said, and she could tell by the way he said her name that it was a battle to not lose his patience with her, “not everything needs to be optimized. This is an honored tradition here, and it’s one our guests look forward to.”
Her face flushed with embarrassment as she caught the rest of the group watching the exchange with interest.
“Of course,” Lila said quickly. “I didn’t mean to try and take over. You all do this every year. I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”
Brady gave her a curt nod and then gestured for the group to follow him. So much for the momentary connection they’d had the night before.
Ali jumped in cheerfully as they walked toward the neighboring property. “I’m excited to see what kind of trees grow up here. The only place to get a tree in Miami is under a tent in the corner of a shopping center parking lot.”
“The terrain is beautiful,” added Tom. “Even if we don’t find the perfect tree, the hike itself is worth it.”
As they set off on the path through the woods, Lila found herself walking beside Brady, who carried the tools they’d need for cutting and securing the tree.
The snow crunched beneath their boots, and she tried to find the words that could get them back to the truce they seemed to have found the night before.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “As you know, I have a tendency to try to solve problems that aren’t actually problems.”
“Maybe just remember that efficiency doesn’t always have to be the goal. Let yourself live in the moment while you’re here.”
They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, following a worn path through the trees. Ahead of them, Miles pointed out different birds they spotted, while the sisters debated whether the snow was the right consistency to make snowballs.
“See what I mean?” Brady said. “If we’d split up, Miles wouldn’t be teaching everyone about Steller’s jays, and Kimberly and Kendall wouldn’t be planning a snowball fight tournament for this afternoon.”
Lila looked around at the group with new eyes.
Sarah was walking with Carol; their heads bent together in quiet conversation.
Tom was helping Sophie navigate a particularly icy patch of trail.
Even though they’d only known each other for two days, they were starting to feel like their own little community.
“I think I’m beginning to get the hang of it,” Lila said.
“Besides, if we found the tree too quickly, we’d miss out on the great tree debates,” Brady added, his tone lighter. “Wait until you see how seriously people tend to take the selection process.”
As if on cue, Kimberly called out from ahead. “Oh, what about this one?” She was standing beside a towering evergreen that had to be at least fourteen feet tall.
“Too big for the lobby,” Carol called back. “Remember, it has to fit through the front door.”
“And leave room for the star on top,” added Miles.
“Plus, it’s easier to decorate if we don’t need a ladder,” said Tom practically. “I don’t want to have to drive anyone to the hospital because they leaned a little too far to the left to hang the perfect ornament.”
Brady caught Lila’s eye and raised his eyebrows as if to say, See?
They continued deeper into the woods, the group stopping every few minutes to consider and ultimately reject various trees.
Too sparse, too lopsided, too small, wrong kind of pine.
Lila found herself getting caught up in the process despite herself, offering opinions about the symmetry of the trees and whether the branches were strong enough to hold larger ornaments.
After about thirty minutes of hiking and tree evaluation, they reached a small clearing where several promising candidates stood nearby.
“This is where we usually take a break,” Brady told the group, pulling a thermos from his backpack. “Anyone ready for hot apple cider?”
As the group gathered, passing around the thermos and paper cups, Sarah settled onto a fallen log with a wistful expression.
“Are you okay?” Lila asked as she sat beside her.
Sarah nodded. “This just brings back memories,” she said, scanning the trees around them.
“You’ve been here for past Christmases, right?” Ali asked.
Sarah nodded, her fingers absently tracing patterns in the snow beside her.
“Yes, for many years now, but I was just thinking about my first time here, actually. I came with my husband during Christmas of 1990. We rented a little cabin in town for the week and decided we needed a tree to make it feel like home.”
“How romantic,” sighed Kimberly. “Did you pick a good one?”
“We found a beautiful little tree, about six feet tall with perfect symmetry.” Sarah’s voice grew soft with memory.
“David was so particular about it. He said it had to be just right because we were going to make it a tradition, coming to Pine Ridge every Christmas and picking our tree out here together.”
No one said anything, waiting for her to continue. “We only had that one Christmas together though. David got sick and passed away a few months later.”
The group fell quiet, the only sounds the whisper of wind through the pine branches and the distant call of a bird. Lila felt her chest tighten with recognition of that particular kind of grief.
“I’m so sorry,” Ali said softly, and the others murmured their agreement.
“Thank you,” Sarah said. “It was a long time ago, but that Christmas here was so magical that I started coming back.”
“And we love having you,” Carol said, sitting beside Sarah and putting an arm around her.
“Well,” said Tom, clearing his throat gently. “Should we find ourselves a tree worthy of another special Pine Ridge Christmas?”
The group rose from their impromptu rest, but Lila noticed how Sarah’s eyes lingered on the trees around them, as if she was seeing more than just the present moment.
They resumed their search with renewed purpose, and it was Brady who spotted the winner. “What about this one?” he called from the edge of the clearing.
The tree he’d found was perhaps eight feet tall with full, evenly spaced branches that would hold ornaments beautifully. It wasn’t the biggest or most dramatic tree they’d seen, but it had a perfect, classic Christmas tree shape.
“Oh, it’s lovely,” breathed Carol.
“The branches are strong enough for heavy ornaments,” observed Tom.
“And it’s exactly the right height for the lobby,” added Miles.
Brady looked at Lila expectantly. “What do you think? Does this one pass the test?”
Lila walked around the tree, studying it from all angles.
It was beautiful, but more than that, it felt right.
Standing there in the clearing with a few snowflakes beginning to fall softly around them and the group gathered in anticipation, she finally understood what Brady had been trying to tell her.
It was about the journey, not the destination, as the old saying went.
“I think it’s perfect,” she said, and meant it.
“Excellent,” said Brady, pulling the saw from his pack.
Lila found herself watching the strong line of Brady’s jaw as he concentrated on each motion.
When a piece of dark hair slipped from beneath his hat to brush his forehead, she had the unexpected urge to reach out and push it back.
She wasn’t interested in any kind of holiday fling, but it didn’t hurt to just look.
When the tree finally fell with a soft whoosh into the snow, the group cheered.
“Now comes the fun part,” Brady said, producing a length of rope. “Getting it back to the inn.”
They worked as a team to secure the tree for transport, with different people taking turns carrying the trunk end while others guided the branches. Lila found herself walking beside Brady again, both of them holding the rope that kept the tree stable.
“This was great,” she said as they made their way back through the woods. “You were right about the search being half the fun.”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised that my way turned out to be the best way.” He gave her a teasing smile. “You might give hotels advice for a living, but I run one for a living.”
She gave him a sheepish smile. “Touché.”
As they emerged from the woods with their prize, Lila felt something she hadn’t experienced in months: a sense of belonging somewhere.
The tree selection had been about more than finding decoration for the inn’s lobby.
It had been about connecting with others and creating a small moment of magic together.
Back at the inn, they maneuvered the tree through the front door and into the lobby, where it would wait until the evening’s decorating party. The group dispersed to warm up and change clothes, their cheeks red from the cold and their spirits high from the morning’s success.
Lila was heading upstairs when Carol called her name from the front desk.
“You have a message, dear,” Carol said as she hung up the phone. “Cynthia from the yarn shop called about twenty minutes ago. She asked if you could stop by this afternoon when you have a chance.”
Lila’s heart began to race. After the peaceful morning in the woods, she’d almost forgotten about the real reason she’d come to Pine Ridge. But now, Cynthia’s message had all her anxiety rushing back.
She thought she’d wanted Cynthia to find something, but now she wasn’t so sure. Her birth mother had never unsealed the records. So why was Lila trying to find someone who clearly didn’t want to be found? Suddenly, she didn’t feel ready for what might come next.