Chapter 21
Joel
“It’s off-center,” Ellyn complains for the third time as I try to hang the final row of lights around the gutters of my house.
“How the hell is it off center? I put them right above the gutters.”
“Then your gutters are off-center,” Ellyn throws back.
I glance down at her, and she immediately goes to hold on to the ladder that I’m standing on.
“Be careful.” Worry and concern fill her voice. “Why would you insist on doing this part of the decorating tonight?” she admonishes.
“We’re decorating the house,” I remind her. “This is part of the house.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t realize that meant you would literally climb onto your rooftop at eight o’clock at night.”
I turn my head so she doesn’t see the grin that covers my lips.
“Only a few more minutes.”
“This part could’ve waited until tomorrow afternoon. In the daytime.”
“Then Old Man Clemmons would see what I’m doing. He’s as blind as a bat at night. Which is why …” I pause to adjust the part of the Christmas scene that I’ve affixed to the room into the right place, “he won’t know what I’ve got comin’.”
“You and this competition. It better not get you killed. Or I will—”
“You’ll what?” I ask, looking down at her.
Her mouth opens and closes a few times. “Pay attention to what you’re doing!”
“I am, darlin’. I— Oh shit!” I call out when my foot twists the wrong way and I have to grab onto the ladder.
“Joel!”
The alarm in Ellyn’s voice makes my heart race more than the near miss. I’m fine, but I know that’s the closest I want to come to worrying her.
“Comin’ down now,” I say even as I’m halfway down the ladder.
The instant my foot hits the ground, I pull Ellyn into me. A quick peck on her lips aids in settling my nerves.
“That’s all done,” I tell her. “Now, we can get to the fun portion of decorating.”
Her eyes sparkle. “The tree?”
I nod.
We’ve already decorated most of the inside and the front yard. I always leave the tree last because it’s my favorite.
Ellyn’s excitement increases mine, and I’m already excited as hell to finish what I always considered to be the crowning jewel of any Christmas setting.
“This corner is perfect for a tree,” she says, as I drag the box with the massive Christmas tree inside to the area of the living room opposite the fireplace.
We’ve already hung the garland along the fireplace and over the doorway frames. I’ve replaced the statues and other pieces that typically sit on the shelves and the top of the fireplace with ornamental items.
“That thing is massive,” Ellyn says as I open the huge box.
“Hell, yeah,” I say, looking up at her, grinning. “It’s an eight footer.”
“I don’t think I’ve had anything over seven feet and that was only for one year.”
“Used to get nine footers,” I grunt out while hauling the base of the artificial tree out of the box. “With ten-foot ceilings, I wanted to make sure the tree always stood out.”
“How long have you had this one? Please don’t tell me you change your tree out every year.” She sounds incredulous. “Artificial trees are meant to last for years.”
“Used to get the real thing,” I grunt out before handing her the white cloth dress that’s used to cover the tree’s base.
“About five years ago, Lonzie was on a kick about saving the planet and whatnot.” I pause my movement to look up at Ellyn.
“Actually, he’s still on that kick. He wants to be some sort of environmental scientist,” I say about Micah and Jodi’s oldest son.
“Anyway, he came in one year on a tangent about the harm of cutting down real trees to celebrate a holiday. Even when I told his little butt that there were special farms where these trees were grown for the purpose of being cut down for Christmas.”
“He wouldn’t hear it, huh?” Ellyn interjects.
“The problem with all of my boys, their wives, and especially my grandkids?” I pause. “They’re all stubborn as hell.”
She smirks. “I wonder where they get it from.”
I rise to my feet and shrug with a frown. “Hell if I know.”
Ellyn blinks at me in astonishment.
“Well, this tree isn’t gonna assemble itself, now is it?”
“Wait,” Ellyn insists.
I watch as she heads over to the television remote that’s sitting on the coffee table and turns the TV on. She pulls up one of those faceless scene channels that plays a Christmas music playlist.
“One more thing.” She drops the remote back onto the table and turns the lights low. “Now the mood is set,” she says, before throwing her hands over her head, snapping her fingers, and swaying her hips to the upbeat music.
I don’t know whether to join in the dancing or continue to stand there and watch her. I love watching her in motion, shaking her shoulders at me and teasing me with the sexiest looks I’ve ever seen.
But Ellyn leaves me no choice when she shimmies over to me and then bumps my hip with hers.
“You almost made me tumble,” I complain, lying.
“Then you need to work on your balance,” she throws back. “You should come with me to Pilates to improve. I’m going to get my teacher certification.”
“Is that right?” I ask at the same time I begin to circle her in time with the music.
“That’s right. And if you’re a good boy, I may even give you a discount.” She winks at me and it’s as if I don’t even have a choice but to pull her into me.
The next thing I know my body is pressed against Ellyn, trapping her between the wall and me with one arm around her hip and the other arm perched against the wall.
“Mr. Townsend, we’re supposed to be decorating the tree,” she says in the most sensual voice I’ve ever heard.
My dick grows hard in my jeans, making them just this side of uncomfortable.
“We’ll get to that, Ms. Chamberland,” I say with my lips brushing against hers.
A low moan erupts from her throat, and that’s when I steal a taste from the lips that’ve been taunting me ever since I pulled away from the first kiss I gave her this evening.
“You taste magical,” I say, my voice sounding foreign to my ears.
Ellyn runs her hand along my face, feeling the hairs of my five o’clock shadow.
“Come with me to Montana,” I hear myself say. I hadn’t planned on asking her to come with me. In fact, ever since I got the call earlier today from Micah that his family probably wouldn’t make it, I’d decided to cancel the trip altogether.
I’d only put off making the call to Gerry because I dreaded the thought of not going this year. Not after so many years of it becoming an integral part of my holiday season.
It’s only right now, as I stand here watching Ellyn watching me with stars in her eyes, I know the real reason I never made that call. While I’ll miss my kids on the trip, I don’t want to cancel it.
I want to take Ellyn with me.
“What’s in Montana?”
I explain to her about the residence I half own up there and about the annual trip I make during this time.
“It’s part business but mostly vacation time in the beautiful, snowcapped mountains of Montana.”
“And you want me to join you?”
“I want nothing more than for you to come with me,” I confess.
“Okay, then. I would love to be your date in the Montana mountains.”
Her laughter is smothered when my lips capture hers again. I lose track of time kissing her. And when Ellyn wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me to her, I can’t imagine letting her go.
We kiss and rub our bodies against one another for a ridiculous amount of time before finally separating at Ellyn’s insistence.
“We are getting this tree finished before the end of the night,” she says through kiss-swollen lips.
“If you insist.” I bring her hand to my mouth, kissing each of her knuckles before finally moving away.
I have to rearrange my cock in my jeans so I can get restarted on the damn tree.
It takes about forty-five minutes, between dance breaks and laughter, for Ellyn and I to assemble and decorate the tree.
“This tree is truly spectacular,” Ellyn says, standing back to admire the lake-blue and white tree.
“I pull this one out every other year,” I tell her. I feel her eyes on my profile, but I keep my attention on the tree. “Since my grandson insisted on an artificial tree for everyone in the family, I chose to buy two. One year I do the traditional green, and the next I do this one.
“It prevents boredom,” I say, meeting her gaze.
But then my eyes get stuck on hers. The lights on the tree and around it make the gleam in her eyes shine even brighter. She’s mesmerizing.
“Why are you such a fan of Christmas?” Ellyn asks out of the blue.
It’s not like I hadn’t been expecting the question at some point. I know the way I come across. Single widower whose kids are out of the house. And some might say, a bit grumpy.
I’m not the typical profile of someone to lead the charge when it comes to Christmas spirit.
Turning back to the tree, I allow my mind to go back to the memories of almost two decades ago.
“I promised Gina,” I say, my voice low but strong. “Before she died, she made me promise to keep up the traditions we’d built over the years. For the boys. She was particularly adamant about Christmas.”
“A promise,” she repeats as if in understanding.
“To be truthful, I wasn’t all that convinced I would keep it. That first Christmas after she was gone, my heart hurt too damn much to get out of bed in the morning, let alone make a big deal out of the holidays.
“But the words I’d promised her kept ringing in my head. It made me go out and buy new decorations. I couldn’t bear using the same ones we’d bought together and laughed and hung up around the house before she got sick.
“Even on Christmas Day, after staying up all night, wrapping gifts for the boys, I wasn’t convinced. My heart ached fiercely. But then I heard Gabe laugh.”
I stop to look over at Ellyn.
“It was the first time I heard him laugh in months. For a moment on Christmas morning my youngest son forgot that his mom wasn’t here. He was happy for the first time since she died. I noticed a smile on all three of my boys’ faces that morning.
“Even Micah, who was already grown and out of the house, working as a Texas Ranger at the time.
“Since then, they smile more and have grown families of their own, which has only grown all of our hearts, but I’ll never forget the happiness that shone through on that first Christmas.”
Ellyn looks at me before moving closer and wrapping her arms around my waist, hugging me. A calm spreads over my body when she lays her head against my chest.
“You’re a good man, Joel Townsend.”
I tighten my hold around her body and kiss the top of her head. How Ellyn knew I needed to hear those words I don’t know.
“I need to find out whoever your real estate agent is,” I say.
Her head pops up and she looks at me with a wrinkle between her brows.
“So I can send her a bouquet of flowers or whatever she likes for showing you the house next to me.”
I press a kiss to her forehead.
When she lowers her head again, a contentment washes over me. This is the first time in the nearly two decades since I lost my wife that I’ve ever pictured a woman walking down the aisle in a white gown while I waited for her.
I look forward to the day when I make Ellyn Chamberland, Ellyn Townsend.