“You can bring your phone, but where we’re going there’s no cell signal.”

My eyes widened as excitement prickled my skin. “Are we going to the cabin?”

He tugged on my hand. “Come with me.”

Soon we were both in his big black truck and heading back down his long lane. Beyond the windows, the sun glistened on the fallen snow. The heater filled the cab with warm air as Van took some barely marked narrow roads. All at once, the cabin came into view. “Is it silly that I’m excited about a one-room cabin?”

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.”

24. Julia

Julia