Snow Place Like Home by Lacey Baker

Author:Lacey Baker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

They’d selected eight of the twelve trees so far and Ella was happily out of breath as she bounded around another corner trying to keep up with Teddy, who’d been doing a great job selecting some of the trees. For this to be her first time ever handling a dog, she thought she was doing pretty well. Especially once they made it out of the Christmas market, because that’s when Teddy thought it was time to run free.

After a brief conversation with Moses Grant, who’d conveyed his uncle Ralph’s apologies for being under the weather today, Ella and Seth had his firm commitment to donating the needed trees. And Seth had immediately launched into his explanation of each type of tree and which were the best ones to get for the auction. Almost two hours later, Seth was still giving her tree-shopping lessons.

“I still say it would’ve been much easier to purchase artificial trees. That way they could be included in the box that’ll be delivered to the winners,” she said when she released the slack on Teddy’s leash so he could wander at least five trees down from where she and Seth now stood.

Seth dropped his hand from the branch he was examining. He touched every single tree they considered. Touched it, surveyed it, talked about it. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he worked at the tree farm and not at the local middle school.

“Remember, I told you Christmas trees are an agricultural commodity. By choosing real trees each year, the sponsors are supporting the farm that Ralph and his family have maintained all these years.” He wandered over to the next tree, leaning in to sniff it.

Ella resisted the urge to say what she knew she’d also said a time or two today—all the trees smelled like pine.

“Besides that, real trees absorb carbon dioxide and other environmental gases. They emit oxygen and preserve green spaces. And after the holidays, they can be recycled or composted. They’re a valuable renewable resource.”

“You sound like an infomercial,” she said and moved behind him.

He glanced back over his shoulder. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

She didn’t bother to tell him that this light banter between them was so much easier than the heaviness of the conversation they’d shared inside the market. Ella didn’t know how they’d gotten on the topic of her mother and how Christmas really made her feel. One minute they were surrounded by wreaths, and the next she was going on about her mother’s love of jazz and Christmas. The pain had moved in like a dull ache then, settling in the center of her chest as a reminder. But there was also a light surrounding the memories that had come to her mind as she shared with Seth. It hadn’t been that way before as she’d recalled her mother’s love of music and thought about some of the other albums that would often play in her house. Mostly, Ella’s memories had reserved themselves for her dreams, coming to her in the dark of night, haunting her, she’d always thought.

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