Free Pretty In Pink by Sommer Marsden

Could
have gone either way. She’d want the first tree she saw or she’d make us look
at them all and then want the first tree she saw. We lucked out.”
    And they really had, Charlie realized
because the wind-chill was in the teens and the snow was blowing and looked to
be falling sideways. Charlie tossed the bailed tree in the bed of his pickup
and buckled Clarice into the backseat of the extended cab. “Ready, Freddy?” he
asked, kicking the snow off his boots and climbing in.
    “Ready. And don’t call me Freddy!”
    “Surely you jest,” Janette said and
grinned. It was a three way routine that dated back to when Clarice first learned
to talk.
    “Nope. And don’t call me Shirley.”
    Charlie swung through a drive through
and grabbed burgers, fries and some sodas. When Janette frowned at him he
balked. “Hey, it’s only every once in a while. It’s usually ham sandwiches,
apple slices, and milk. We have a Christmas tree. Let’s party.”
    “Yeah, let’s party!” came Clarice’s
muffled voice. When he eyed her in the rearview mirror her cheeks bulged with
fries.
    “Hey, missy that is cheating.”
    “Clarice!” Janette said.
    Clarice looked away with wide innocent
eyes and mimicked whistling nonchalantly. Charlie grinned at her. The kid was
too much. She swallowed as he guided the truck back into his driveway. “So, you
string the lights and we’ll hang all the ornaments? Since we’re sharing this
tree and stuff.”
    Charlie had made it a group tree as
Janette’s place was too small for anything beyond a table top tree. Next year,
when they were in their own house he’d help them get a monster of a tree.
    “We’ll all have to hang the ornaments.
I don’t think I have lights. I think I left them with…” he didn’t finish the
sentence and Janette piped in.
    “They got busted," she said for
Clarice's benefit. "We can make do without lights.”
    Clarice was shaking her head as
Charlie opened the door to help her out. “No way, no way. Ask Kimber. I bet she
has lights.”
     
     

Chapter 7
    “So you went over there to talk to him
and got the number for this guy?” Sarah had left and returned only to find
Kimber holding a business card and drinking coffee.
    “Yep. I called. They’re coming in a
few hours. Said it might be hard since it’s still snowing. But that the snow we
got, though heavy and cumulative, wasn’t really enough to cave something in
unless there were structural issues to begin with yar, yar, yar,” she sighed.
    “Year, yar. And you didn’t talk to him because ?”
    “Because Clarice was there and his
sister. And it was awkward. He looked maybe hurt?”
    “Gee, ya think? He seems like a good
guy so you sneaking out like he was some Average Joe from a bar probably stuck
in his craw a bit. Craw? Crawl? That always gets me.”
    Kimber shrugged. “I have no clue. Who
cares! The point is they were watching us and when Clarice started talking to
me about Christmas trees and stuff I just kind of…froze. I failed. So shoot me.”
    Sarah made a faux gun with her fingers
and pulled the trigger. “Oh, cry me a river. But I have to say, that kid cracks
me up.” She laughed and opened the fridge. She pulled out some lettuce, ham,
and hot peppers. “Lettuce wrap?”
    “Sure, just one.”
    “Oooh, one whole lettuce wrap?
Let’s not over do it, shall we?”
    “Not very hungry. And yes, Clarice is
a cutie. Charlie’s home,” she said, wistfully as she saw his big black truck
back into the driveway. The bed was stuffed with a giant evergreen and she felt
a stab of sadness in the center of herself. She really liked him. Maybe too
much and maybe too fast, but instinct said he was a good guy. She'd felt the
attraction to him every time they'd met since she moved in, she'd simply pushed
that feeling away. But maybe, just maybe, the more she thought about it, Sarah
was right about him being straight as an arrow and her wanting him to be gay, so
he’d be safe to like.
    But was she