Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“Uncut? Why do you have some uncut?”
“Some people prefer it. It doesn’t make sense to cut them all down anyway—it’s handy for things like what you need them for, but if they don’t sell, it’s no big deal. They can keep growing for another year.”
“Oh.” Sylvie folded her arms across her chest, tucking her gloved hands into her sides. “That makes sense.”
“Do you know what you need?”
“Yes.” She smacked her lips together. “Four nine-foot trees, four six-foot trees, four five-foot trees, two seven-foot trees, and approximately eight four-foot trees.”
I stopped walking and blinked at her. “What the fuck do you need so many trees for? Your own tree farm?”
“Please don’t ask,” she muttered. “Hazel.”
“That’s… how many trees?”
“Twenty-two.”
“For one day?”
“Yes,” Sylvie said slowly. “To be fair, most are for the dinner and reception, and the ones that are being used for the ceremony are being transported to the children’s hospital immediately after so they can enjoy them.”
“I suppose that’s as good a use as any for them,” I replied. “Does Julian know he’s getting married in a festive forest?”
“He does. He told me he’s just there to pay the bills for it.”
I slid my gaze towards her as I opened the gate. “You know, if your sister wasn’t successful in her own right…”
“Oh, I’d be the first to call her a gold-digger.” Sylvie snorted. “But I really think he just wants to make her happy, and that’s it. I know Christmas Eve isn’t exactly everyone’s first choice for a wedding, and I doubt it was Julian’s.”
“Probably not,” I admitted. We’d been friends for years, and he’d always had a relatively normal outlook where Christmas was concerned. “He did ask me what to do about it when she proposed it.”
“What did you say to him?”
“That if he didn’t care, to just let her choose it. Their wedding isn’t overly large anyway, so it doesn’t matter too much. It’s not like their families have to travel far.”
“True,” she agreed. “It’s just a lot of trees that I’m going to have to end up decorating, and I’m not hugely happy about it.”
“All by yourself? Twenty-two trees?”
She waved a hand. “That’s just me moaning. Mum, Nana, and Julian’s mum are going to help, but it’s still going to take us a few days.”
“I have a six-year-old boy you could borrow. He’ll likely want paying for his time, though.”
“No, thank you. I’m too much of a perfectionist for that.”
I grinned. “I thought as much. These are the…” I grabbed the tag on one of the branches. “The nine-foot ones.”
“Right. They need to be kind of… similar. Nice and triangular. Aesthetically pleasing, if you will.” Sylvie stepped in front of me and started examining the trees.
I dug in my pocket for the sold tags and pen and waved the tags. “Just tell me which ones you want, and I’ll tag them as sold.”
“Oh? Does that mean you’ll do whatever I say? That’s a tempting thought.”
“I could hide a body really well among these trees, Sylvie.”
“I suppose. Just not enough room for your ego though, right?” She flashed a quick smile at me and grabbed one of the identifying tags from a branch. “None of them have prices on. Just the size.”
“They’re priced to order since they tend to be a bit more resilient than ones that are already cut.”
“How do I know which ones to choose if I can’t keep a tally of the price?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“What?” She looked over at me, confusion marring her pretty face. “I am working with a budget, you know.”
“Don’t worry. Julian called me before you got here. He said you were on your way and to send him the bill when you’d picked them all.”
A tiny frown wrinkled her forehead. “Oh.”
My lips curved to the side. “He said it cuts out the middleman, so just choose the best trees, I’ll tag them, and I’ll bill him for them.”
Discounted, of course.
It was for his wedding, after all.
“Oh,” Sylvie said, this time in a smaller voice. “That seems like a lot of pressure to stick to a budget.”
“What’s your budget?”
“Eighteen hundred.”
I choked on thin air. “On bloody Christmas trees?”
She paused, but her gaze skittered from left to right and back again. “Look, I don’t set the budget, I just get given it.”
“But eighteen hundred pounds on Christmas trees? Do you not think that’s…” I trailed off.
Sylvie put her hands in her pockets, bringing her shoulders up to her ears. “Insane? Excessive? Financially careless and irresponsible?”
“Your words, not mine.” I chuckled.
She shrugged. “Julian’s richy-rich-rich.”
So was I.
Richer than him, in fact.
“So am I, but I wouldn’t spend eighteen hundred pounds on Christmas trees.” And I was someone who had seventeen of the fucking things in his house.
“Not even for a good cause?”
“A wedding isn’t a good cause,” I said dryly. “It’s an overpriced, overexaggerated, needlessly extravagant party where one party always dips out.”