For Auld Lang Syne (Navy Book 1)

Chapter 10

"Any bright ideas?" Nina asked as she stood next to Devon on the ice-slicked pavement and looked at the large Christmas tree strapped to the roof of her little car.

Virginia had had a massive snowstorm the day before Thanksgiving leaving many of their friends who had been planning to go home for the holiday stranded, so her apartment had been full of people all weekend. They had started to arrive on Thursday morning and had been coming and going all weekend. The previous evening she and Nina had decided to get a Christmas tree for the apartment, but when they had mentioned the fact to their friends they had had no offers of help in either the procuring of the tree or the decorating of it.

Neither she nor Nina had been discouraged, and they had set-out early that morning to pick their tree. Devon had insisted on a large one since the ceilings in the old house were high, and because it was the first time she and Nina were putting a tree since their college days, her excitement had overruled practicality.

Now, she and Nina stood in the bitter cold, wrapped up in their woolly hats and mittens, stomping their feet to keep warm, and wondering how to get the tree into the house. They had had plenty of help at the tree lot to load the tree onto the car, but they obviously hadn't thought the whole process through.

"So, no one is going to come out and help?" Devon asked in disbelief.  She had sent Nina in to get some help, but the football game and the cold weather had made it a no go for everyone. "I should send them all home. Their all fair-weather friends."

"No pun intended I hope." Nina stomped her feet again while Devon just shot her a glance that told her she wasn't helping.

"We can't leave it out here, it'll get stolen." Devon sighed as she tried to think of a way to get it off the car and into the house. "Well, the first step is to get it off of the car." Devon started to unstrap the large tree that was at least nine feet tall.  She wasn't at all sure how they got it on her little car in the first place or how she managed to get it home without taking out any other cars or buildings.

She and Nina worked with gloved, but still frozen, hands to unstrap the tree from the car and when that was done they stood back and looked at it again. "Maybe we can just roll it off and onto the ground? If we had a tarp or a sheet or something we could drag it."

Just then a large dump truck drove by and the draft it created started to roll the precariously perched tree off the top of the car. Without thinking, Devon tried to catch it but lost her footing and landed under the tree as it fell off the car. It was ungraceful and must have been funny because Nina started laughing and couldn't stop.

"Nina, my butt is getting wet and cold, help me! I could be hurt or something!" Devon demanded.

"Hey guys!" Nina called waving to someone across the street. "You're just in time."

Devon closed her eyes in embarrassment. She knew who it was. It was the one person who had always managed to show up when she had needed help as a girl. Josh.

"Nina!" she hissed.

"What? At least we have someone to help us move the tree now." Nina wasn't even attempting to hide her grin.

Devon looked up and saw Josh standing at the other end of the tree looking down at her with an eyebrow raised in a question, but she stubbornly remained silent and stared back at him trying to act as if a Christmas tree landing on her wasn't at all unusual. She could tell he was biting back a smile as he kept watching her.

"Don't you dare laugh Joshua Reed McIntire!" Devon hissed.

"Oooooh, she brought out the middle name, the big guns!" Will said, joining Nina. Then they both turned to look at Josh to see what his response would be but he remained silent.