The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer Read Free Book Online Page B

thought.
    “Kate is Kate
with or without
the glasses.” Fleur nudged his back. She refused to call me Boo. Another reason to like her.
    “Yes ma’am, I stand corrected. Fleur wouldn’t be Fleur without the corrections,” he said, turning forward again.
    Ashley laughed too loudly.
    At Trish’s suggestion, we sang “O Tannenbaum” in German all the way to Grand Avenue, with Ashley giggling and saying, “Oh, I’ve forgotten the words. It’s been years since I took German!”
    Like last semester, I thought.
    It turned out that Bjorn was right about the tree lot on Grand. They still had trees. He parked the car, and Fleur and I untangled ourselves and climbed out the back. We had gotten in the car while it was still in the garage, but now the cold hit us like a wall. Fleur covered her nose with both hands. “My gosh,” she said.
    I laughed. “The hairs in your nose freeze right away when it gets this cold,” I said. I pulled my parka hood up and tied it securely under my chin. Then I noticed that Fleur wasn’t wearing a hat at all.
    “Here, take my muffler and put it around your head. You’ll never survive without something on your head.”
    She didn’t argue, but gratefully accepted the muffler.
    We followed Bjorn and Trish into the lot. Trish held on to his arm, taking little, bouncy, excited steps. “Just think,” she squealed, “we’re buying our very first tree.”
    Ashley, imitating Trish, put her arm through Richard’s and said, “Just think, Rich, you and I are buying our very first tree together.”
    He looked down at her, surprised, I think, but laughed as if he liked the joke. He turned and glanced at Fleur, a wry look on his face. Depressing.
    Fleur put her arm through mine. “Let’s go steady,” she said, matching Ashley’s voice exactly.
    “Let’s get married,” I said, patting her arm.
    “Let’s have a family,” Fleur went on. “A girl for you, a girl for me.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “Just think, we’re buying our first tree together.” We burst out laughing.
    Richard had disengaged himself from Ashley and was pulling out the tallest trees he could find.
    “How about this, you guys?”
    Bjorn had pulled out another one almost identical to the one Richard was showing us, a spruce. It was the kind our family always bought. The branches on both trees were frozen up, but you could tell they would thaw into a nice, symmetrical design—perfect for showing off ornaments.
    “Oh no, not one of those,” Trish said. “They’re so skinny. They look undernourished. This is perfect.” She held on to a fat piñon pine—our family called them the porcupine trees.
    “But honey,” Bjorn said, “the ornaments just sort of hang on the outside of those trees. They’re so thick you can’t get anything between the branches.”
    “No, they look wonderful that way, really. Our family always had a tree like this. Honey, this is perfect.”
    “Well, how about this one?” Bjorn pulled out another tree that looked exactly like the first one he’d shown her. “It’s a little thicker near the top.”
    “Honey, it isn’t a piñon pine.”
    “Or this one.” Bjorn pulled out yet another spruce from the pack.
    “Well, honey, I like this one.” Trish pulled out anotherpiñon pine and tried to push the frozen branches down with her gloved hand.
    “That’s nice, honey, but I like this one better.” Bjorn wasn’t listening. “What do you think, Rich?”
    “Either one is fine with me.”
    “Well, I like this one,” Ashley said, pointing at the tree Richard had chosen. “I think it’s perfect.”
    Fleur smirked.
    “I think we should get this one,” Bjorn said. He shook the tree vigorously.
    Trish scanned the lot. She seemed nervous. “Honey, let’s look just a little more. We just got here.” She walked down the aisle of trees.
    Fleur stomped her feet. “It’s freezing,” she said. “I’ve never been so cold.”
    Bjorn called to Trish, “Honey, Fleur is cold.