Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Nolan leaned against Sky’s car, panting slightly with his hand pressed to his chest. That thing was going to be the death of him.
He lingered outside for another couple of minutes, watching the door to make sure the strange tree remained inside. If he had half a brain, he would have let the tree run off, but he couldn’t. Sky would be heartbroken if it suddenly disappeared before Christmas. Not to mention, the thing still had several of Sky’s ornaments hanging from its limbs.
As the bitter cold began biting through Nolan’s jeans and nipping at his cheeks, he picked up his coffee and crossed the street to his house. He unlocked the front door and paused, glancing over his shoulder for any sign of the tree. For a second, he thought the curtain in the window twitched, but nothing else moved.
Okay, the tree was safe in Sky’s house. Time for work.
He stepped inside, closed the door, and set about his usual routine of preparing the house for a day of work, which was really nothing more than turning the heat up to something more comfortable and flipping on a few lights. He shrugged off his coat and hat, tossing them onto the sofa as he crossed through the living room to his office.
His computer woke with a slight nudge of his mouse, and his current manuscript was waiting for him. He was supposed to be working on a romantic suspense full of car chases and the long, ominous shadow of a deadly stalker, but the appearance of the creepy tree had put him in a paranormal mood. He began to work on a novel about a witch who lived deep in the woods and was slowly winning the heart of the small town’s mayor despite his reservations about her sanity. In short, he didn’t believe she could actually do magic.
But today was going to be the day he wrote the chapter where the unsuspecting mayor discovered Tavia did know magic, and she’d just saved his ungrateful ass.
After a quick check of email and a few other minor administrative tasks, Nolan turned on his writing music for this book and started typing.
The words flowed so easily…for about five minutes.
Then there was a weird scraping noise along the side of the house.
For a moment, Nolan closed his eyes and cursed his luck. He saved his meager progress and crossed the room to the window that looked out the side of the house. He peeked between the open blinds and immediately spotted the creepy Christmas tree, ornaments glinting in the weak morning light. It stretched up one root and rubbed it on the window, reminding him of a cat begging to be let in.
With a heavy sigh, Nolan returned to his desk and picked up his phone.
“Hey, sweetie! Miss me already?” Sky teased after answering the call.
“Babe, where’s the tree?”
“What?”
“The tree. Do you know where it is?”
“That’s a weird question. Of course, I know where it is.” The soft thump of his footsteps accompanied his words as he crossed the second floor and thudded down the stairs. “It’s in the living room, plugged into the wall. I plugged it in before heading up to my office. Why—ahhhhh! It’s gone! Where’s the tree? I can’t find the tree!”
“It’s across the street.”
“What? Where?”
“It’s standing outside my office window, begging to come in.”
“What!” Sky shrieked again.
“It tried to follow me across the street, but I caught it and chased it into the house. Apparently, it sneaked across once I got there.”
Sky’s hysterical laughter drowned out the last of his words.
Nolan rolled his eyes. “This isn’t funny! What if the neighbors saw it? They’d freak the fuck out. There’s been enough problems with the fae recently. Do you want them showing up on our doorstep with their torches and pitchforks?”
“Oh my God, like any of them would even have a pitchfork in their tool shed.”
“Sky, I’m serious!”
A soft knock sounded on the window, and he peeked out to find the tree was still out there, begging to be let in.
“I think it’s cute that the tree followed you to work. It missed you.”
“Can you come get it? It clearly doesn’t want to listen to me.”
“No, it’s cold. Let it into your house. We’ll bring it across the street tonight after the sun sets. No one will see it.”
“Fine. But you have to bring me lunch. I’m afraid it will follow me across the street in the middle of the afternoon.”
“Done! Have fun!” Sky ended the call, not giving Nolan a chance to curse at him.
Nolan shuffled through the house and opened the door. The sound was enough to send the tree scuttling quickly around to the front and up onto the porch. Nolan stepped back to allow it inside, muttering about how weird his life had now become.