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“Come on, Papa!”
Smoke doesn’t have time to respond before Amari is pulling him into the trees.
Annie chuckles, tucking herself into her coat as she follows behind them. It was the last week of November in Chicago, and the temperature was a constant reminder of that.
While the couple would much prefer to be inside, it was almost Christmastime, which meant their daughter was in her element. The 8 year old was a ball of energy, reminding her father of his twin. That energy had them out in the cold on a Saturday afternoon, looking at Christmas trees.
They’d been trying to hold out for as long as they could on picking it out, neither of them very big on the holidays, but the past few years with a conscious Amari had them realizing they didn’t have much of a choice when it came to going all out.
Annie was perfectly fine with the plastic tree that Elijah was supposed to take down from that high shelf in the garage a week ago, but him dragging his feet left space for Amari to squeeze her request for a real one in. There was no tree already in the process of being put up, and neither of them were very fond of telling the 8 year old no.
So here they were. The only negotiations that were made was that she’d have to help with watering the tree and keeping the floor clean around when it began to shed. Amari agreed without hesitation, so here they were.
“Whichever one you pick gotta fit in the spot where the tree goes, Mari,” Annie hears Elijah saying when she finally catches up to them. They’re standing in front of a few tall trees, which she could tell were way too big before she got close to them.
“Fine,” Amari replies, crossing her arms loosely. Elijah just shakes his head as he and Annie fall in step behind her when she makes her way over to a section of smaller trees.
“What about this one?” she calls once she steps up to a group of smaller trees. Annie looks at them, a small frown forming on her face. Each tree was skinnier than she thought they should be, the one Amari pointed out being no different than the ones surrounding it. She could imagine the gaps between branches once all the ornaments and lights were put on, so she shook her head.
“Don’t you think they’re a little… slim?”
Amari looks at it again, shrugging softly.
“It has character.” she says, making Elijah chuckle.
Annie side eyes him. “If we get that one, though, it won’t be able to hold all the ornaments without bein’ see through.”
“Mama, I thought you didn’t care about decorating,” she frowns softly, Annie’s sound a little to close to no for her liking. “You said I could pick.”
Annie sighs softly when Amari’s brow creases, the pout forming on her lips making Annie feel like she’s looking a mirror.
“You can,” she starts, her voice soft and warm. “I just think we should look around some more before pickin’. If you don’t see anything else you like, we can come back for this one, hmm?”
Amari looks between her parents, then back at the tree before locking eyes with her mother again.
“Okay.”
Annie smiles and reaches for her hand, and the pair walks toward another patch of trees, Elijah not too far behind them with an amused expression on his face.
They spend the next forty minutes looking, and nothing catches Amari’s eye. When Annie points out some of the better looking trees, she doesn’t approve of them. Elijah points out some here and there, and she looks them over, but she doesn’t land on any of them. They’ve walked almost the entire tree farm before Amari lets out a dramatic sigh.
“I don’t like any of these!” she exclaims, her hands flopping at her sides as she turns to look at her parents.
“That’s okay, Mari. We’ll just go back and get the one you saw before,” Elijah says, hoping to stop the pout forming on her lips in its tracks.
“But what if it’s gone?” she replies, her eyes round with sadness.
Elijah smiles softly. “It’ll still be there,” he says, stepping closer to her. He pulls her hat down on the sides and adjusts her scarf before draping his arm over her shoulders.
“If it’s the only one that caught your eye, then it was meant for you and nobody else. So we’re gettin’ it.”
Amari looks up at him and nods, a soft smile on her face.
“Okay.”
The three of them make their way over to where they started, and the tree is sitting there waiting for them. Amari runs over to it, her smile widening as she looks at it. She looks back at her parents, and they can’t help but smile just as wide.
“Papa! Take my picture,” she requests, posing with the tree. Elijah chuckles as he pulls out his phone. He snaps a few pictures of her before she runs up to look at them.
Elijah works on getting the tree into a wheelbarrow while Annie and Amari look at the pictures on his phone. A warmth spreads through Annie’s chest as she looks at the joy on the little girl’s face, frozen in time.
Her umber colored skin was glowing in the sunlight, her dimples were prominent as ever, and her curls poofed out from under her hat. Her toothless smile tugged at Annie’s heart the most, though.
“Mama, you really don’t like this tree?” Amari asks, looking up at her mother.
Annie smiles softly. “I do, baby. I just wanted you to be sure this is the one you wanted.”
Amari smiles. “I’m sure.”