Garden of Roses ✔️

Chapter 42

Zara

"Wow, what are you doing?" I hear Dante's voice behind me and almost fall off the ladder when I jump in surprise. My little hands grab the ladder stiffly so I don't fall, and I close my eyes, waiting for it to stabilize again.

"Jesus, Dante, don't scare me like that." I frown, turning away from him and continue with what I was doing. At the moment, I was placing a star on the top of our enormous Christmas tree that Mother and Father brought yesterday. Neither of them was home right now, so Sofia was with me. I wanted to wait for them so we could decorate the tree together, but Mother called a while ago saying they won't make it after all and I should just do it with Sofia.

I liked Sofia. She was always very nice to me. Even so, I didn't want to do it with her. I wanted my parents here to decorate the tree. It was our tradition.

"I'm putting a star on the tree, isn't it obvious?"

"Why are you doing that for?" Dante shoots his next question.

"Because Christmas is tomorrow." I mean seriously, did he hit his head or something? What exactly is confusing him here? I climb down the ladder when the big star is finally in place. I always liked to put the star first, and then continue to put the rest of the decorations on. I look up at the star, admiring my work, and then glance over at Dante.

He looks as if he has never seen any of the Christmas stuff before. The twinkly lights all over the living room, the fake snow in the corners of all windows, cinnamon sticks everywhere, which give a divine smell of winter, and so on. It's mid-afternoon, but it's already pitch black outside. Here in the living room, the only light is coming from the twinkly lights and the automatic fire in the fireplace.

"I don't get it. What do you need the tree for?" Dante asks, still not looking at me, but rather all around the room, his eyes widening by the second. Now I'm the one who's confused. Did they not have a tree at home for Christmas?

Before I answer him, Sofia comes in from the kitchen, balancing two steaming cups of cocoa with marshmallows floating on the surface and, of course, a cinnamon stick tucked in the cup.

"Dante, hi. You can take this cup, and I'll bring myself another one," she says politely, placing the cups on a glass coffee table in the middle of the room and rushing back to the kitchen to get one more.

"We use the tree so we can put presents for each other underneath it, and then we open them on Christmas morning," I explain while Dante stares at me with wide eyes.

"Oh, wow. That sounds very nice," he says quietly as his gaze drops to the floor. I take a few steps in his direction until I'm standing right in front of him. He is fumbling with his fingers nervously, not breaking eye contact with the floor.

"Do you not do that with your family at home?" He shakes his head left and right before lifting it to look at me.

"Oh, well... do you want to stay here with me and help me make this tree pretty?" I ask with a wide smile. Dante hesitates for a second, once again looking around the room, and then he nods, accepting my invitation.

"But how do I do that?"

I point my index finger at the numerous boxes scattered all over the floor. He glances at them, seeming confused. I take his hand and bring him closer to the boxes.

"Here," I say, and open the first box that was full of red and silver glass balls. "Take this one and hang it anywhere you wish on the tree." I take a ball myself and hang it on one of the lower branches to show him how it's done. He follows my lead and hangs one himself.