Christmas Tree Run
December 11, 2023 – Abilene, Texas, USA
Derek waited on the couch in his girlfriend’s apartment. He wondered to himself why he ever bothered to show up on time. Sherrie was never ready.
Sherrie’s roommate, Gina, sat on a recliner next to the couch. She was covered in a blanket and wore a hooded sweatshirt. She was obviously in winddown mode for the night and had replaced her contact lenses with glasses.
Derek pretended to be interested in the Netflix show playing on the TV. Gina looked over at him and asked, “So where are you and Sherrie going?”
“She’s been talking about a dance club. I wasn’t sure what to wear.” Derek looked down at his slacks and long-sleeved shirt.
“Looks fine to me,” Gina said with a smile.
“Dancing isn’t my thing, but Sherrie keeps saying I should loosen up. Be more spontaneous.” Derek chuckled to himself. “I kind of practiced some dance moves at home.”
“Let’s see them.”
“No, I don’t think so. I’ll embarrass myself enough at this club.”
“Just one little move.”
Derek laughed and shook his head. He had dated Sherrie for four months and felt out of his comfort zone the entire time. She was beautiful and confident and the center of attention. She was hard to satisfy but he reminded himself he was lucky to score a girlfriend with Sherrie’s assets.
While he waited, Gina continued to joke with him about his dance moves. Sherrie finally emerged from her bedroom wearing tight jeans and a stretchy exercise top. Her highlighted hair was pulled up into a messy bun. It was a look that drove Derek wild, but not what he was expecting for dancing.
“You’re ready for the dance club place?”
“I decided against it,” Sherrie replied nonchalantly.
“You kept talking about how great it was.”
“Now I want to do something different. Can’t you be a little flexible?”
Derek did not reply. He was relieved he would not be dancing but wanted a little credit for his willingness.
Sherrie held up her phone. “Look, my family’s sending me pictures of Christmas decorations they’re making. I’ve gotta show them I can make something just as good. Let’s go get some stuff for gingerbread houses.”
Derek pictured the end of the night with frosting and gingerbread pieces covering the kitchen and Sherrie unhappy with her creations. He scrambled to think of another Christmas-themed activity that would still make him sound spontaneous.
“What if we first bought a tree? You could pick it out and then decide how to decorate it.”
Sherrie reacted as if someone had failed to get her a Christmas present. “I don’t like buying trees. When I was growing up in Colorado, we used to go out to the woods and chop one down. They were so much better. I’d do anything for a tree from Ft. Collins.”
Suddenly Derek had an idea that would prove once and for all he could be spontaneous and flexible. And it would make Sherrie feel like she owed him something big.
“I don’t have to work tomorrow. How about we drive up to Ft. Collins and get one?”
Sherrie flinched. “It’s a twelve hour drive.”
“Come on. You’re always saying you want to be a little crazy. Aren’t the Colorado trees the best in the world?”
Sherrie did not want to seem unadventurous, but she obviously did not want to sit in a car for 24 straight hours.
“I would go, but I have a hair coloring appointment tomorrow. It’s been scheduled for a month. That doesn’t mean you couldn’t go alone if you wanted. They are the best trees.”
“I need someone with me. I can’t stay awake that long by myself.”
Sherrie acted surprised by Derek’s confession of weakness.
Gina listened to the entire conversation from her spot on the recliner. Before Derek could drop the road trip idea and resign himself to building gingerbread houses, Gina announced, “I could go with you. I’m off work too. I’d probably just waste time binging on TV anyway.”
Derek smiled in surprise and then looked from Gina to Sherrie. “If the tree means that much to you, I’ll do it.”
Sherrie finally realized the size of the gesture and said, “It would be the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“And you wouldn’t mind if Gina came along?”
“Why would I mind about that?”
Derek turned back to Gina. “Are you serious about coming along?”
“Why not?” she replied with a shrug.
“Is this too crazy?”
“Yeah, but we’re young and dumb, aren’t we?”
Derek and Gina quickly planned to meet at 6 am the next morning. Derek’s thoughts were scrambled as he announced he needed to get back to his place and get some sleep for the upcoming tree quest.
Gina was waiting on her apartment porch step when Derek returned in the morning darkness. She dressed in layers and tossed a heavy coat into the backseat of Derek’s Nissan Rogue.
“Is this going to hold a tree?” she asked.
“I’ve got a saw and some rope in the back. I figured we could tie the tree on top.”
“Very aerodynamic. I made some pancakes. They’re great road trip snacks.” Gina held up a Ziplock bag filled with pancakes.
“Is Sherrie going to say goodbye?”
“She’s still asleep.”
Derek glanced at the apartment door. “I guess we need to get going.” Once Gina settled into the passenger seat, Derek put the Rogue into gear and drove toward the highway.
“What should we listen to first?” Gina asked. “My road trip songs or podcasts?”
“Let’s hear the songs.”
Gina’s collection was upbeat and funny. Derek had not heard some of the older songs, but he quickly caught the lyrics and sang with Gina. They paused to analyze the one about pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. Gina started a couple of podcasts, but she and Derek ended up talking over them. They liked the same books and had visited almost all the same states. Gina laughed about her childhood hopes to become a penguin trainer. As a teenager she discovered penguins do not like to be trained.
“Once we get to the mountains and see snow, let’s stop and taste it,” Gina said. “That’s one of the reasons I came along.”
“You’ve never tasted snow?”
“It’s been a while.”
The conversation flowed so naturally, Derek barely paid attention to the wide-open landscape or the time. Four hours passed like a snap of the fingers, and they were already in Amarillo.
“Why don’t we stop for a late breakfast, early lunch? I’m buying. Then maybe you should take a nap so you can take over driving.”
They found a restaurant claiming to have the best Mexican food in town. Derek teased Gina about the way she cut her entire enchilada into small pieces before taking the first bite. They were in no hurry to get back on the road. They wandered into an adjoining curio shop and admired the vast collection of antiques and junk. They compared readings on fortune telling machines, tried on wood carnival masks, and rode coin operated horses.
When they finally returned to Derek’s car, they were way behind their planned schedule. Derek drove to the highway without mentioning the time.
“Can I ask kind of a personal question?” Gina said while pulling off an extra shirt to get more comfortable.
“How personal?” Derek replied with a laugh.
“What do you see in Sherrie? I mean, I know she looks hot when she wants to, but she would never drive across the country for you.”
Derek was still deciding how to respond when Gina continued.
“It’s such an asymmetric relationship. It’s only my opinion, but she doesn’t deserve someone as nice as you. I’m moving out next month. I’m tired of her drama.”
Derek veered slowly toward the right as he speechlessly glanced over at Gina.
“Watch the road! Anyway, I’m going to grab that nap so I can drive later.”
Gina used her extra shirt as a pillow and leaned against her door. In less than a minute, she was asleep.
Derek snuck amazed glances in Gina’s direction. He liked her cute nose and how peaceful she looked with her eyes closed. The trip would have been much different with Sherrie riding next to him. There was no way she would contentedly sleep leaning on a shirt. She would have convinced Derek the tree thing was a dumb idea, and they would have turned around way before Amarillo.
Derek wanted to reach over and brush the hair out of Gina’s face, but he kept his hands to himself. He softly sang some of the songs from her road trip collection, hoping she would wake up.
Two hours after leaving the curio shop, Derek had crossed the state line and was in the small town of Clayton, New Mexico. He spotted a Christmas tree lot advertising trees from Colorado. He pulled over and tapped Gina’s shoulder.
“Are we at the snow?” Gina asked groggily. “What time is it?”
“We’re in New Mexico. I’ve been thinking maybe we don’t need to drive the whole way. We just tell her we got the tree in Ft. Collins.” Derek pointed to the sign about Colorado trees. “She won’t know one Colorado tree from another.”
Gina laughed as she reached full consciousness. “I was thinking that all along.”
“We have to promise each other we won’t tell her what really happened.”
“No problem.”
They got out of the car and strolled through the tree lot. Gina pretended to place presents under different trees to get a feel for how they would look in her apartment. Derek bought one small enough to fit in the back of the Rogue. They were turned around and headed to Abilene by 3 pm.
“I just remembered. What about seeing the snow? That’s why you came.”
“I’ll get over it. As long as we can stop and ride the horses again.”
They drove straight to the curio shop for more rides. Derek bought them each a carnival mask. As they left Amarillo and it grew dark, they sang and laughed at full volume to stay awake. When Derek reached his alertness limit, he pulled over and let Gina drive.
Without the need to pay attention to the road, Derek’s mind drifted closer to a dream state. He giggled longer over Gina’s jokes and stared at her hands gripping the top of the steering wheel. Her voice made him feel calm and eager to find out what the next moment might bring. He remembered something his dad once said. “If you want to find out what someone is really like, take them on a road trip.”
They reached Abilene a little after 10 pm, but of course Gina could not return to her apartment. If they were going to sell the story of going all the way to Ft. Collins, Sherrie would have to believe they returned the next morning. They drove to Derek’s apartment and fell asleep on his couch leaning against each other. Derek woke in the middle of the night and stayed on the couch instead of retreating to his bed.
Gina’s bag of pancakes proved delicious as they returned to her apartment in the morning. Despite sleeping for at least six hours, it was not hard to believe they had driven through the night. Derek carried the tree through the door.
“Why did I think Sherrie would be awake and waiting for us?” he asked Gina.
“Slow learner.”
“Well, this deserves us pulling her out of bed.”
Derek pounded on Sherrie’s bedroom door and announced that he was back from Ft. Collins and she should come see her tree.
“I’ll see it later!” Sherrie called in a grumpy voice.
“No, come see it now!”
She emerged with tired eyes and her hair pulled back. She took one look at the tree and said, “It’s not very big.”
“The bigger ones had birds living in the branches,” Gina said. “And we had to drag it through the forest.”
“It smells nice. Like I remember,” Sherris said. “I’ll take a better look later.” She shuffled back toward her room.
Derek shook his head and smirked. He was holding up the tree but he let it fall to the floor. “This is probably a weird time to say this, but I think we should see other people. It’s not working out.”
Sherrie gasped. Before she could yell something rude in return, Derek hurried out the door. He already knew what Sherrie was thinking: How dare he break up with me!
He did not have a chance to see Gina’s reaction. Three minutes later he sent her a text message that read, “Can I see you later? I know a place in town that makes snow.”
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