I didn't believe my eyes until he came back in the car. I met him on the back porch. The wind was chilly, and I hadn't taken a jacket. He threw an arm around my shoulders as we went inside.

"Where the devil did that come from?" I asked.

"The garage," he said.

"But.-. . ," I stammered.

"I told you when we went to Jefferson that I'd take you somewhere in my car sometime when we didn't have to buy lumber," he said.

"You didn't tell me it looked like that," I protested.

"So, you like it?"

"How many more sides to Billy Lee are there?"

"Billy Lee is just a plain old feller who likes different things. That old Caddy reminded me of one Gramps had when I was about four. He used to take me for rides with the top down. When I found one that had been restored, I bought it. I took your Momma and Lessie for a little drive, or I'd have been back sooner."

"Where?"

"Just up and down Main Street and out past the grade school. By then Miz Clarice was getting cold."

"You are an angel," I said.

"Me? Not old oddball Billy Lee Tucker."

"You've played on that, you rat. You know what people say about you, and you don't give a dang"

"You got that right!" He winked. "Now, how would you rate our first holiday in the house?"

"You're changing the subject, but I don't even care right now. It couldn't have been better unless Momma was in her right mind."

He picked up a tea towel and dried dishes as I washed them. "I didn't mind being a movie star."

"I'm sure you didn't." I couldn't keep the grin off my face. "Even though I was a waitress and without Crystal and with Momma living in a crazy world, it was happy."

"I wonder what set her off on that track today," he said, as we worked together washing dishes.

"Well, if I close one eye and squint the other one, I suppose you do look like Billy Bob" I pulled the plug on the dishwater and looked at him through squinty eyes.

He slapped the air beside my shoulder. "On that note, I'm taking a turkey sandwich home and taking a nap"

"See you later. And when you come back, you'll be plain old Billy Lee, so don't be thinking you're going to get any royal treatment now that Momma has gone home. And, Billy Lee, you really look more like Harrison Ford," I teased.

"I get royal treatment every day, Trudy." He was out the door before I could slip another word in.

Two days before Christmas, Billy Lee brought in a cedar tree and one of those stands that holds a gallon of water so the tree won't die and shed all its needles. He brought the decorations box down from the attic, and when he opened it, it revealed big antique lights and fragile ornaments in a whole array of bright colors. Linda and Art would have drooled over everything.

While Billy Lee put the lights on the tree, I drove to the dollar store to pick up a new tinsel garland. And that's when I ran into Betsy and Marty-and I mean smack-dab into them. They were coming out of the store as I went in, and there was no hiding from them the way they used to avoid Aunt Gert.

Marty smiled. "Enough of this. We only have one another, and I'm tired of not talking to you. I'm sorry I knew about Drew and didn't tell you, and I'm sorry for those things you heard in the bathroom at Gert's funeral. Forgive me?"

Betsy threw an arm around my shoulders. "Me too. We were awful. You have a right to tell us where to go, but we miss you."

"Forgiven," I said. I didn't tell them that it was Billy Lee's spirit sitting on my shoulder telling me to be good that made me do it. "On one condition," I went on.

They both looked at me.

"That you never say another mean word about Billy Lee. He's my friend, and if you say anything nasty about him, I intend to mop up the streets of Tishomingo with you both"

"Agreed," Betsy said quickly.

"Okay," Marty said.

"Then why don't you two come to Christmas dinner? We'd love to have you," I said.

"We'll be there. We were just moaning about our kids all having plans, and actually wishing Aunt Gert were still around so we could have dinner with her like when we were kids." Betsy grinned.

"Good. We'll see you at dinner in a couple of days," I said.

I bought three kinds of tinsel because I couldn't decide which one I liked best. I'd never had a real tree. Momma was one of the first generation white-tree owners with all red bulbs and tinsel, red velvet bows, and even a red angel on top. A few years later, white trees went out of vogue. Momma bought an artificial green tree and decorated it with white lights, gold tinsel, and multicolored ornaments.

When I married, we bought a fake green tree and updated it every couple of years as the new and better models arrived on the market. But they all paled in comparison to the cedar tree I gazed upon as I carried a sackful of tinsel into the house. I tossed my coat onto a rocking chair and watched Billy Lee string the rest of the lights, plug them in, and give a thumbsup shout when everything lit up the way it was supposed to do.

"What's that all about?" I asked.

"Gert and I were always happy when the lights worked one more year. She kept saying they should be retired, but I always liked the big bulbs better than those little twinkling things. Guess I've got old-fashioned bones. Grandma always had a cedar tree even when other folks had those fake ones, and I loved the big lights."

"I saw Marty and Betsy at the dollar store and invited them to Christmas dinner." I rubbed my cold hands together and thought of that lovely fireplace in the house by the lake.

"That's great, Trudy. We'll have lots of people around the table, and it'll be a wonderful Christmas!" Billy Lee said.

"You actually like this holiday?"

He was grinning so broadly that his crooked smile wasn't even crooked. "It's my very favorite."

He wrapped a tinsel garland around his shoulder and fore arm the way I'd seen him do extension cords before he put them away; then he handed me the free end. "It's your job to get it on just right. Fill in the holes where the limbs are sparse, and make it pretty. It's my job to keep walking around the tree until we have it all done"

I started at the top. Drape here, fill there, stumble over the light cord, bump into Billy Lee a dozen times. I hadn't had so much fun decorating a tree in my whole life.

"Well, dang it all, I dropped it again. I'm the queen of clumsy today," I said.

"Who cares? 'Tis the season to be jolly, remember?"

"Then we're right in tune with the season," I said.

We finished the garland, and I threw myself down into a rocking chair. "Break time. Let's rest a minute."

He went to the kitchen, took the quart of eggnog from the fridge, and poured two glasses. He handed me one and settled into a rocker. "It's looking good. Last year Gert just wanted a little two-footer, and we set it on the dining room table. She'd just gotten the news about the cancer, but she put on a good front. She probably wouldn't have even put up a tree, but she kept up appearances for me"

"You were good for her. I feel guilty that I didn't put forth more effort to be around her."