Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Finding himself in the Christmas section of a craft store should’ve been something Fox would’ve enjoyed, considering he’d over decorated that year.
However, this task was more important than decorating his house.
He was looking at table decorations, trying to decide what was going to work well for what he and his team were planning. There was a lot riding on his decision.
“Are you looking for anything in particular?” A young woman with a bright red apron displaying the stores name, and wearing a matching red Santa hat, smiled at him.
“If you were organizing a surprise Christmas dinner, which of these would work the best?” He pointed to the shelf that held small Christmas trees, stars, and candles.
“How many do you need?”
“We’re doing two tables, so only two.” Which should’ve made it easier to pick which ones to use, but he hadn’t been able to decide. Would small Christmas trees look good, or would it be overkill?
Were the stars going to be too low, and would the candles be magnets for little hands, although he doubted Angelica’s and Oscar’s parents would even let their children get close to the open flame.
“If that’s the case, why don’t you get two of everything and then you can decide what looks best?
Do you know the color of the tablecloths, and other décor you’ll have?
Are you doing it at a restaurant? They might have a limit of how much you can bring in, and you might be obligated to use their napery, etc. ”
Napery? What the fuck is napery?
Fox was going to ask that question, but he didn’t want to look like a fool. “We’re hiring a community facility in a gated community. It’s not a huge room, so I’m guessing we’ll need all that stuff you talked about. The theme is Christmas, so that’s the colors we’ll go for.”
“Excellent. Let’s get you a cart and get you sorted.”
The young woman’s enthusiasm was infectious, and Fox couldn’t help smiling along with her. Picking the colors they were going to use hadn’t been something they’d thought about. Which they should’ve, considering they’d considered most everything else.
For the next half an hour, Fox followed the girl around the store; he was pushing one cart, and she had another.
He hated to think how much it was going to cost, but that didn’t matter to him or the other guys.
It was all items that could be reused, and this was their way of thanking Ox and the others for taking a chance on them and welcoming them to Alliez.
For them, it had been a big leap of faith, considering they’d created a team environment with the four of them, that adding others in had the chance of fucking up the equilibrium between the team.
It had been a great place to land after they’d all retired from the Navy.
Fortunately, they’d all gelled well together, and now they were able to do a mix of the type of thing they’d done as Navy SEALs, as well as general security work, which was always a good way to decompress after they’d been on a heavy mission.
“I think you’re set.” April, the girl who’d been helping him, declared.
Fox’s plan when he’d entered the store, was to get table decorations, and that was it. Now he had cloths, Christmas plates, and bowls. Napkins. As well as garlands and the table decorations he’d gone in for.
It was going to look like Christmas had exploded in the room, but looking at everything piled up in the two carts, Fox didn’t care if it did.
He didn’t think his teammates would care either.
The whole purpose of the dinner was to enjoy the festive season with the important people in his life, and that was exactly what he was doing.
“If not, I can always come back. I don’t think I’ve bought out the whole store yet,” he joked, and April laughed.
“I’ll be happy to help, and whoever you’re doing this for, I’m sure they’re going to love every minute of it.”
“I hope so.”
With his credit card taking a hefty beating, Fox loaded everything in his car. Where he was going to store everything, he didn’t know, but he could always get the guys to come and take some stuff.
Jag and Hound were taking care of getting a Christmas tree and the decorations, and Deal was organizing the sound system, so they could play carols all night.
Normally, he didn’t give a rat’s ass about celebrating Christmas.
His family had disowned him when he’d joined the Navy.
His parents had wanted him to go to college and get a safe job, which equaled boring in his mind.
He’d thought they’d be proud of him going into the military, but it had been the opposite.
As an only child, he supposed he could understand their worry.
His job had been dangerous, and there had been times when he’d thought he’d be coming home in a pine box, but he’d had his team at his back, and they were now his family.
Although, there were times he wondered if he should reach out; he had the first couple of years after he’d joined the Navy, but getting no response from them, he’d given up.
Perhaps it was time to try again. They weren’t getting any younger, and it had been too long. But that was a thought for another day.
Before he pulled out of the lot, he opened the group chat with the guys and sent a text.
Operation Keeping Christmas Update: table decorations, cloths, napkins, plates, and a whole heap of other stuff acquired.
A flurry of thumbs up acknowledgments came through, and he tossed his phone in the center console of his truck and pulled out.
Fox felt good about what they were doing, and now that they’d taken their planning away from the office—something they should’ve done from the beginning—things had settled down.
Everything would come to fruition in a couple of weeks, and Fox couldn’t wait to see their faces when everyone walked in.