Chapter 1 #2
“ I’m going to walk. Jack said that we’ll both need it after getting our fill, and I believe her.
The same people who catered the Fourth of July are doing the food for Thanksgiving, and I’m excited for that.
They make a great peanut butter pie that I love.
” He asked him if he ever thought about anything other than food.
“ Sure. I think about desserts and drinks to go with my food, too.”
They both laughed, and August said he’d let him go and would see him tomorrow.
Dinner was at five, but they were all supposed to show up at three.
There would be finger food. He wanted real food, but could understand the need for little food too.
There would be a lot of kids at the dinner, and they might not make it until dinner.
He might not either, so he was looking forward to having something that he could munch on with the kids.
He loved his nephews and niece very much.
Going to bed early, he wanted to go over the contracts for the new firm they were hiring in the morning, before going to his brothers’.
It wasn’t necessary to go over right away, but he hated to leave things last minute.
January tenth was coming up fast to him, and he didn’t want to leave things undone.
Something might happen to him, and he didn’t want anything to happen to the business if he was laid up.
At a quarter after three, he was picking up Carrie.
She’d been running behind all morning and wasn’t going to be ready by the three o’clock hour.
He was fine with that. She’d called the family to let them know she was the one causing Zander to be late, and they were all right with it.
Apparently, she’d been to see her mom at the nursing home, and she’d not had a good visit.
As soon as she got into his car, she started apologizing to him.
“ She didn’t know me today, and I had such good news for her.
I honestly didn’t know how she’d take one of her children being dead, but I knew she was still having nightmares about Allen getting to her when she was with us.
” He asked her if she got to tell her. “ I did end up telling her. She knew who he was if the fear on her face was any indication. They told me there that she still has nightmares where she wakes up screaming that he’s got her.
I know how she feels. I do the same thing myself. ”
“ I can’t imagine being so afraid of someone that you’d wish them dead.
Especially when it’s family.” She said she’d never wish him to suffer, even though he did make people suffer when they didn’t do what he wanted.
“ I’d die if something were to happen to one of my brothers.
Or their wives. It would devastate me if that were to happen. ”
“ You guys are incredibly close. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a family as close as you guys are.
It’s wonderful to see, and sometimes I get really jealous about it.
” He told her that she had his family, too.
“ I know. I don’t know what I would have done without them around all this time.
I know for sure that I wouldn’t have my mom in that nursing home.
I wouldn’t have been able to do it with them taking her checks each month.
You also made it so that I could hide out, too, and if that hadn’t happened, I’d be dead for sure.
Those last weeks that Allen hadn’t been arrested yet were the scariest times of my life.
Just knowing that he was out there looking for me—and Syble, she would have turned me over to him had she been able to find me too—it gave me nightmares even during the day.
I still think about how he said he was going to kill me while in the courtroom, and I nearly wet myself thinking about it.
But he was put away, thanks to you and your family, and I can’t thank you enough. ”
Dinner was epic. There was so much food that he was able to get his fill and have leftovers to take home as well.
He’d be eating lasagna for a month daily if not for his family, and he was delighted about that.
He even enjoyed the finger food with the kids.
They thought of him as their greatest uncle because he told them he was.
Laughing hard, he wondered what he’d do if the right woman came along and snatched him up.
He thought that he’d still be the greatest uncle of all time because he’d make sure that he was.
Now all he had to get ready for was Christmas, and he was going to have so much fun with that holiday.
He had plenty of people to buy for this year, and he’d been planning all year—well since they came into the family, a gift for each and every one of his sisters-in-law.
His brothers, too, but he’d never bought for a young woman before, and he was looking forward to it.
~*~
Olivia didn’t have any idea why she thought being a personal shopper the day after Thanksgiving would be a good idea.
No one knew what they wanted, and it was up to her to get them to buy the biggest ticket item she could from them.
The man she was working with right now didn’t even know if his wife would wear a robe around the house, much less what color to get her.
And since he wanted it monogrammed as well, there would be no regifting it the day after Christmas either.
“ White is a good color to go with, yes. It will match any pajamas that she has.” He didn’t want her to have to have too many pajamas either. So when she suggested that he get her a pair of those, he balked at the idea. “ How about some nice slippers. You can get those monogrammed as well.”
“ Now that would be nice. She’d know how much I love her with that.
” She didn’t understand how putting her initials on something was a sign of love, but she didn’t believe in love at all.
She rarely believed that people loved their kids.
She’d seen enough failed families—not just marriages, to last several lifetimes.
“ I want to get her some of that powder that you were talking about, too. The kind with the blue powder puff.”
“ All right.” She had shown him all kinds of powders, now all she had to do was find the one with the blue puff.
She noticed a man watching the two of them and wondered what his beef was.
Didn’t he believe in personal shoppers? Well, she didn’t either, but it paid well, and she only had to deal with one customer at a time this way.
“ I’ll have this wrapped for you as well, correct? ”
“ Yes, of course.” Her man was excited, and she was too.
Not just to get him to the wrapping department, but to go on to the next man.
They were all men that she had on her list today, and she wondered what their wives thought of the gifts that she’d convinced their husbands to buy.
“ Do they have monogrammed wrapping paper, too, do you suppose?”
“ No, I’m sure they don’t. But they have some lovely colors for you to choose from.” How would that even work, she wondered as she found the blue puff. “ Here you go. All finished with the wife now. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“ I’m finished shopping then. You’ve been a wonderful help.” She nodded, distracted by the man who seemed to be following them around. “ I’ll tell your manager how helpful you were, and perhaps you can get a raise. Wouldn’t that be nice this time of year?”
“ It would.” The man wasn’t being too cagey about following them.
He was staring at the man she was with like he owed him money.
When her customer walked away, the other man came up to her and smiled.
“ Can I help you? I really can’t, just so you know.
I’m someone’s personal shopper today, and I have appointments all day. ”
“ You didn’t think that the robe was a good idea.
” She said that was what he wanted. “ Yeah, he did, I heard him turn down everything you suggested. But you didn’t think the robe was a good idea.
Why? I have five sisters-in-law that I was going to get one each for, but now I’m second-guessing myself. ”
“ Have you ever seen them wearing a robe? I’m assuming that your brothers are their husbands.
Do they wear robes? Who wants to put on an extra piece of clothing before they dash to the shower and take it off again?
Unless you’ve seen them in a robe, I would assume that they don’t wear them.
If they get up out of bed and shower right away, they’re not going to be putting on a robe.
That’s just my opinion. But if you want to get the five of them, did you say?
Robes, then go for it. I can’t help you.
I have another appointment in ten minutes, and as I said, I’m booked all day. ”
“ I’ll pay you double whatever you’re making from them to get you to work with me.
” She said that some of these people had their appointments set up since July.
“ I can work with that. Just name your price. I was thinking I’d get them all the same thing and be done with it, but I can see now where that would be a bad idea. ”
“ Look, Mister. I have plenty to do without picking up another shopper. You’ll have to talk to my manager and see what he has to say.
But let me tell you, he’s going to tell you the same thing that I did.
I’m booked all day.” He followed her to her break area and said he’d pay her whatever she wanted for some of her time.
“ I can’t do that. I have to do what I’ve been set up to do. ”