Chapter 1 #3
When she was on her third customer of the morning, he was getting his wife a toaster and a blender for Christmas, the man came around her again.
But this time he was with her manager. And he had a huge smile on his face.
She just knew this wasn’t going to bode well for her, and she was sort of put out that he’d done what she’d said and gone to her manager.
She guided her customer to the wrapping department and walked away.
“ Olivia, I’d like for you to meet Mr. Zander Erickson.
He’s going to have you as his personal shopper for the rest of the day.
” She asked about her bookings, the ones that he’d told her were important.
“ This gentleman is going to have you help him shop for his entire family. Children included. I’ll find someone else to get with your customers today. This is important for the store.”
“ All right. I’ll do it.” But she wasn’t going to be happy for it. One shopper meant no tips, and she’d gotten a good one from numbers one and two today. “ How many people do you have to buy for Mr. Erickson?”
“ Twenty-two. My brothers, their wives, their children, as well as my secretary and a few other people that I have on my list. I thought that I’d just do this the easy way, and then I heard you talking to your customer and realized that buying them all the same kind of gift would be a waste of time.
My brothers have never worn robes in their lives.
The women might, but I don’t know them well enough to get them that.
And the children wouldn’t think of me as their favorite uncle if I were to buy them something as lame as a robe.
I have to be the favorite uncle.” She asked him where he wanted to start.
“ My brothers. I have a good idea what to get them, but I want to make sure that it’s going to be epic.
I’m the only one that’s not married, and I want to get them something that reminds them how much fun I’m having without a wife. ”
It took them nearly two hours to get the gifts for his brothers. It was going to be fun, she thought. He’d got them all a game system with different games so that he could play with them all the time. They could also play with their kids, as he’d gotten games for their ages, too.
Mr. Erickson also got a small handheld game for his secretary so that she’d have something to do when he was stuck in court all day. She thought that was a good gift as he seemed to think that she didn’t have much to do while he was gone.
At lunchtime, she was going to the cafeteria to have some lunch when he followed her.
Buying her lunch was probably frowned upon, but he was funny and knew how to spend money when he wanted something.
It wasn’t as if she didn’t know who he was; everyone knew of the Ericksons, but she doubted that few saw them as she was seeing this man today.
He was having a good time, and she was catching his mood more and more as she hung out with him.
After lunch, they hit the floor for the kids.
He really was going to be the favorite uncle with what he was buying the kids.
There were beautiful toys for the little girl that she wished she could have afforded, and trucks for the young boys.
He showed her a picture of all the kids while they were looking for the perfect gift.
They were beautiful families, and he seemed to have an endless supply of pictures of them on his phone.
“ Now I have to get my cook something. She’s been complaining about her hips hurting for a while now and is going to retire.
I would love to get her a beautiful cane that she can use when she’s off working.
” She asked if she’d broken her hip. “ Yes. And she’s had a hip replacement, too. I’m going to miss her.”
The canes were lovely, and she thought it thoughtful that he’d picked out something that he thought she’d use. When he had her initials engraved on the handle, so she’d not lose it, Olivia wanted to hug him. He’d put a lot of thought into her gift, and she thought it wonderful.
The rest of his staff was going to get cash, he told her.
“ They’ll have to do with that because I don’t have that much time to get them something.
I would like some pretty envelopes for the cash if you have them.
” She showed him the money cards that they had, and he bought a dozen of them.
The man was really racking up the cash in his shopping, but he said he wanted to be done today, and this was working out better than he could have imagined.
It was nearly four o’clock when they finished with everyone but the women in his life.
He really did have five beautiful sisters-in-law, and he was stumped as to what to buy them.
She had an idea that he wanted it to be personal, so she suggested he buy them frames and have the pictures that he’d taken yesterday put in them.
There were pictures of each of his brothers with their wives and children, if they had any.
“ It’ll be outdated next year, but you said that this would be all of their first Christmas’s together, correct?
” He nodded and smiled. “ I mean, I’d want to have a memory for my first holiday with my family if I had one.
I don’t think you could get more personalized than that, even though they’re all the same gift, they’ll be of their families. ”
“ Perfect. Can I get it done here? Today?” She said that there was a photo shop in the store, but she didn’t know how big he wanted them.
After he told her, they then looked at the frames that he’d need.
He picked out five of the most expensive ones they carried, and she thought it was going to make him the best brother-in-law ever with these gifts.
“ You’ve helped me so much. I can’t believe that I’m finished.
I’m doing this next year with you. You hit on everything that I needed and then some. Can I tip you?”
“ Yes, you can tip me, but remember, I might not be able to do this next year. They only take a few of the staff to do this, and I just happened to be picked for this year.” He said she was going to have the best day of all of them.
“ More than likely. You’ve spent a great deal of money today. But I don’t know.”
“ I’ll pull some strings.” She just bet he would too, and she didn’t doubt that even if she didn’t get picked, she’d be his personal shopper when he came in.
He’d really spent a fortune on his gifts this year and had them wrapped.
The wrapping alone was going to be in the hundreds of dollars.
“ What time do you get off? I would love to take you out to dinner for all your help.”
“ You don’t have to do that. I’m just working here, and you happened to get me. I’m sure that any one of the others could have gotten you what you wanted.”
“ Doubtful. I had a good time too, and it’s not something that I do every day.
Shopping for anything isn’t something that I usually enjoy.
This has been the best day that I’ve had in a while, and I think it’s all thanks to you.
” She looked around to see if anyone was listening in on what he was saying, and was embarrassed to see her boss there.
When Mr. Erickson saw him, he told him the same thing.
That he’d never had this much fun shopping before.
“ I was just asking her to dinner because I’m finished and I’d like to celebrate with her.
I know that it must be frowned upon, but I’d really like to take her out. Is that something I can do?”
“ What Olivia does in her free time is totally up to her.” The manager winked at her, and she nearly fell backward.
He rarely, if ever, had anything good to say to his employees.
And she’d never been winked at by him. “ She has to finish out her day, however, and that would be getting you out the door happy. I must say, I’ve been keeping an eye on things with her, and she did a good job of getting you to the correct departments today. ”
“ Yes, she did. And she steered me in the right direction, too, when I didn’t have a clue what to get my family.
They’re going to be completely blown away by the gifts that she helped me pick out, too.
” They shook hands. “ I’m ready to check out and she said that I can have these all delivered to my house. I’d like that service as well.”
Mike was falling all over himself getting Erickson in the right direction.
She could have done that, too, but it looked like she’d done her job and was now dismissed.
Getting her things gathered up after clocking out, she decided that she was going to treat herself to some dinner out.
She’d had a really good day today, and she deserved it.
As she was leaving the building, a long limo pulled up in front of her.
She narrowly missed getting hit by the car and cursed at the driver when he tipped his hat at her.
Just as she was going to go around him, he got out of the car and opened the back door.
There sat Mr. Erickson with a stupid-looking grin on his face.
“ Mike said you’d be getting off soon. I was afraid that I’d miss you.
” She said that she was headed home. “ Dinner with me, please? It’s been a perfect day, and I’m not finished celebrating yet.
I promise you that I have no ill will with my intentions.
Just dinner, then I’ll make sure you get home. Besides, I didn’t get to tip you yet.”
She was torn about what to do. If she went out with him, there would be all kinds of things that could go wrong with it.
She really could use the tip he might give her, too.
But he was an Erickson who was used to getting his own way.
Getting into the limo, she knew that she was going to regret this as soon as the door was closed.