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“I know. That’s exactly what he said too, but I w-want to get him something. He’s done so much for me, plus I’ve never had a parent I actually w-wanted to buy a gift for before. It’s a little exciting,” I explained.
“Okay. Mission accepted. Gift for Simon. What’s the plan? Luca coming with us?” Liam asked.
“I’m just gonna grab something to eat at the diner, so I’ll be close by. Just stay in town and text or call me if anything seems out of place. I can get to you fast if I need to,” Luca spoke up.
“That good with you, jelly bean?” Liam asked, and I nodded, delighted I was going to get some alone time with my guys without Luca trailing us.
It had been agreed between Dad, Luca, and I, that I would only need Luca trailing me when I was alone. They felt that I was safe enough if the guys or Trent were with me, though Trent liked to have Luca with us for added security when it was just him and me. I was fine with it, especially since Luca and I had become friends over the last few weeks, but it would be great to have some time with just the twins, and maybe forget about the threat hanging over me for a little while.
“Let’s hit the stores then,” Tom announced as he held a hand out for me to take. As soon as my hand was in his, he pulled me down the street towards a row of shops, Liam right behind us. “Any ideas for what you want to buy?”
“That’s the problem. I h-have no clue what to get, but it can’t be anything really expensive. I w-want to buy it with my own money, not Dad’s, and I only have about seventy dollars,” I explained. The small amount of money was what had been in my bank account in the UK. Dad had handled the closure of the account, after I moved, and opened a new one in the States for me. My money had been transferred over, but it had barely been worth the trouble. I hadn’t had need to use the account yet, since Dad insisted on me using the credit card he had provided me with, but there was no way I was buying him a gift with his own money.
“We can cover whatever you want to get, love. Don’t worry about that,” Liam told me, but I was shaking my head before he even finished the sentence.
“Thank you, but no. I r-really want to buy him something I paid for, even if it’s nothing much. It’s important to me.”
“Let’s hit the department store. It’s a good place to start,” Tom suggested.
Ten minutes later found us in the menswear section of the huge department store, and me even more stressed about what the heck I could buy with my meagre amount of cash.
“How about this? Simon would rock a cowboy hat?” Liam asked as he modelled a camel coloured cowboy hat.
“I’m not sure about m-my dad, but you make a very handsome cowboy,” I laughed as I turned to look at him.
“Really? You like cowboys? Maybe I’ll buy this for later use,” he replied with a waggle of his eyebrows.
“Behave!” I told him as I snatched the hat off of his head and placed it back on the stand, a huge smile on my face the whole time. I would not be adverse to seeing any of my four guys dressed as cowboys, one day in the future, but right now I needed to focus.
“How about a nice sweater?” Tom said as he held up a beautiful black, designer jumper.
“Even if a jumper w-wasn’t a completely boring gift, I couldn’t afford it anyway,” I sighed, knowing the designer jumper was well above the seventy dollars I had.
We continued to wander the floors of the shop, hoping inspiration would strike, but an hour later we had perused the whole department store and I was none the wiser about what I could buy. Anything I liked was way more than I could afford, and nothing had seemed special enough to convey the meaning I wanted it to, to my Dad.
“It’s all good, little warrior,” Tom told me as we left the department store. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into his side. “We’ll find something.”
“I need to get a job and st-start earning some money. Then I’d be able to get h-him something half decent,” I sighed.
“You want to start working?” Liam asked with surprise, from where he was walking at my other side.
“Yeah. I discussed it w-with Lisa and she thought it was a good idea. She suggested I do some voluntary work t-to start with, just to s-see how it goes. Trent is trying to get me a role at the school,” I explained.
“You can come and work with us!” Tom declared animatedly.
“Thanks but I can barely build f-flat pack,” I laughed.
“Not working construction,” Tom countered. “You could work in the office, couldn’t she Liam?”
“Sure. You could just do some of the admin and make coffee when we have clients, that kind of thing.”
“Really?” I liked the idea of getting to see my playful twins in their more serious, business roles.
“Really. You can start any time you like, babe. Just say the word,” Tom said.
“I already said I’d w-work at the school, but if that doesn’t work out then, yeah, I’d like that. Thank you.”
“Any time, jelly bean.”
