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She chuckled. “Well, it’s hard to know what her father has gotten her for Christmas, but I know something that would probably be real fun for her.”
“What is it?” And did it get me the hell out of this place soon? Because one of the devil twins had just bit her mother’s shin, and I was getting twitchy to get the fuck out of here.
“Well, you could get her an experience.” She clapped her hands together again as if this were the best idea anyone had ever thought of.
“An experience? Can you put that in a gift bag so I can take it to her?”
She chuckled. “Of course. We could do a tea party for up to eight people. I mean, if you’re willing to spend the money. All the girls in town want to come and have a tea party here, and she’s never had one. That way, she could bring her grandmother and her aunts and a few friends if she wants.”
“She’d like that?” I asked, digging out my wallet from my back pocket.
“Oh, yes. We do little sandwiches and cookies and tea, and the girls dress up. It’s really something.”
I handed her my card. “Perfect. And you can wrap that up?”
“Yes. This is so sweet of you,” she said as she pulled out some sort of certificate, charged me three hundred bucks, and tied a fancy bow on the bag just as something hit me hard in the back.
I turned around to see Satan’s spawn smirking and noticed some sort of blonde doll at my feet. The thing had pegged me in the back, and it was clear that she’d thrown it. I looked down at the little redhead with freckles and wild eyes before bending down and picking up the doll. “Did you just throw this at me?”
“I sure did. What are you going to do about it, mister?”
I turned back and looked at Matilda as she rang me up. Her eyes were wide, and her face was flushed.
“What are my options here? I’m guessing I can’t do much, am I right?” I asked the store owner.
She laughed a little and glared at the mother, who was standing several feet away and talking on her phone, while the other twin was tearing things off hangers and dropping them on the floor. But the little she-devil was standing right beside me with her arms crossed over her chest as she waited for an answer.
Like she was a fucking mob boss, and I was her little bitch.
“Unfortunately, this is just how they are every time they come in here,” Matilda whispered.
Fuck that. This woman was running a business, and she was kind enough to sell me some sort ofexperience. She didn’t deserve this. Nor did I deserve to be assaulted by a goddamn child. I signed the credit card receipt and placed my card in my wallet, which I slipped into the back pocket of my jeans.
I bent down. “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do about it, Red. I’m real good friends with Santa, and I’ll be sure to let him know that you just pegged an innocent man in the back with a rubber Barbie. How about that?”
Matilda laughed. The little demon ran away, screaming at her mother, and I nodded as I made my way out the door.
I had a car full of gifts, and I quickly took a few bites of my sandwich as I pulled the address from the bag. Of course, she’d written her phone number on the note, and there were big orange lips over the number, like she’d kissed the piece of paper.
I shivered, dropped the rest of the sandwich back into the bag, and drove down the snow-covered streets to the Reynolds’ house. It was lit up like some sort of Christmas wonderland. There were lights on every inch of their house, just as the sun was starting to go down. At this rate, I would just barely make it on time for dinner at my grandparents’.
I parked, pulled out all the bags and the gift basket, and I made my way up to the door. It was cold as hell outside, and I startled when multiple blowups shot up and sprung to life as air filled them when I passed by. There was a large Santa Claus, a pack of reindeer, and a train. These people went all out. They were obviously on timers, and I’d arrived at the right moment for the big show.
I knocked on the door, and Hugh opened it with a smirk. “Well, well, well… this is a surprise.”
“Yeah. Tell me about it. I had something to drop off to your sister, but then I didn’t want to look like an asshole and come empty-handed on Christmas Eve,” I said.
He laughed and reached for the large gift basket to help me out. “Dude. You’ve got nothing to worry about here. Come in.”
Music flowed from the next room, and it was a song I recognized. “I Will Survive”, another Georgia favorite.
“Do you all listen to the same unusual music?” I asked as he took a few bags from me.
A wide grin spread across his face. “Nope. You’re just in time for the big moment. Cage has won our family backgammon tournament every year for the last decade, and Georgie is about to beat him. So, she and Brinks play this song whenever they accomplish anything big, and apparently, she’s already got it blaring through the speakers, ready for her celebration.”
When we came around the corner, the whole family was gathered around a large farmhouse-style table in the kitchen. It smelled like turkey and apples and cinnamon, and my stomach started grumbling. I’d barely eaten much of my sandwich because I’d lost my appetite from being pissed off that I’d been attacked by a child.
No one noticed us standing against the wall, and Hugh smirked, like we had the best seats in the house for what was about to go down. He set the basket on the floor, and I placed the bags down beside it.
