“Maybe.” I shrugged noncommittally. “Doesn’t really matter.”
I wondered if it was keeping her warm. I wanted it to keep her warm. I ignored the fact that what I really wanted was to be the one to keep her warm.
“We’re going shopping,” Arlene announced, startling me from my thoughts.
“No, we aren’t.”
“Yes, we are. You need to pick out your gifts for my grandkids. And something for Amy.”
“Give them a gift card this year. They can pick out their own gift.” I tilted my chin to the door. “She’s getting a pink slip. I’ll add a bow.”
She stood and leaned over the desk, her face serious. “You are going to ditch the Grinch attitude, damn well plaster a smile on your face, and we are going shopping. Do you understand me, Dylan?”
I knew that look. If I pushed her any further, I was going to find myself at the receiving end of a lecture I would never forget.
“I have a meeting,” I protested lamely.
“Which I switched until tomorrow. We’re going shopping, and that is final.”
I stood and grabbed my coat. “Fine. Maybe I can find a fucking Starbucks to make me a decent coffee.”
She chuckled as she followed me. “I doubt that.”
I hated shopping. I hated it during every other time of year. But at Christmas? God, I hated it even more. The stores were full of too many bodies, crying children, and stressed-out parents dragging them around. People frantically grabbing gifts they probably couldn’t afford, desperate to complete their lists and get out of the box-like-hell they called the mall.
Dutifully, I followed Arlene around the toy store, while she showed me some options for her grandkids. I pointed to the items I preferred, and she set them in the cart. As we rounded the corner, I knocked an item off the shelf, grabbing it before it hit the floor. I stared down at the fluffy kitten that started meowing out some silly song. Instantly, my mind went to Noelle. She would love that. I could see her meowing along with the cat as she hugged it, running up and down the halls in her fuzzy slippers, smiling her wide, toothless grin.
“Dylan?” Arlene’s voice was quiet, gentle. “Did you want to buy that?”
I glanced up and nodded. She took the box from my hands and set it in the cart. “Anything else?”
I looked around and allowed myself to think of Alex, Seth, and Noelle, my entire body aching with sadness as their faces filled my mind. Alex refused to let me help them, but she couldn’t refuse Christmas gifts.
“Can we get a box of gifts to Nova Scotia before Christmas?”
“Yes, if I charter Roger and the private plane.”
“Then, yes, Arlene, there’re lots of things I want to buy.”
She beamed at me. “I thought so.”
Four hours later, the back of her car was full and so was the trunk. All the gifts were gift-wrapped with name tags and decked out with bows and ribbons. There were toys and clothes for Seth and Noelle, a warm, deep green coat Arlene helped me pick out for Alex, along with a pretty scarf and gloves in the softest leather I could find. I found some books and movies I knew she would enjoy. There was candy and chocolate, and I even remembered a box of cigars for George, like the ones I had noticed on his desk.
“My ‘treat’ on occasion,” he had informed me. Then he had winked. “When Alex allows it.” We had both laughed.
There was also a delicate gold necklace, adorned with a wide-eyed owl set with emeralds and tiny diamonds that I had seen in the jeweler’s window as I went past. I kept going back, and finally, went in and bought it. I wrote a note to Alex and asked her to keep it for Noelle when she was older. She might not remember me, but I would remember my Little Owl for the rest of my life, and I wanted her to have it. It was her “birfday,” after all.
I sat back, sipping a brandy, as Arlene groaned.
“For someone who didn’t want to go shopping, you certainly changed your mind.” She smirked, rubbing her calf.
I shrugged. “Alex and her family don’t have much. If I can make their Christmas a good one, at least a little better than usual, I’ll feel I’ve done something right for a change when it comes to them.”
She leaned back, picking up her glass of wine. She took a sip, regarding me over the rim. “You feel guilty,” she said.
“I’m taking their home.”
“It was going to happen anyway.”