“Bah Humbug,” Kaden Barnes said as he passed all the red and white decorations in the department store, the hearts and flowers, and the cupids hanging from the ceiling for yet another commercial holiday.
“It’s Valentine’s Day, not Christmas,” his best friend and business partner, Lucas Monroe, reminded him in a too cheerful voice.
“Are you telling me you like shopping?” A woman brushed up against Kade, setting off his mood and sensory issues that weren’t doing well anyway thanks to the number of people in the store.
“I can deal,” Luke said.
“Well, I can’t.” Kade didn’t mind buying things for Lexie. Hell, he loved spoiling his wife and his son, Matthew—Matty as Lexie liked to call him—an almost two-year-old mini version of Kade himself.
He just hated crowds and, by extension, shopping with people around. His friends had convinced him to join them this year to buy their wives gifts. It wasn’t working for him. Kade had long since come to terms with his anxiety and other issues, but he’d also learned not to put himself in positions that exacerbated his problems.
He should have listened to his gut today.
He slid his fingers over the crystal covering his Patek Philippe watch, a motion that never failed to soothe his nerves. He’d purchased the watch with the first real money he’d made from his social media app, Blink, created by Kade, Lucas, his other close friend, Derek West, and Julian Dane.
“I want to go to Tiffany to buy something for Maxie,” Derek said, joining them from where he’d been waiting in line at Starbucks.
Kade shook his head. “I’m getting out of here. I’ll call my personal shopper for help buying Lexie’s gift.” Audrey would email him a selection of jewelry, watches, and clothing for him to choose from, along with a huge stuffed animal for his son. Shopping would be complete.
The irony was Lexie didn’t care about things, she valued people more. After all, she’d brought his long-estranged brother, Jeffrey, back into his life, and the man, raised in England by Kade’s so-called mother, now lived in the US near Kade and his father. And Lexie used to take care of her bipolar sister until Kendall had gotten the correct treatment and found happiness of her own.
Their lives since having Matthew hadn’t been simple. From colic, like Kade had had, to acid reflux, his son mirrored him in too many ways. Baths were a chore, his son finding any water temperature too hot. It got to the point where Lexie would cry, feeling like she was hurting her boy by putting him into a too cold bathtub. But that was the only way to get him into the water. Sensory issues … like Kade.
Whereas Kade’s mother had considered her son a difficult pain, Lexie was a loving mother, and she was patient with their boy. But it wasn’t easy. So maybe Kade didn’t need to buy Lexie something. Maybe he needed to take her somewhere where they could enjoy both family and alone time instead. She both needed and deserved a break.
“What do you say we take our families on vacation instead of buying gifts? I don’t know about you but I could use time away with my wife,” Kade said, glancing at his friends.
“What about our kids?” Luke asked. He and Maxie had a three-year-old, Derek and Cassie had a one-year-old, Kade had Matt, and Julian had a bunch of foster kids with Lexie’s twin, Kendall.
Kade shook his head at his friends. “Do I need to remind you that we’re billionaires?” He didn’t usually throw his financial status around, but in this case? “I love my son. I do, but I’d do anything to get Lexie alone for long weekend. We have families and nannies, don’t we?”
The two men looked at each other, nodding. “We do.”
“I know where we should go, too. Eden,” Kade said.
Derek raised an eyebrow. “The resort off the coast of Florida?”
“Don’t you mean near the Bermuda Triangle?” Luke shuddered.
“Gabriel Dare opened a nightclub there,” Kade said of the entrepreneur whose family had invested in Blink. Ian Dare in particular.
“Isn’t Eden by invitation only?” Luke asked.
“And that’s why it pays to know people. I’ll talk to Jeffrey and Julian, see if they want to come, and set it up via Ian Dare?” Kade glanced at his friends for approval on their end.
It still amazed him that he had a relationship with Julian, the man who’d been his best friend in college, fallen into a drug addiction, set out to ruin Kade’s life, and ended up married to Kade’s sister-in-law and clean for years.
With agreement from both men on an upcoming Eden vacation, Kade escaped the department store and mall and headed home with his driver, peace and quiet settling around him.
He pulled out his phone and texted his wife. Clear your schedule. We’re going on vacation. Happy Valentine’s Day and I’ll be home soon. He then turned off his phone so Lexie couldn’t yell at him for making a decision without consulting her. He knew just how to calm her down and make her see reason in person.