Club Endless Fantasy

Ian: Tis the season to be jelly!

Elly: That’s the best you could come up with?

Ian: I just woke up. I haven’t even had coffee yet. You were supposed to laugh…

Elly: I haven’t had coffee either.

Ian: Can I get a do-over?

Elly: Sure. :)

Ian: What do you call a frozen elf?

Elly: Uh, I have no idea.

Ian: An elfcicle!

Elly: That one was a little better.

Ian: Good, hopefully you smiled.

Elly: I did.

Ian: Can I pick you up in an hour?

Elly: It is going to take me longer than an hour to get up and get ready!

Ian: Fine, an hour and fifteen minutes. We said bright and early.

Elly: You got the early part down, but it doesn’t look very bright…

Ian: It will be in an hour!

Elly: Ugh. Fine.

Elly was awake, which meant we were going to be able to get an early start like we planned, even if I teased her about it. I quickly showered, fixed a cup of coffee, and got dressed while I drank it. I was so energized that I really didn’t need the caffeine, but it was habit. I drove to Elly’s apartment and was in the elevator with ten minutes to spare. I could have wasted a few minutes on her floor, but I figured she wouldn’t mind if I was a little early. I sent her a text message to confirm, and when I got to her door, she opened it before I could knock.

“I’m ready.” Elly smiled.

“We’ve got a few minutes…” I stepped into her apartment. “I can think of a good way to spend them.”

I pulled Elly into my arms and kissed her. There was a lot of passion on both sides—she missed me as much as I missed her. My hands traced her curves, and by the time our lips parted, I was tempted to suggest that we delay our departure by a few hours—or longer. I rationalized it in my head, but there would be plenty of time for that after we got finished decorating her apartment. We might even get a chance to finish Uncle Nick—or start it and turn it off again within a few minutes. I doubted I would be able to focus on anything other than the beautiful woman in my arms.

“You were the one that wanted to get an early start…” Elly looked up at me and grinned.

“Yeah, we should do as much shopping as we can before the stores get crowded.” I nodded.

“Is that the reason?” She tilted her head. “Or are you just eager to get me alone?”

“That might have something to do with it.” I laughed under my breath.

Our first stop was Dillinger’s Department Store. Elly got a gift card from her Secret Santa at Thornton Advertising, and she wanted to spend it. A Christmas tree was top priority, so we started there. The selection was still pretty good, despite the holiday being so close. We were somewhat limited by the size of her apartment, but we finally found one that she was happy with. After we got it loaded in the cart, we walked over to the ornaments and started looking at the selection. Elly found a few packs that looked interesting and put them in the cart. We moved on to the premium ornaments, and I could tell that she was a little shocked by the price when she started looking at them.

“You really don’t have any ornaments?” I raised my eyebrows.

“No.” She shook her head back and forth. “I don’t even know what happened to the ones that were passed down from my grandparents. I’ve never seen them on my dad’s tree, so they’re probably still at my mom’s house…”

“Maybe you can ask her?” I shrugged. “If she’s not using them…”