Ava’s eyes got dangerously squinty.
Luke ignored her too and sent a wink to his oldest, who smiled brightly when she received it. His youngest, who was sitting next to him, got a daddy headlock and a kiss on the top of her hair. Maisie squirmed through this, but I could tell her heart wasn’t in it.
And I wondered how some men didn’t understand how absurdly sexy it was to be a demonstratively good and loving dad.
Shelby changed the subject to say to me, “I’m thinking about taking a Christmas shopping trip to Phoenix in a couple of weeks. Viola introduced me to that mall, but I’m into giving my custom to local businesses. Do you think you could show me around?”
Ohmigod!
I’d love that.
“I will one hundred percent play that kind of tour guide,” I replied.
“Brilliant,” she said. “I have a line of attack. I’ll text you what I’m looking for.”
“And I’ll build a shopping tour that’ll rock your world.”
“Rock our bank account, you mean,” Mike said.
Shelby rolled her eyes. “Says Mr. Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend.”
“Uh, they are,” I put in.
“I know,” Shelby agreed. “He gets me some every Christmas. And I will make certain to note that what I said was not me registering a complaint. The thing is, Mike is so good at giving gifts, I can’t compete. But I also can’t give up.”
“You don’t have to compete,” Mike stated.
“Like it works that way,” Shelby muttered.
“It could, if you’d stop competing,” Mike returned.
They bickered.
Gabe ate his tacos.
Kacie turned to Wyatt and stated, “Since we’re talking Christmas lists, you can pass the diamonds and buy me a new pair of hiking boots.”
Wyatt winked at his wife in a way I conjectured those hiking boots were already hidden in their house somewhere, awaiting their holiday unveiling.
I pried my hand from Gabe’s thigh and went after my burrito, not knowing, several weeks later, that I would learn father and son were like minded.
Because I got the prettiest, little delicate necklace with a trio of dainty but lustrous diamonds from Gabe for Christmas.
So, yeah.
Shelby was right.
Nothing to complain about there.
The first to fall was Jessie.
No surprise.
The writing was on the wall.
It happened after she and Eric returned from their Thanksgiving vacation to France (or, Disneyland Paris, Jessie was one of those adult Disney people, which was a shocker, because Jess really wasn’t like that, however, she also totally was).
Even though she expected to get a lot of guff when she announced she was moving out of the Oasis to officially move in with Eric, she didn’t.
