1
The mall is a nightmare two weeks before Christmas, but here I am anyway, dodging aggressive grandmas with their wheeled shopping bags and couples arguing over sweater colors. The whole place smells like cinnamon, and the constant onslaught of holiday music is giving me a headache.
I finally make it to Brightstone Jewelers, and the woman behind the counter gives me an overly enthusiastic smile. “How can I help you, hon?”
“I’m here to pick up an order,” I say, fumbling in my jacket for my receipt. “Under the name Finn Anderson. There should be a bracelet.”
“One moment, please, while I check our system.” She flashes her red-lipstick smile.
Her name tag says “Deb,” and she’s wearing about six different Christmas pins on her blazer. She moves to the computer like she’s got all the time in the world, typing with her manicured index fingers while humming along to “Silver Bells.”
Three hundred dollars.That’s what I dropped on this bracelet. My campus job delivering food barely covers my part of the rent, but Brittany talked about this bracelet nonstop aftershe saw it on the store website. It’s a shitload of money for me, but we’ve been dating for three months now, and Christmas felt like the right time to go big. Show her I’m serious about this.
Another dude steps up to the counter while Deb searches for my order. College-aged like me, wearing a black hoodie and a baseball cap.
“I’ll be with you in just a moment, darling,” Deb tells him without looking up.
“No problem. Just picking up an order.”
“Anderson… Anderson…” Deb mutters, squinting at the screen through her rhinestone-encrusted reading glasses. “Oh yes! Here we are. One rose gold bracelet with diamond accents.” She taps the screen. “Pretty piece. Let me get this from the safe for you, hon. Just a moment, please.”
The guy next to me glances over. “Nice. Christmas gift?”
“Yeah. Girlfriend.”
“Same. Getting a necklace for her.”
“Let me guess. She sent you like twenty screenshots so you wouldn’t mess it up.”
He laughs. “Pretty much. How much did that run you, if you don’t mind?”
“Three hundred.”
“Shit. Four fifty for mine.”
I whistle. “Damn. I was already thinking about eating ramen until January.”
“Right? But hey, she loves the piece, so… I figure it’s worth it.”
“Yeah, same. Christmas only comes once a year, right?”
Deb finally finds my order in the back and returns with a small black box. She opens it carefully, laying a soft cloth across the glass countertop before placing the bracelet on it. “Oh, isn’t shegorgeous? Your girlfriend has excellent taste.”
It looks exactly like the one Brittany showed me on her phone a dozen times. The rose gold catches the store lights, and yeah, I can see why she’s so obsessed with it.
“Would you like it gift-wrapped, honey?” Deb asks, already pulling out the wrapping paper.
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
“And who’s the lucky lady?” she asks, pulling out a gift tag.
“Brittany,” I say.
The guy next to me perks up. “No way, dude. My girlfriend’s name is Brittany too.”
I let out a short laugh. “Seriously? What are the odds?”
Deb starts working on the wrapping paper, creasing each fold with her finger like she’s making origami. Every piece of tape lands in the exact right spot. She’s clearly done this a thousand times.
