Dropping her shopping bags on the ground just inside the door of the penthouse, Savannah grumbles at Rory. “Did you have to yell at the sales associate like that?”
“Uh. Hell yeah, I did,” he shoots back with a bite of sass. “Dream Girl, we all heard what he said to you. Asking if you even had the money to be in the store.”
Yesterday morning, Savannah reminded us that Christmas is just a few days away and said she’d like to do something small to celebrate. So naturally, we all bailed on work yesterday and today. Yesterday, we ended up purchasingeightChristmas trees. Rory kept claiming that we needed to give them a home. Then today we went shopping.
“I’m calling tomorrow to make sure he’s fired,” Hunter chimes in.
Savannah groans. “Is that necessary?”
“Yes,” Hunter, Rory, and I all say together in unison.
Rory finally sets his shopping bags on the kitchen counter.
Savannah’s eyes tighten. “Is that a Tiffany’s box?”
Not wanting to bring Savannah’s wrath on ourselves, Hunter and I stash our couple of shopping bags in the closet because we may have made purchases at Tiffany’s as well.
Rory whirls around to face Savannah, snagging the light blue box and putting his hands behind his back. “What? Where?”
“Rory Bishop,” Savannah chastises, “I’m not blind. I just saw you hide it behind your back.”
Rory shrugs, bringing the box to his front. “I couldn’t resist.”
“I thought we put a spending limit on the gifts,” Savannah states.
Correction:sheput a spending limit on gifts. Savannah refused to let us pay for the gifts she wanted to buy. She said something about not wanting us to pay for our own presents, but as adults, isn’t that what we do whenever we buy things for ourselves?
Despite her stand, we still snuck our credit cards to the sales associates at each store. It was practically a game, and as usual, the three of us got very competitive. At each store, it was a race to see who could get their card to an employee, and then we kept score to see how many presents we could buy her without her noticing. The bags we brought home aren’t even a quarter of the items we bought. Tomorrow we have to go back to pick up the rest of our purchases.
Rory sets the box down and wraps her in his arms. “Is it so wrong that we want to spoil you?”
Savannah leans in, resting her head on his chest. After a second, she stands up straight, turning to Hunter and me. “We? You all got expensive presents?”
“Thanks for that, Rory,” I deadpan.
Rory spins Savannah back around. “Can you blame us?”
Savannah’s shoulders relax. “A little,” she responds half-heartedly.
“We want to shower you with presents,” I explain as I approach and engulf her in my embrace from behind. “Give us this one, Trouble.”
Savannah deflates, relaxing in my hold. “Fine.” Her head lolls to the side, and she startles as she stares out the floor-to-ceiling windows. “Oh my God! It’s snowing!”
“So it seems,” Hunter says, and we all watch as thick flakes fall from the sky.
Savannah takes off, breaking out of my arms and running out to the balcony.
“What are you doing?” I call as jog after her, Hunter and Rory following behind me.
Savannah spins in a circle with her arms out at her sides, and her face tilted toward the sky.
Hunter, Rory, and I pause, watching her enjoy the first snow. Her beauty radiates from her, wrapping me up in her spell, and I’m loving every second of it. I want to capture this moment and remember it forever.
A chill races down my spine as a snowflake falls down the back of my shirt.
“Heartbreaker, it’s freezing out here. Let’s go inside,” Hunter prompts.
“Not yet,” Savannah objects. “Givemethis one. You guys got away with pricy presents. I want snow time.”
