He wouldn’t drop it. He was too stubborn. Alleviating his anxiety was something I could do for him. And I suppose I still wanted to do things for him.
Which, given the way he behaved at Thanksgiving, probably called into question my sanity.
“On one condition,” I said.
“Name it.”
“I get to buy you a Christmas present in return. We’ll call the Volvo my present, but I want to reciprocate. Obviously, it won’t be on the scale of a car, but I want to be able to do this without it being…”
“Weird?”
“I was going to say awkward. Deal?”
He pursed his lips but then nodded. “Deal. What are you going to get me?”
I shook my head. “You are the worst.”
“What?”
“You don’t ask someone that. You wait until Christmas. Then you open the present and act surprised and happy. Or I’ve been told.”
“I’m not a very good actor,” he warned me. “If I don’t like it, I’m not going to pretend.”
I couldn’t help it. I rolled my eyes. “Then I guess I’ll have to get you something you like.”
The Next Day
“You do understandthat anything I want, I just buy myself,” he announced.
I glanced up at E.G. I was giving him a breakdown of the first quarter profit projections on four of his new investments, when he went off on his tangent.
“Are we back to you being a billionaire?” I asked him.
He was sitting behind his desk, ignoring his computer monitors, which was very much not like him, and looking at me with some sort of odd expression.
“I’m only pointing it out because there really isn’t anything Iwantthat I don’t already have. Which means anything you give me…I don’t really want.”
“Hmm. That is a challenge.”
“Seriously, Flowers. What did you get me?”
“Wow, you are really bad at this, aren’t you?”
He stood, obviously agitated. “I’m just worried you’ll be disappointed. You’re hoping for this Christmas moment that’s just not going to happen. I’m also worried you might do something incredibly stupid like get me a puppy, which you think will thaw my cold, dark heart.”
“Would it?”
He scowled at me. “No. Did you get me a puppy?”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t do anything so ridiculous as to give a puppy to someone who didn’t want one. Puppies are a lot of work and a huge commitment, so I’m told. My neighbor has one. Trust me, I know the drill.”
“Thank you,” he said.
“Now a parrot…”
“Flowers,” he growled. “What did you get me?”
“E.G.,” I growled back. “Not going to tell you.”
