“I want to apologize for the way I acted last night,” I said, kneeling down on the ground next to my sisters. “I don’t want to lose you, Annie and Enola. It was a high-pressure event, and I didn’t handle it as well as I should have, especially considering I’m a billionaire and a CFO, and it’s literally my job to keep it together in high-stakes situations.”
“You do need to get it together,” Annie joked, coming to give me a hug.
Enola also came over and wrapped her arms around me.
“We’ll make Grandma some nice cards, thanking her for the dinner, and mail them,” Tess suggested. “That should give us a few points.”
“You’re not going to give Beck a hug?” Annie asked Tess. She crossed her arms.
“He apologized,” Enola prodded.
“An apology isn’t just saying you’re sorry and all is forgiven. You also have to do something to make it right.” Tess smirked at me, sending off alarm bells. “And I know of a great way for you to make it up to the girls.”
“Are you going to come shopping with us?” Enola asked in excitement.
“Er… shopping?”
Tess gave me a pointed look.
“I’d love to go shopping with you,” I said, hoping I sounded sufficiently enthusiastic. “What are you all buying? I thought you already did all your shopping online.”
“We’re buying things for you,” Annie said, bouncing on her toes. “Your room is boring, and you need some excitement.”
Tess handed me her phone. “We have a Pinterest board.”
23
Tess
“Idon’t need much,” Beck said as we went to the first shop on my list.
“You need color and pizazz in your life!” I told him, dragging him through the store.
“I think you bring enough of that already,” he said, allowing me to pull him.
Annie darted around the display tables. “Buy him a beanbag chair and this lamp. It looks like a dog.”
Beck was horrified as I jumped onto the oversized beanbag chair.
“We need a whole set of these for the living room.”
“But it’s in tie-dye colors,” Beck complained.
Enola came back over, carting several bright-pink pillows covered in sequins.
“Yes to all of it,” I said from my beanbag throne. “See if you can find your brother a matching duvet cover.”
“Do you like it, Beck?” Enola asked earnestly, holding up the pillow next to the beanbag chair. “Your bedroom will be super cool.”
Beck clamped his mouth shut. “Mm-hmm,” he managed to say. “It’s… fantastic.”
I winked at the girls. “I think we need to up the ante. Your brother needs more pink in his life.”
While he had been in the shower, I had told the girls we were going to play a prank on Beck and see how much glitter-covered unicorn pillows we could throw at him before he cracked.
In reality, I had already ordered Beck’s furniture and picked paint colors. Everything was supposed to be arriving today. Since we were at the store, I was on the lookout for some finishing touches to bring the room together. But mainly I was here to shop for myself. And the best thing? I could pay for delivery and wouldn’t have to lug a bookcase up five flights of stairs then trip and drop it and watch in horror as it bounced back down the stairs.
I also enjoyed watching Beck sweat.
