Page 45 of Blame It On The Carols

“Can I get this?” I asked Hadley once she was done helping her customer.

“Of course. Let me grab a box for it real quick.”

She reached under the table and grabbed what she needed before ringing it up and giving me my total. I handed her my credit card and looked around for Makayla, unsure how much time had passed while I was distracted by the bracelet.

“She’s going to love it,” Hadley said, smiling as she tucked the black box inside a small gift bag and handed it to me.

I felt my cheeks flame with heat as I lowered my eyes and took it from her.

“Thanks, Hadley. I hope so.”

I gave her a quick hug and then snuck out of the booth as a new wave of customers approached.

Twenty-Eight

Makayla

“Do you think he’lllike this?” I asked, holding up a black knit sweater for Tony and Patrick to see.

“It’s whatever you like, ma’am,” Patrick said, barely looking at the garment as he scanned the room again.

“What do you think, Tony?”

His attention appeared to be on me, but my guess was that he was also scanning the room behind me.

“I think he has enough sweaters,” he said gruffly, giving me his full attention for one second before looking past me.

“You guys are no help,” I grumbled, putting the sweater back on the rack and shuffling the stuff in my basket so it wasn’t so heavy on my arm.

So far, I’d managed to get a few things for my mom even though I’d already shipped her gifts before I came out here. I didn’t want to risk them getting lost or damaged on the flight, and I was too lazy to want to deal with getting someone to help me carry all of my stuff from baggage claim to my rental car.

I’d also picked up a few things for myself but was struggling with what to get Aiden. We hadn’t discussed whether we were exchanging gifts, but since we seemed to be a couple again, I didn’t want tonotget him anything. Plus, it was supposed to be fun shopping for your loved ones—though I wasn’t currently having any fun as everything seemed to be a flop.

I walked down the main aisle and stopped when I spotted a set of skull-shaped whiskey glasses. I knew that Aiden loved a good whiskey, and when I was snooping through his stuff at home, I noticed he only had one glass. I grabbed a set of glasses and made sure to balance them in the basket so they didn’t fall out, then reached for the matching decanter. It was almost within reach when I felt the basket shift and the glasses slip out the side.

Tony’s reflexes were quicker than I could have anticipated as his hand shot out and grabbed them before they hit the floor.

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