Page 37 of Saber's Surrender

“Wait, you want more than one tree?” I question. “Why, Foxy Roxy?”

“Because we’ll have a fancy tree that can be seen from the front room, then our family tree in the den, plus the ones the kids might want for their rooms. Think about it, we brought their Christmas ornaments from their home so they’ll probably like the idea of having a piece of their family during the holidays. Oh, and Egypt is definitely a girly-girl if you haven’t figured that out yet, so I suspect she’s gonna want a pink sparkly tree.”

“Looks like I’ve opened a can of worms. Who would’ve thought you’d be so passionate about trees,” I taunt, which has her elbowing me in the ribs.

“We didn’t have that as kids, Weston. I want it all for them. Hell, we didn’t even have a tree when we lived together after leaving the Pena’s. We couldn’t afford one and I have a lot of missed years to make up for.”

“Whatever you want, Foxy Roxy. If it’s in my power to make it happen, I will,” I promise. “And if we have one or ten trees when it comes time for us to decorate, so be it.”

She starts giggling when she states, “I can’t wait to see how you look on a ladder as you put up the lights around the house.”

“Fuck no,” I grumble. “You know I fucking hate heights.” One year, a cat got stuck up a tree and Foxy insisted I climb up after it and help it down. The branch didn’t like my weight and needless to say, the kitten and I both came tumbling down. The kitten was fine, me, not so much. I ended up with a fractured ankle and needing surgery to have pins and rods inserted to keep it in place. I vowed then and there that I’d never climb a motherfucking thing again.

My comment has her doubling over in laughter, and soon, I’m joining in. “Y-y-you can always ask one of your brothers to see if they can help.”

“Absofuckinlutely not,” I retort. “I’m no pussy so I’ll handle it when the time comes. Now, back to the house. I agree that the rooms are a good size, and there’s plenty of room that we can put up a small fence if the kids want a dog.”

“A dog,” she whispers, her eyes lighting up. “We always wanted a dog, Weston.”

“I know, Foxy. You wanted a cat too if memory serves.”

“So this is going to be ours,” she surmises. “I can picture us here, Weston.”

“Wherever you are is where I’ll be happy, Foxy. We could live in a cardboard box and I’d do so with a smile on my face. You’re my home.”

“Well, I’m not made of brick and mortar, but the sentiment is beautiful. All teasing aside, you’re my home too, Weston.”

“How much more do we need, Foxy? It’s a small house, not a mansion,” I grumble. On a normal day, my woman isn’t a shopper, she’d rather purchase things online, but since this is the house we’ll be bringing our boy and girl to, she wants everything to be perfect.

“You heard Egypt and Canyon, Weston. They want to start fresh outside of some small keepsakes and their clothes. I have their wishlist here,” she says, pulling out several sheets of printed out paper that’s stapled together at the edge. “Jillian sat down with them and scrolled through several sites, these are the things they’d like for their bedrooms and entertainment area.”

“A sixty-five inch television for his gaming system is a little outlandish isn’t it?” I rebuff. “Surely he doesn’t need one that big to see the enemies coming at him.”

“Well, it’ll also double as yours and his TV for watching football games, do you really want to invest in a smaller one?” She’s got me there with that I have to admit. “We’ll get them smaller ones for their bedrooms, but since it’ll be a community room for them and their friends, we can spend a little more.”

“Money’s not the object,” I state. “But this is the tenth damn electronic store we’ve been in. Can’t you find a model, pick it, and buy it? I spend enough time on my feet at work and today’s our only mutual day off, I’d like to spend some time with you that doesn’t have to do with us shopping.”

“We still have to hit the furniture stores,” she reminds me. “I told you that you should’ve stayed home. In my defense, I did tell you this would end up being an entire day affair.”

“Outfitting a house shouldn’t take this long,” I mumble.

“If it helps, the furniture store I found online will be a one-stop shopping spree,” she informs me.

“I don’t like that word,” I grunt.

“What word would that be?” she probes, cupping her mouth to hide her grin. I’m glad she finds me and my rumblings amusing.

“Spree. Especially when it’s preceded by the word shopping,” I harumph.

“Don’t be a baby about this, Weston,” she playfully chides. “I’ve been looking for a particular brand, it’s supposed to be top-of-the-line when a console is hooked up to it. Something to do with the graphics and the clarity of the picture, which I don’t claim to fully comprehend. It’s not my fault that the other stores were sold out.”

“And we know this store has what we’re looking for and we're not going to have to go out of town to find the one Canyon asked for?” I inquire.

I mean, if that’s where an available television was, I could send prospects. Or better yet, toss in some cash for them to ship it to the store andthensend the prospects to pick it up for us. But I know my woman and she wants to do these things for the kids herself, not just hand the tasks off to someone else, so I resign myself to a potential out-of-town trip.

“No. While you were in the restroom at the last place, the salesman told me that he knew a guy who worked at this one, so he called him and confirmed they had several available on the storeroom floor, as well as more that had come in and were waiting to be stocked.. They put two aside for us,” she enlightens me.

“Why two, Foxy? I thought he wasn’t getting one for his bedroom as well.”

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