Page 249 of Back in the Saddle

How sweet!

I looked at her with a smile on my face.

But her face grew stone-cold.

“We’ve waited a long time for him to find a good woman who makes him happy. But, if you hurt him, you are dead to us forever.”

She said these words like she really meant them, and more, the Rock Chicks might actually make me dead if I hurt Eric.

Therefore, I blinked.

The doorbell rang.

“Got it,” Luke said and moved that way.

Ava shifted from me like she didn’t just little-sister threaten me about Eric.

“Where are my babies?”

At this demand, my attention hit the door to see most of the rest of our party was arriving. That being Shirleen, Moses, Roam, Cap and Raye.

Jeff was also coming, but since I got a text from him twenty minutes ago asking Eric’s booze preferences, I figured he was at Total Wine for a host gift.

Cap was carrying a bottle of wine, so was Roam, but Moses was carrying a foil wrapped platter.

Moses and Shirleen didn’t even live in Phoenix yet (though, the offer they put on that condo was accepted, which meant they were officially moving down early in the new year), so how they had a platter, I didn’t know. But I suspected whatever was under that foil was made in Raye’s kitchen, seeing as Cap relinquished it to his mom every once in a while.

“Eric took them to Michael’s to buy more ribbon,” Ava said, walking out from behind Eric’s island direct to Moses.

I watched Shirleen take in the tree, the opened boxes of ornaments, the three cute, but lonely moose on his coffee table, then Ava.

“Are they hitting Pottery Barn and Home Goods too?” she asked as she gave Ava a hug.

“I hope not,” Ava replied, heading for more hugs from Roam, Cap and Raye.

She did this as Shirleen was pulling her phone out of her purse.

She stopped doing it when she noticed Shirleen engaging her phone to send a text.

“Do not tell Eric to take my girls to Pottery Barn,” Ava commanded.

“I’m getting my bearings, girl, and Pottery Barn is literally five minutes away, so it’s no skin off his nose to do a drive-by,” Shirleen retorted. She tipped her head to the island. “I see you got the food ready. I also see no pigs in a blanket, which is why we brought some, and the last thing I see is this house is woefully under-decorated.”

“It’s fine,” Ava replied.

Shirleen turned on her. “The man has a woman and a cat, he needs more than a tree and three moose.”

I agreed with her.

However, I didn’t think buying Christmas decorations for his home was something I could do without Eric there. The bough wasn’t a thing, men dug greenery, but the moose with fur mufflers were pushing it. Though, Eric had just smiled when Gracie and Maisie had put them out. That said, I thought he did that solely because Gracie and Maisie were the ones who put them out.

Ava opened her mouth to say something, but Shirleen put up The Hand right in front of her face, and added, “Stop! What is that racket?”

Everyone listened.

We heard nothing but Christmas music turned low.

Shirleen walked to Eric’s smart-home unit, bent to it, and demanded, “Alexa, stop. Play. Nat. King. Cole. Christmas.”

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