Page 72 of Minted

She’s staring at the same roll she’s been holding for at least two minutes. Lucky’s staring at it too, but I’m thinking they’re staring for different reasons.

“Life’s too short to do things you don’t want to do,” I say.

“What about eating things you don’t want to eat?” Ricki asks. “Can we not do that, either?”

I laugh. “Nice try, but if Barbara says you need to eat something, like those brussels sprouts, which are surprisingly good with that glaze. . .”

Ricki groans.

But eventually, we finish dinner and it’s time for presents. The girls may have insisted they didn’t want any, but now that it’s Christmas Eve, they look pretty excited about opening them. I drag four chairs close to the tree, which is in the entryway. I’m just now realizing that it may look nice, but it’s a pretty stupid place for a tree. Lucky starts barking and circling like she’s not sure what’s happening, but she’s delighted to be a part of it. That’s sort of her modus operandi.

Nikki drops to one knee and starts rubbing Lucky behind her ears. Lucky immediately covers her face with licks, but thankfully it makes Nikki laugh.

“I’m not sure I really want to open any.” Ricki’s eyes are bright and she’s staring right at the pile of gifts.

“Why not?” I ask. “Because if you don’t like what’s in there, I kept gift receipts, and—”

“I’m sure I’ll like them, but I want to have something to open tomorrow.” Ricki turns to look at me. “Can I save them?”

I did want to see them open the gifts, but my heart contracts. How could anyone tell that little face no? “Of course you can.”

“No, no,” Barbara says. “Don’t be silly. You’ll have more to open tomorrow from Santa. Open these now. I’m sure Bentley will enjoy seeing you open them.”

“You first,” Ricki says.

“But I actually won’t have anything else to open tomorrow,” Barbara says. “I should save mine—Santa doesn’t come to old people.”

“You can save most of yours,” I say. “But at least open this.” I fish underneath the tree for the smallish box—not the ring box, but still small. I finally find it. “Here.”

Barbara rolls her eyes. “Oh, fine. But listen, I’ve been working a lot, and—”

“He’s going to love his gift,” Ricki says. “Don’t say that yours isn’t good.”

Barbara arches one eyebrow at Ricki. “It’s just that—”

“Just open it,” Nikki says.

“You two girls are pretty hard on her,” I say. “But I do agree this time.” I lean forward a little. “Open it.”

Barbara’s so careful when she unwraps it, sliding her finger slowly under the tape to release it, and I get a little nervous, because after it’s finally open, she just stares at the signed copy of A Christmas Carol for a moment. She’s frozen, her brow just a little furrowed.

“I know Pride and Prejudice is your favorite, but I couldn’t find a signed copy of that. I stumbled on this one—the guy I bought all the other books I’ve gotten you messaged me. They found it in this woman’s estate. No one even knew she had it. Apparently when Dickens came to America and did a bunch of readings in 1867, only about a year and a half before he di—”

But she looks up then, and she’s crying. “Thank you, Bentley. You always go so far above and beyond anything I could ever—” She sets the book in its box gently and stands up to hug me.

Ricki and Nikki are both smiling when I release her.

I do prevail upon them to open their gifts, and they seem to really like them. I wasn’t sure whether nail polish, gift cards for clothing, and matching Nook E-readers with gift cards for books would really be the way to go, but judging from their faces, I did alright.

“And now you open yours,” Ricki says.

Barbara shakes her head. “No, he can wait until tomorrow.”

My tree’s starting to look a little bare—Barbara opened the basket of skincare stuff my assistant insisted she would also love, and the girls just have pairs of matching Ugg boots left underneath there at this point. But my real Christmas is happening tonight, so I’m okay that everything is gone.

I decide to snag the boxes that were wrapped by the girls, and then I rip them open back to back.

“We picked them at the same time,” Nikki says.

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