Page 3 of When You're Home for the Holidays
“Tori,” Fielding murmured in reverence, his hazy eyes opening as much as possible. Even in his inebriated state, he understood this was something special.
“I want to get them for all of us. I want to have our names on them, just like my mom did. I always wanted Rhett to have one when we were growing up…” she whispered in wonder. She swallowed past the lump that formed when she thought about her husband. She knew he was doing everything he could to get to her. She just hoped it would be enough.
“What colors do you want?” Fielding asked, stepping in front of the display to stand by her side.
“I want purple—I have a purple one at my dad’s house, but I didn’t bring it with me since it goes with the set with my parents’ names on them. Let’s get pink for Maddie… Silver for Jake… Gold for Rhett.” She ticked off each person as he added the ornaments to the cart. “Then you can pick your own. Which color do you want, Fielding?”
His hand hovered over the display, his hazy eyes glancing down to meet her gaze. “I get one too?”
“We’re spending Christmas together. We’re making new memories, starting traditions. After everything we’ve been through this year…” She felt a tear threaten to spill over as she recalled all the ways the man before her had showed up for her over the last several months. “You’re one of my closest friends. One of mybestfriends. Of course you get one, too.”
Heat rose in her cheeks with her confession. Her friendship with Fielding had been founded on banter, jokes, and flirty comments. But he also possessed an intimate knowledge of her darkest secrets, her deepest struggles. He really was one of her best friends: someone she trusted explicitly. Someone who saw her and knew her for who she was as an individual.
“I’ll take red,” he decided, plucking a crimson bulb from the display. “What now?”
“I want them personalized. The ones we had growing up had our names on them in the prettiest cursive. Let’s go ask how long it takes. Hopefully they have time to do them…”
“We can always come back and pick them up tomorrow,” he suggested as she wheeled the cart toward the customer service counter. He bumped her hip and took over cart duty as she entered the stanchion line.
“Next!”
Tori stepped up to the counter, leaving Fielding in line with the cart.
“Hi. I wanted to see about getting these five ornaments personalized…”
“Honey, don’t tell me you’re standing at this counter trying to get ornaments personalized forthisChristmas,” the woman remarked without looking up from the paper in front of her. “The deadline was more than a month ago.”
It felt like all the air had been punched out of her. “Oh,” Tori mumbled, unsure how to even respond. “I didn’t realize…”
The middle-aged woman snapped her head up. “You didn’t realize that the world’s biggest Christmas store would also be the world’sbusiestChristmas store? You thought you could get some ornaments personalized three days before December twenty-fifth? I have a team working twenty-four hours a day in the back, and we still might not meet our deadline. I’m sorry, honey, but unless you want to preorder for next year…”
“Hey. Hi there. Hello… Martha.” Before she even realized what was happening, Fielding was using his big hockey body to displace her at the counter. “It sounds like the most wonderful time of the year is actually the most stressful time of the year, am I right?” His joke didn’t land as intended, and the woman behind the counter—Martha, according to the name tag Fielding had clearly spotted—assessed him up and down. She pursed her lips and sat up a bit straighter in her seat, no doubt ready to dismiss him.
“How much?” he demanded, leaning his elbows on the counter and letting his broad shoulders fill the plexiglass window.
Whether it was his size, his looks, or his audacity, he finally had Martha’s full attention.
“How much for what?” she sneered.
“How much money will it cost to get five ornaments personalized right now, on the spot, so we can take them with us tonight? Name your price, then add tax. Charge me ten times what you’re supposed to charge. I’ve even got cash if you want to…”
Tori gave Fielding a shove in the side. She knew he had cash. She’d seen it when he went to pay for his pickup order at the dispensary. She also knew he was really high. She didn’t want him to regret wasting his money on this when he was clear-headed.
“Field, it’s fine, I’ll just come back next year…”
“No.” His objection came out loud and strong. His eyes gleamed with determination.
“Will $500 do it?” he asked quietly, turning his attention back on the customer service representative. “$500 for five ornaments? I can handyouthe cash right now, then you can still have someone ring us up at the register if that makes it easier. You know, inventory-wise?”
Fielding held a wad of cash in his hand as he stared at the woman who would determine their fate. Tori held her breath, desperate for this moment to pass and hoping beyond hope they weren’t about to get kicked out of the world’s largest Christmas store before she could purchase the other ornaments she needed for the tree.
“Fine,” Martha huffed, quickly grabbing the money and sticking it in the back pocket of her jeans. “Fill out this order form and date it for some time in August. I’ll take these straight to the back and say we missed an order. It might take up to an hour, though.”
“An hour’s fine with us. You’re a Christmas angel, Martha,” Fielding crooned as he offered her a dazzling smile. Tori filled out the form as quickly as possible, her heart racing faster with each line she completed. She handed over the order form and the five ornaments with a timid smile.
Martha turned on her heel without another word and disappeared through a door labeled Employees Only.
“Field…” She was shocked by what had just happened and how it all went down. “That was too much. You didn’t have to. But thank you.”
