Page 26 of December Wishes
Ari nodded. “She sure is. Did you hear how she restructured my retirement for me? I still can’t make sense of it.”
“You’ve got two choices, Ari,” Skylar continued. “You can either keep on like you are now, hoping for the best, or you can make your move now. Whatever that move is.”
“How’d you know…?”
“Because I’m not stupid. I see the way you two dodge the big questions. You think Mik isn’t always blowing up my phone with,‘So what do you think Ari is thinking? OMG I sure hope she isn’t over my shit!’”
Ariana laughed. “She really talks like that to you?”
Skylar was about to respond when a siren cut into her thoughts.
Both she and Ariana glanced out the big window overlooking the parking lot and Main Street. A black sedan sped by at illegal speeds. Not two seconds behind it came the only cruiser Paradise Valley boasted.
“Hot damn,” Ari said. “That guy’s wife better be in labor if he’s gonna drive that fast through town! Candace is gonna kick his ass!”
“Here’s hoping he doesn’t crash. Are you on call?”
“Hell, no. The one night a week I’m not called for anything unless it’s the apocalypse. Which reminds me, I’m supposed to meet Mik at your guys’ place.” Ari stood up. “Thanks for the chat. I feel a lot better now.”
Skylar was always happy to help. It was a lot easier to give advice and sort out other people’s problems than figure out her own hapless life.
Chapter 15
SALLY & CANDACE
“All right.” Candace put the family car into park. They were surrounded by SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans of all sizes, yet the bustling Greenhill clan were all crammed into one single car as they made the trek from Paradise Valley to Portland. Technically Tigard, but who was counting? To Sally, it was all Portland as soon as they entered the land of stoplights and Multnomah County Police. “Everybody know which mom they’re sticking with today?”
The cheers of three kids and one confused baby echoed in the small car. Tucker, who sat up front with his moms, did a double-fist pump before high-fiving Candace in the driver’s seat. Sally popped a Tylenol. She really had to pee.
“I’m with Mom,” Tucker announced, and only through the tone of his voice did his parents know which one he meant. “Mom and the baby.”
“That’s right. Paige? Gage?” Candace unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the driver’s side door. “You’re with me.”
Sally took her time getting out of the car, waiting for the rest of her family to vacate first. She had the magnanimous responsibility of getting baby Daisy out of her car seat and into her stroller, but it was much easier to do if the rest of the family went on ahead of them.
Not like Sally was looking forward to today. A far cry of how she used to feel when she was younger… ten years and four kids ago.
It was the weekend before Christmas, and they had come to Portland to shop at the biggest mall in the state. Washington Square Mall was a behemoth compared to anything Sally and her kids were used to back in Paradise Valley, where the closest thing to a mall was the weird strip shoved on the outskirts of the valley. Sometimes, they ran over to Woodburn to shop at the outlet mall, but that still didn’t put into perspective how big some of the malls in America could get. While malls weren’t what they used to be, Sally still took in the scope of anchor stores and restaurants and felt that anxiety coming on when she remembered how crazy her kids got.
“You coming, Sal?” Candace called.
“Coming!” After inhaling a deep breath, Sally kicked open her door and prepared for the onslaught of chaos that came from the biggest Christmas shopping day of the year.
She had it lucky, kinda. She had a stroller to push and her oldest to mind himself as they browsed the stores and thought about what the other half of the family wanted for Christmas.This is the easiest way to do it if we all come together.The twins and Candace would shop for Sally and Tucker. They would shop for the twins and Candace. The baby? Daisy wasn’t old enough to care yet, but Sally asked Candace to pick up a couple of surprises for the baby to open on Christmas day. Sally would be damned if her youngest ended up in therapy because she remembered her siblings being excited on Christmas, but she already knew what she was getting!
This day had started with a hitch, though. The twins refused to leave the house unless they were in costume. For Gage, that meant his Captain America costume, and for Paige, that meant the Wonder Woman ensemble that was one size too small. But she had seen the new trailer a few days before and had notshut upabout Diana ever since. While Sally was always for more female role models in her daughters’ lives, she drew the line at Paige smacking her with the end of the Lasso of Truth.“Where are the cookies, Mom!”If Sally heard that one more time…
One of the strollers’ wheels bounced around as the family advanced down the long line of cars. Macy’s loomed before them, a bastion of That’s Too Expensive and Oh, God, If the Kids Break That, We’re Screwed. Sally was halfway to suggesting they go through the main entrance a little ways down, but Candace was already opening the door for the stroller and her wife.
Paige and Gage ran off full steam ahead. Daisy clapped in her stroller. Tucker played it cool by pretending he wasn’t excited to go Christmas shopping. Candace yelled so loudly after the lot of them that both finely dressed Macy’s employees looked at them as if the biggest nuisance of the day had finally shown up.
Sighing, Sally pushed the stroller forward and prepared for a long day of kid wrestling.
She had a small reprieve when Candace and the twins split off in the mall. Paige had spotted a toy store, so that was the first place they ran. As for Sally, she hauled Tucker to the discount shoe store for some trainers hedesperatelyneeded for school.
Somehow, she had completely underestimated the craziness of a big mall the weekend before Christmas, and this wasn’t their first time doing something like this. Yet Sally was exasperated from the moment they stepped into the shoe store and she was surrounded by people of all sizes and ages. Their loud voices, pushing bodies, and complete disregard for the employees made Sally want to run out screaming. Except she’d probably drop the stroller on her way out, and with her luck, leave Tucker behind to fend for himself.
This would be a longer day than she anticipated.
