Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
His actual tree was massive, both tall and very wide, and it was clear he’d hit a Michael’s or some such and bought every box of matte baubles in various manly shades of blue, some green, with gold and bronze thrown in. The ornaments were different sizes, so at least there was that. And there were a lot of them. As in, a lot.
But that morning, once Eric and Luke had dragged all the stuff out, and Ava and I took a look at what we had to work with, we’d loaded the girls up and did a run JoAnn’s and Michael’s where we scored some corresponding plaid wired ribbon with a thin gold trim and some sparkly-gold branches to spruce the thing up.
And Maisie had thrown a fit about that too. She was of a mind purple was a better contrasting color and declared we had to do “Something!” to save Eric’s tree, and plaid ribbon wasn’t her idea of what that Something! was.
We’d managed to quiet her down by purchasing some matte-gold moose (momma, poppa and baby) that had fake brown fur mufflers around their necks and some fluffy lit boughs to drape around his built-in TV unit (which necessitated us grabbing the rest of the plaid ribbon to make them match).
However, now that this was all about to come together, it seemed it didn’t appease little Miss Stark.
I stopped mid-arranging shrimp around the cocktail sauce I’d made, when Maisie pulled out the big guns, went to Eric, leaned into his side, reached up, grabbed his biceps beseechingly, and begged, “Uncle Eric, pleeeeeease, can we go to the store and get some of that purple ribbon I saw? It’ll be so perfect on your tree.”
Without hesitation, Eric stepped away from her but only to grab her hand and look at Gracie.
“Wanna come?”
Holy shit.
Gracie stopped petting Henny where they both were lounged on the sectional, popped to her feet and cried, “Yeah!”
Eric held his hand out to Gracie, she took it, and with all three of them attached, they headed to the door to the garage, both girls bouncing excitedly, and Eric looking through the adults as they moved out the door, saying, “We’ll be back.”
They disappeared, and not long later I heard the garage door engage and Eric’s Tahoe fire up.
“Get used to it,” Luke said from where he’d come to stand at the side of the island, taking me out of the stupor induced by what I just witnessed. “He spoils the shit out of them.”
“All their uncles do, it’s supremely annoying,” Ava groused. She stopped scraping the meatballs off the baking tray and onto the serving platter and looked to her husband. “Luke, that purple ribbon is not going to work on Eric’s tree.”
Luke stared at his wife like she was speaking a language he didn’t understand, and he was trying to decipher what she was saying through inflections and micro-expressions, before he noted, “Do you think Eric gives a shit?”
“That’s not the point,” Ava returned.
“What’s the point?” Luke shot back.
“Your daughter shouldn’t be allowed to dictate every proceeding she’s a part of,” Ava retorted.
“Why not?” Luke asked.
Oh yeah.
Totally loved this guy.
I could tell Ava was getting heated when she responded, “If you, and all the Hot Bunch, don’t stop spoiling them, they’ll be impossible when they grow up.”
Luke nabbed a shrimp, popped it in his mouth, chewed, swallowed and only then replied, “She’ll be impossible to everyone but us. Works for me.”
“Are you…are you…?” Ava spluttered while blinking feverishly at her husband. “Are you spoiling our daughters to make them unbearable to be around so no man will touch them with a ten-foot pole?”
Luke didn’t respond, outside of one side of his mouth hitching up in a half-smile.
“Oh my fucking God,” Ava whispered scarily. “They’re not even close to dating age, and you’re already making them undateable.”
“Start early, make sure the job gets done right,” Luke drawled.
Ava seemed fit to blow, but even as hilarious as this conversation was, I had some things to say about the situation.
“Although this is clearly something you two need to work out,” I began, and they both looked to me. “But did I just watch a little girl say she needed purple ribbon, and without even blinking, even though we’re about to start trimming, we’ve been cooking for the last two hours, and everything is ready to create the spread so we can eat and decorate, he put her in his car with her sister to go get said ribbon?”
“That is precisely what happened,” Ava confirmed irately.
My eyes wandered to the door as my lips tipped up, and I didn’t even care they were standing there when I whispered, “I’m so freaking in love with that guy.”
I felt something coming from Luke, it felt nice, but I didn’t have the opportunity to bask in it because Ava’s hand was on my arm.