She rose up slightly on her toes and kissed him. “I’m going shopping.”
“Me too. I haven’t sent a thing home and I see a place over there that will ship for me. I’ll meet you back here in one hour?” He looked at his watch.
Sage pushed up the sleeve of her fancy Western-cut shirt and nodded. She could buy for everyone on her list in that time because she already knew what she was looking for. The lines to check out would take longer than the picking out process.
The first store she headed for carried Western wear and the best flannel shirts in the whole state. She chose a red and black plaid one for Creed because she’d stolen his and had no intention of giving it back. Then she picked out a blue plaid for Lawton and headed to the ladies’ side of the store for something with lots of bling for Hilda and April. Hilda got a floral: black with red roses, with red pearl snaps. April got a pink one with jewels forming a longhorn bull on the back yoke.
She paid for them and was on her way to the next store for something for Grand when she passed one of the holiday kiosks on the way. It offered leather goods and there was a gorgeous hand-tooled man’s wallet complete with initials. She pondered a long time but finally picked up the one with a C on it and paid for it, shoved the box it came in down into her shirt bag, and went on.
Grand was getting a decent handbag that year. She wouldn’t ever part with the money for a good leather bag, but Sage had seen her admiring them several times that fall. The kiosk had offered a few styles but the one Grand had kept going back to was in a leather shop down one of the mall wings. Sage remembered the name of the store but not the exact location so she stopped at a mall map to find it.
It was down the wing housing Dillard’s, so she set a course for that part of the mall. Once in the store she went straight to the back shelves where the handbags were kept. She didn’t know she was holding her breath until she finally located the exact bag shoved behind some newer stock.
It was a hobo-type bag with a wide shoulder strap and made of the softest black leather she’d ever touched. No wonder Grand liked it. She could carry half her belongings in the thing and it would rest easy on her shoulder. She was halfway to the checkout counter when she remembered Aunt Essie.
“Shit! I almost forgot her. Well, if Grand would like this bag, then so would Aunt Essie.” Sage went back to the shelf and started to hunt for another bag like the one she’d just picked out.
“May I help you?” a sales clerk asked.
“I’d like another one just like this,” Sage said.
“That’s our last black one. It’s been a great seller this season. I do have a brown one but it’s just a little smaller. We also have the matching wallets and they are on sale.” She pulled the brown bag from a lower shelf and handed it to Sage.
She held them up, side by side. There they were, Aunt Essie with her lighter hair and smaller size. Grand with her dark hair and bigger-than-life attitude.
“I’ll take them and the wallets. Do you have those fur-lined house shoes?”
“Yes, ma’am!” The clerk was all smiles as she led the way to the shoe shelves at the back of the store.
“I need a size eight in brown and a size nine in black in ladies,” Sage said.
“They’re not on sale today but they will be the weekend before Christmas,” the sales clerk whispered from behind her hand.
“I won’t be back again, so I’ll just have to pay full price.”
“Too bad. Our men’s slippers are on sale this week.”
Sage followed her. “Well, now that’s interesting. I’ll take a pair in a thirteen if you have them.”
“That’s a big foot. We ordered one special last week and the lady broke up with her boyfriend so we’ve got it. Normally we only stock up to a twelve. You are a lucky woman today.”
“Yes, I am,” Sage said.
* * *
Creed was buying for his younger two brothers and his mom and dad when he looked at his watch and realized he was out of time. He phoned Sage and she picked up on the first ring.
“I’m almost done. They’re ringing up Grand’s and Aunt Essie’s presents,” she said.
“Well, I’m not. I bought for each family member and then took it to the shipping place and I’ve still got at least half an hour before I’m done.”
“Great!” she said. “I’ll have time to look around and go to the paper store to buy wrapping supplies. Meet you at the Christmas tree in forty-five minutes?”
The phone went silent so he shoved it back in his pocket and went into the next shop and bought presents for his two younger brothers and his parents. He had them wrapped and took them to the shipping place and then it hit him. He had less than thirty minutes to buy something for Sage.
“God, I can’t pick out something that important in that length of time,” he groaned.
As if a higher being answered his prayers on the spot, he looked across the way from where he stood and there was a jewelry store. He’d never seen her wear jewelry except the night they’d gone to the Christmas party. She’d worn long dangling topaz-looking earrings and a matching necklace.
There were no customers in the jewelry store so he didn’t have to wait for a sales clerk to help him. He was on his
