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 way to the bracelets or earrings when the wedding rings caught his eye. It was as if he had stepped in superglue and his feet would not budge. His boots were filled with lead and his eyes couldn’t see a blessed thing but sparkling diamonds and matching wedding bands.
“Could I help you?” a petite blonde asked.
And he looked right into the eyes of Macy, his ex-fiancée.
“Creed?” she asked with a catch in her voice.
“Hello, Macy. What are you doing here?”
“Just a little job while school is out for the holiday. I teach down in Hereford, Texas, these days. What are you doing here?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Well, you are looking at wedding rings, Creed. I suppose that means you are doing something in the store.”
“I guess I am at that. How are you?”
He didn’t want to talk to Macy and he damn sure didn’t want to buy a wedding ring from her, but there it was: a set of matching bands. And right beside them was a little red velvet box with