you guys do. It's what we all do. That's the whole point of the Heaven and Hell battle - we purposely interfere with people's lives."
"Yes, but this is different."
"No, it's not." Beyond him, I saw Niphon saying something to Seth. Great. The imp was probably trying to buy his soul. That was so not what I needed right now. I turned back to Carter. "Look, I've got to go. Say hi to the Get Along Gang when you see them."
I dragged Seth away from Niphon, and we headed home. I hadn't thought things between us could be any more uncomfortable than they had been at Peter's, but the car ride proved me wrong. Earlier, Seth and I had discussed him staying over at my place, but as I merged onto I-5, he asked, "I'd kind of like to get some more work done. Do you mind if I just go home?"
The elephant had apparently joined us in the car now. I smiled tightly and kept my eyes on the road. "Sure. No problem."
CHAPTER 16
As I walked into my building after dropping Seth off, I was surprised to see the guy who staffed the front desk still working. He usually went home at dinnertime. A sheaf of papers in his hands indicated some sort of mandatory overtime. He brightened when he saw me.
"Miss Kincaid! I have something for you."
I blanked for a moment, then remembered the daily Post-it reminders on my door. There'd been a total of three now. "Oh, yeah," I said. "Sorry I haven't had a chance to pick it up yet. I keep forgetting."
He was already rustling around for something behind him on the other side of the window. I strolled over, just as he heaved a huge box up onto the counter. The printing on the side was upside down, but I could still make it out: Christmas Tree - Austrian Fir.
"Oh, man," I grumbled. "This is somebody's idea of a - "
But the guy was busy hauling another box up to the counter, a smaller one with pictures on the side depicting the 'pre-decorated fiber optic tree' inside. It was followed by another box, a bit smaller than the Austrian Fir, and a smaller one still that was about two-by-two feet. These last two boxes were wrapped in glittery green paper, with a wrapping job so perfect that only one being on earth could have managed it: Peter.
The desk guy surveyed the boxes. "You must really like Christmas."
"I thought each of those notes was a reminder for the same package."
"Nope. New one each day. Want some help?"
We hauled the trees up to my apartment and deposited them on the living room floor. I thanked him, and as soon as he left, Aubrey emerged and began stalking the boxes.
"That's a lot of tannenbaum," a voice behind me suddenly said.
I jumped and turned around. Yasmine. "Don't do that. Carter does exactly the same thing."
"Sorry," she said, looking sheepish. "Wasn't intentional. I just got here." She walked over to the boxes, tilting her head to read them. She wore jeans and an LSU sweatshirt, her black hair pulled into the trademark ponytail that made her look seventeen. "What's up with all these?"
I took off my coat and flounced onto the couch with a sigh. "My friend Peter started this whole buzz that I needed a Christmas tree after Carter burned mine down. So I guess everyone made good on it."
"Wait," she said. "Did you say Carter burned down your Christmas tree?"
"Yeah, it's a long story."
"He must feel bad."
She pointed to the little fiber optic tree, the one that was already decorated. Words were scrawled on the side of the box in spidery, nearly illegible writing:
G -
Figured you could handle this one. Ready and decorated!
- C
P.S. - And flame retardant.
"Hmm," I mused. "'C' could be Cody too."
"Nah. I recognize the poor attempt at penmanship. It's Carter."
"Okay, so the angel repents. But who are the rest from?"
We soon found out. The wrapping job on the two matching boxes had already given Peter away. The larger box contained a very beautiful, very expensive tree with 'winter moss green' needles that were lightly dusted with silver glitter. The smaller box contained a matched set of lights and ornaments all done in purple and fuchsia. Peter apparently hadn't trusted me to decorate his gift myself.
The Austrian Fir turned out to be from the bookstore staff. A card from Maddie read: Surprise! We all pitched in for it. Now you can't be