by Gina Henning
I stumble my way up to the table and slide my two books down.
“Hi there. I’m Tyler Florence.” Tyler offers me his hand. It’s large and warm. I shake it and nod.
“I’m Lauren…Hauser.”
“Nice to meet you, Lauren, thanks for buying my books.”
“Thank you. Um.” Think, Lauren, say something cool. “I need a recipe to make for my family for Christmas that is easy but will be impressive.” I stare into his eyes. Good, Lauren, good! I’m proud of myself.
“Great question. My cranberry relish recipe is perfect for Christmas. Here, it’s on page seventy-seven.” He flips through the book and places my Post-it on the page with the cranberry recipe.
“Awesome, thank you!” I stand up and Tyler’s warm hand is on my back guiding me down.
“Smile for the photo,” he says and I gaze at the camera as it flashes.
The rest is a daze until I meet up with Brianna at the front of the store.
“Wow, that was awesome!” Brianna says and shoves me.
I laugh. “Yeah, it was pretty cool. What did you really say to Tyler?”
“Nothing, just typical small talk and then I said that you were my friend and that you were nervous and we both laughed.”
“Ha. That’s great, Bri.” I press my lips tight.
“It was, are you sure you don’t want to go out with Owen and me?”
“Nah, I need to get some of my shopping done. Y’all have fun though.” I say and hug her goodbye. I stroll out into the mall it is packed with shoppers. Some appear happy as if they’ve marked the last item from their list while others are pulling at their hair, eyes darting over the brightly lit stores. Each window has a different holiday display, snowflakes hanging in various sizes while others have disco balls swirling around.
I grab my phone from my purse. There are a few text messages. But, most importantly, one from Jack.
How was meeting Tyler? Hopefully not too nice? ;)
I smile. I’ll make him wait on my answer. I’ve got to finish my Christmas shopping, including Jack’s. I haven’t thought about what I could get him. Well, actually the majority of my thoughts have been either about him or about what I’m going to get him, and each time I come to the same conclusion: a blank mind. I don’t want to get him a typical present like cologne. Of course I wouldn’t want to buy Jack cologne, because I’m already infatuated by the one he wears. I scratched a shirt, wallet, and tie off the list too. I’ve never been to his house and have no idea what he needs or has. I think we are too early in the relationship to give him a collection of photos. But since he has already given me several meaningful Christmas ornaments and bought me a Christmas tree, I need to give him something of some significance.
I’ve got Megan the cookbook and I want to get her something from Sephora. I ordered my mom the most festive bread towel I could find and I’ll pair it with a stack of Sudoku books. For my dad, I’m thinking about a new polo shirt. I always get him clothes and golf balls. His face lights up every time he unwraps the newest shirt I’ve gotten him. I typically get him a Ralph Lauren Polo and Titleist Golf Balls, the best of both of his worlds. I found a creative learning set, which I hope will be fun for Winter and River. I’ve already sent it to my parents’ house, less for me to travel with and kids’ toys are bulky.
For Megan’s husband, Brian a gift card for Home Depot, brings a wide grin to his face on Christmas morning. Not that I want to encourage his need to fix/upgrade everything ways, but I honestly don’t know what else to get him and his face beams at me when he opens the card with the little orange rectangle inside. This year, I’m upgrading his gift though as I found a Home Depot Christmas ornament of a guy fixing some pipes under the sink. Behind the sink is a spot for a gift card. I’m looking forward to seeing how he receives the ornament not knowing about the gift card on the back. Ha!
I’m aimlessly wandering around the mall when I stop and glance to the left, it’s a tea shop. Perfect. I stride into the store and scan the shelves. The Ultimate Winter Gift Collection box jumps out at me. Yes, this is perfect for Aurora, my brother Luke’s wife. I take one of the white boxes with maroon ribbon off of the shelves and check out the description on the back. Twelve premium loose leaf teas….yes, yes yes! I trot up to the counter with the box in hand and place it down in front of the sales clerk. I rummage through my purse for my faded tan wallet and take out my debit card.
My phone vibrates in my purse. I sign the receipt and thank the clerk as I slide the green rectangle across the bottom of my phone.
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas,” Megan sings into my ear.
I laugh. “I thought you were coming home for Christmas?”
“Just because the likelihood of a white Christmas is a reach in Texas, I can still dream about it.” She tsks.
“Fair enough, so what’s up? Are you done with your shopping?” I stroll out of the tea shop and scan the other stores for ideas for Jack. The crowds of shoppers provide no answers. Their arms are overflowing with packages, but none of the labels are giving me any gift solutions.
“Almost, except Luke. Have you got him anything yet?”
I purse my lips. “No, I’m at the mall right now though.”
“Do you want to go halfsies on a new Garmin for him?”
I roll my lips. “Have you priced them?” I don’t want to be cheap, but my airplane ticket was double in price this year, so I can’t afford to go overboard on my generosity.
“I did and I found a website with a special today, it’s half off.”
“Okay, just tell me how much I owe after you get it and I’ll transfer you the funds.” A woman with a double stroller is stopped in the middle of the walkway so I dart to the right to avoid getting stuck in the traffic stop of shoppers.
“No, you can pay me in person. I plan on seeing you again.” Megan laughs.
It’s our inside joke about money and A Bronx Tale.
“Yeah, you don’t get off that cheap. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Hey wait, you never told me what’s going on with you and Jack.”
“Oh, um, he came to visit me this weekend.” I raise my eyebrows.
“Oh really, and how did it go?”
“It was great.” I stop and lean over the rail gazing down at the rows of stores beneath me.
“What’s the hesitation in your voice? Did something happen?”
“No, nothing happened with us….it’s just I’ve been offered a huge promotion at work.” I roll my lips and turn my heel. The white glow of the Sephora letters are tugging at me. I patrol my way through a group of teenage girls goggling over their newest finds and make my way into the store.
“Lauren, that’s so awesome! Wait, then what’s the problem?”
A saleslady approaches me. I shake my head at her and turn and mosey towards the back of the store.
“Well, I don’t want a long-distance relationship.”
“Okay, who said you had to have one?” Megan tsks.
“No one said it, but I don’t want to even think about leaving this great opportunity and my life here and he has his hands full with Vintage Estates.”
“Right, first of all you should not even consider not taking this promotion and, second of all, what makes you think he won’t move for you?” I can almost see her pacing.
“I wouldn’t ask him to, for one.” I sigh. “And for two, I don’t know. I just feel like I’m setting myself up for a broken heart.” I bite the inside of my cheek.
“Oh, Lauren, you don’t know that. Hey, Brian just got home, I’ll call you later. Bye.”
“Bye.” I toss my phone back into my purse. In front of me is the Fresh section. Fabulous, I’ll get Megan a Fresh gift set to go along with the Tyler Florence Fresh book. Ha! I glide up to the register and hand the cashier my card and the gift box
“Here you go, Happy holidays.” The clerk hands me my bag and receipt. The ding-ding-ding of the xylophone plays as I merge back into the throngs of sho
ppers. Mariah Carey sings through the mall’s sound system, ‘All I want for Christmas is You’. I skate through the sale signs and slow-moving customers. I do want to see my baby standing outside my door. Except this year I’ll be at my parents’ house. But I still want Jack for Christmas. I wish I knew what he wanted. I cross back into Williams-Sonoma, this is where I parked.
A woman with a Santa hat lifts up a glass lid. “Peppermint Crème?” I eye the red and white layers of yumminess and snag one from the footed cake stand. “Thank you.” I pass by her and then stop in my tracks. I do an about face and head back to the where the woman is standing. I peer at the glass cake stand.
“Would you like another, dear? They’re quite delicious.” She lifts up the lid.
I smile. “No, thank you….but where could I find this cake stand?”
“Right back in there.” She turns and points to the back left corner of the store. “If you hurry you can catch the monogram department.”
“Thank you,” I call over my shoulder as I rush to the cake stand area. I inspect each shelf until I find the one on display with the peppermint crème deliciousness. I remove it from the shelf and fall back a step. It’s really heavy. A male employee comes up to me.
“Can I offer you some help with that?” He motions with open palms.
“Yes, thank you. Um, where is the monogram department?” I peek over his shoulder, I don’t want to dally as the other employee had already warned me about timing.
“You just caught me, I was on my way out.” He turns and goes to the opposite corner of the store. I follow behind him, closely. I don’t want to miss out on the opportunity for a great gift for Jack.
“All right, what would you like?” The guy slides a small binder in front of me. I flip through the laminated pages and opt for the classic black with a square frame.
“This one, with a W, please.” I move the binder towards him.
The guy nods and takes the cake platter out of the box. He wanders into what I would assume is the monogram area. A zipping sound comes from around the corner and he returns with the cake platter. I beam and let out a deep breath.
“It’s perfect, thank you.” I hand him my card. He rings up the cake platter and packages it back inside its box and then stuffs it into a bag.
“Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas to you.” I glide out of the store humming, ‘All I want for Christmas is You’.
I slide into my car and push button number four. M.I.A. driving time. I’m definitely a Bad Girl doing it well right now. I have accomplished my first celeb meet and greet, or what some might call a book signing, and I have completed my Christmas shopping.
I jam all the way home, rapping and dancing, with some really interpretive moves at all of the stoplights. This is my anthem. Oh yeah! I pop the garage open and hike up the stairs to my living room. I need to figure out my plan for this weekend. I had assumed I would go straight to my parents’ house, but Jack had made a different suggestion. He thought it might be better if he picked me up from the airport on Friday and spent the night with him and then I could show up at my parents’ some time on Saturday. Though the idea of checking out his place sounded great, I can only imagine my parents’ reaction to not picking me up from the airport. It’s always been a big deal. I’m usually the last one to fly in and then we all go check out the Holiday Trail of Lights. My mom stocks the cooler with tasty treats and hot cocoa as we drive through the glowing display.
I put all my bags on my dining room table. It rarely gets used for anything other than sorting my bills and being a holding place for my shopping bags like tonight. I dig into my purse and find my phone. I press the home button and slide the arrow over and type in my pin. There are a couple of text messages. I read Jack’s first.
Don’t tell me you’ve decided to make it work with Tyler?
I laugh and hit the green square with the white phone. I tap on Jack-the-hawk line. The dial tone rings twice.
“Please tell me you are not in Vegas.”
I laugh. “What? Why would I be in Vegas?”
Jack lets out a deep breath. “Thank goodness… When I hadn’t heard from you, I thought you might have eloped with Tyler.”
I giggle. “I’m not so quick to fly the coop.”
“The coop? Oh, are you trying to change from being a wild hare to a French hen?” Jack tsks.
“No, I just meant that I’ve already set my eyes on a different chef.”
There is a pause. “That’s good to hear. So what time can I pick you up from the airport?”
My shoulders tense up and I pick at my nails. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news or disappointing news. “Yeah, um,…I have to let my family pick me up. It’s a big tradition every year.”
The silence hurts my ears. I go into the kitchen. There is no time better than right now to pop open some wine.
“Okay, I understand…I’ll give you a call later, I’ve got some things to tend to here at VE.”
My eyebrows crinkle. Is he upset with me? “Okay, I’ll talk to you later.” I let the words fall out of my mouth like the last bits of sand falling into an hourglass and our phone conversation is over.
Chapter Seven
The office is like a ghost town, most of my coworkers have already taken off. I most likely would have as well, but since I waited for the last minute to get my ticket, I’m not flying out until 4 p.m., so I figured I would get in some extra work and wrap up some loose ends. By the time I return to the office, I’ll be a manager. I haven’t even dove into the stack of applicants for my team. I’ve been too busy ensuring that my current client list is completely resolved and happy for the next two weeks, while I’m away. I scan my call cue. It’s empty. Even prior to being offered the promotion, I have the type of clients that are most likely off on some European vacation or in their winter home hosting some major ball. These are not the clients that would need to chat with a consultant like me during the last few days before Christmas, even the ones that don’t celebrate it, they do observe taking time off. I eye the clock on my monitor. I finally have my Santa squeezing into the chimney display on my screen. It always makes me laugh. It’s two in the afternoon, I’ve already had lunch and I have at least an hour to go before I will leave for the airport. All of my things are already packed in my trunk.
Tap. Tap. I jump and glance up to see Javier standing above my cubicle. This is the thing with cubicles, even with it not being a half-wall, a man of Javier’s size can easily peek his head over. I yank my headphones off and place them on my desk.
“What’s up, champ? I thought you would already be on a plane?” Javier taps the border of the wall.
“Yes, I waited too long this year to book my flight and got stuck with 4 p.m. pricey one.” I scrunch up my nose.
Javier jerks his head back. “Why would you wait to book your flight?”
“I had some things to figure out, it was kind of silly.” Crap, I don’t want him to question my judgment. “My mom had been talking about maybe they might come here, so we were still figuring everything out and it worked better for me to fly there, so anyways, that was the cause of the delay.” I roll my lips together and nod.
“Sounds like you got the short end of the stick in that deal.” Javier shakes his head and sighs.
“Yeah.” I shrug my shoulders. “It’s okay.” I glance down at the floor. “I’m only one person…so it’s not as big of a deal.” I bob my head up and down.
“Right, speaking of deals, have you thought about the offer?” Javier raises an eyebrow at me.
Crap, I was hoping to have this talk in January. And definitely not with him peering over my quasi-wall. I don’t have the upper hand or any sort of leverage in this positon. I stand up and step around to the outside of my cubicle. Leena has already left, which means our conversation is private.
“I have thought about it.” I bite my inner cheek. Giving myself a tiny ounce of pain pushes me further to be brave. “I checked out the rec
for the position and I think the starting point would be about twenty k higher.” I stare him in the eyes and push my shoulders back. I have to be confident and unfaltering. I know this number is huge. But I did research the numbers and I’m right. I’ve read several books about negotiations and it is always bullet-pointed that when you are negotiating salary, go for as much as possible, because every raise going forward will be based off of the number you entered on.
Javier pushes his lips out, forming a duck face and nods. “Not bad, Lauren, I hoped you wouldn’t take the first offer, but I thought you would have come in at the ten k or fifteen k mark.” He shakes his head and laughs.
I’m dying internally. Did I mess up? Everything I have read and followed says no. But his laugher is off-putting.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh. It’s just I’m proud of you.” Javier nods and taps his finger over his mouth. “And, well, to be honest, me. I figured you would go for more and that’s why I want you in this position…but going for twenty k?” Javier shakes his head. “Is that what it will take?” He cocks his head at me.
“Yes.” I’m trying not to waiver at all. I’m wearing my red pumps and gray capped sleeve dress with matching red pleather high-waisted belt. I had planned on going ultra-casual today, but I had a rare lunch meeting with a client and I knew jeans were not going to cut it. I have one particular client who likes to meet with me on my last day of work for the year. She has always tried to give me some expensive gift, but has finally resorted to arranging an expensive lunch because it is not an actual cash gift.
Javier offers me his hand “Consider it a done deal.”
My insides are exploding. I shake his hand. “Thank you.”
“I’m happy to have you move up the ranks, Lauren, you’ve got talent, and you’re going to go far in this company. Have a merry Christmas and I’ll see in January.”
“Thanks, Javier, Merry Christmas to you too.” I slink back to my cubicle. I cannot believe I actually countered the largest promotion I have ever received by twenty k and it was accepted. I high-five myself in true Tina Fey fashion, cause I’m about to be Bossypants. Well, I intend on being in charge, but handling things well and all of the good stuff.