44 - Shop 'Til You Drop

Jon stepped out of Bergdorf Goodman onto Fifth Avenue, laden down with several more bags than the Abercrombie & Fitch, Ugg and Louis Vuitton ones that he’d gone in with.    Christmas shopping was in full-force with the Bongiovi clan. 

God, I hate shopping.

Stephanie had chosen a handbag and necklace for his mom, along with a pair of rain boots for herself, a sweater and jeans for her mother and a furry scarf for his sister-in-law, Desiree.  Jon and the boys had picked out leather gloves and a favorite cologne for his dad, along with an iPad case for his brother Tony, and a cashmere scarf for Matt. 

They were going to FAO Schwarz next, to grab a bite of lunch and find gifts for his niece and nephew.  With enough smooth-talking, his sons would likely end up with a couple of things as well.  Then they would stop in the Apple store before heading to their last stop at Macy’s – for Christmas ornaments. 

But there was one other store he needed to visit to complete his personal shopping list…

“Steph, why don’t you and Jesse take your brothers to the café at the toy store for lunch?  I’ve got a quick errand to run and I’ll catch up with you guys in a few minutes.”

“Sure, Daddy,” she agreed amicably, pulling her knit cap down over her ears.  One mittened palm was expectantly presented.    

He passed the bags off to his sons and brought out his wallet to find the credit card they could do the least damage with.  “I’ll be there in about half an hour.”

“Where are you going?” his Bohemian Barbie doll of a daughter asked with an impish grin, as though she had some idea of his secret agenda. 

Where was he going?  Piaget.  Jon had spotted a sign in the window of the store as they’d passed by on the way from Abercrombie to Bergdorf’s.  It had snagged his interest.  Now he was going back to find out if it was a sign of the perfect Christmas gift for Sheridan.

“Nunya.”

Being familiar with all the stores in this area, her pretty forehead wrinkled with confusion as Jake and Romeo hit each other with the bags in their custody.  Jesse was checking text messages and looking impatient. 

“What’s that?”

“That, my darling daughter, is nunya business.”  He dropped a kiss on her cheek and reclaimed the heaviest of the bags.  “You guys hold onto the rest of them.  FAO Café.  That’s it.  No place else, understood?  Jake.  Romeo.  Stay with your brother and sister.”

The fruits of his loin gave the requisite grumbles of assent and Stephanie, the cheeky girl that she was, stuck her tongue out at him in mock annoyance before they ambled off in the opposite direction.

§§§

“Excuse me,” Sheridan apologized, stepping aside as the two teenagers and two younger children piled into the FAO Café.  She was on her way out after a pleasant pastry break with Suzy and Madison, but had somehow lost her shopping partners.  Scouting the little restaurant over her shoulder, she hadn’t been paying attention when the youngsters pulled on the door.

The lone girl of the group – a teenager with striking blue eyes – smiled in acknowledgement and herded, what Sheridan assumed, were her younger brothers inside.  “Thank you,” the other teen said politely when Sheridan held onto the door.  There was something about his sheepish smile that made her smile back.

“Don’t leave without us, Aunt Sheri!” Madison called, skirting her way around the boys who were somewhere around her age.  “Mommy had to go to the ladies room and made me go with her.  We told you, but you didn’t hear.”

The fiery little leprechaun danced to a stop at Sheridan’s booted feet, her own pink fur-topped footwear adding another scuff to the well-worn black leather of Sheridan’s.  Suzanne was right behind her, towing a shopping bag with the FAO Schwarz logo and looking only mildly exasperated.

“We did call after you, but your head was someplace else,” she accused mildly.  “Just like it’s been all morning.”

With a wrinkling of her nose, Sheridan shrugged her purse higher onto her shoulder and pushed through the glass door that would put them on the sidewalk of East 58^th Street, juggling her assortment of parcels.  There were bags from Abercrombie and Fitch, Ugg, Schwarz and Bergdorf’s.  Combined with an assortment of aromatherapy potions, they were all the gifts for her family. 

Suzanne, Karl and Madison, were getting a Disney cruise that set sail right after Christmas, so the only person left on her shopping list was Jon.  She still had nothing for the man she couldn’t stop thinking about.

“Don’t forget we’re going to the library,” Madison interjected, oblivious to the fact that her mother was waiting for some sort of response from her aunt.  “There’s a new Bug Girl book I want to get.”

“Of course I didn’t forget!”  Guiding her feet in the right direction for the 58^th Street Library, Sheridan was forced to admit to herself that she hadn’t exactly been the most present-minded today.  It was a miracle she’d successfully accomplished so much shopping with the way her mind was in turmoil. 

It’s just a token Christmas gift.

It was, but it wasn’t.  Sheridan wanted her gift to be personal, but she didn’t want it seem she was forcing anything. 

“Oh, hey, can we stop in here for a minute?” Suzanne asked, pausing under the evergreen awning that read ‘Spanierman Gallery’.  “They’re supposed to be shipping a painting to my mother in Florida.  Since we’re here, I’d like to make sure it’s gone out.”

“Sure.”

Madison jammed her hands into the pockets of her pink winter coat and frowned unhappily up at Sheridan, her big green eyes pitiful.  “I don’t like this place.”

“You’ve been here before?” Sheridan asked.  “Did you help your mom pick out something for Grandma Kate?”

“Mm-hmm.  It’s boring in there.”

“We won’t stay long,” Suzanne declared in the classic no-nonsense mommy voice.  A bell jangled lyrically after her gloved fingers twisted the shiny brass door handle.

Sheridan gave the little girl a nudge with her elbow.  “Come on.  You can show me around.  I’ve never been here.”

Youthfully thin shoulders slumped and she expelled a sigh, the size of which defied the capacity of her seven-year-old lungs.  The heat enveloped them as they trooped inside, as warm as the décor of the gallery itself.   

“There’s rooms,” Madi explained dutifully, leading Sheridan into one of them as her mother went to talk to the young lady at the desk.  “This one has a funny little bench couch that I sat on when I got bored.”

The ‘bench couch’ was actually a settee, but she saw no reason to correct the child.  Bench couch worked just fine.

“They got rid of those ugly flower pictures.  These ones aren’t so boring.”  Still, she plopped herself down on the bench couch and swung her feet as though the world were coming to an end.  Kids just naturally hated doing grownup stuff.

Sheridan set her bags down on the empty cushion and pointed to one of the beach-inspired paintings that graced the walls.  They carried traditional themes, but were executed with a slightly abstract blur to them.  “See those trees?  Do you know what kind of trees they are?”

“Palm trees.”

“That’s right,” she praised, wanting to see if she could draw a spark of enthusiasm by talking about the beach.  The trip was still a surprise, so she had to be careful.  “And where do you find palm trees?”

“The beach, but what’s that supposed to be?”

Smothering an indulgent smile, she turned to the driftwood frame that the girl indicated.  When canvas came into focus, Sheridan went a little weak in the knees from the speed with which she was transported back in time – to a stormy Jamaican night.

“What are you doing?” Jon asked quietly, his arms sliding around her waist after finding her on the terrace dressed in nothing but his shirt.    

She had awoken after a short nap, thirsty and requiring a bathroom.  Both needs taken care of, she was in the midst of fumbling her way back to the bed when a brilliant light caught her eye, drawing her like a magnet.  She drifted to the sliding glass door in a near zombie-like trance, fascinated with the light show that was taking place over the water.  The rain had stopped, but the lightning was still dancing like fireworks over the Caribbean. 

The sliding glass door opened easily under her touch as she was drawn outside for a closer look at Mother Nature’s light show.  She had no idea how long she’d been there when Jon joined her, but it was long enough to appreciate the heat of him at her back. 

“Watching the lightning,” she returned, shivering at the tickle of his hairy thighs against the swell of her bare bottom.  “The way it lights up not just the sky, but the whole sea…  It’s breathtaking.”

“Nah, that’s just lightning.  You’re breathtaking.”

With that, he leaned down to sink his teeth into the curve of her neck while working the shirt up to her waist.  Clearly comfortable in his own body, he hadn’t bothered with clothes, and his erection was already nudging at her entrance.  She rolled her hips in welcome about the time his hot palms enclosed her breasts, tugging at the nipples.

“Not me,” she murmured, ready for him again. “Us.  Sex between us.”

Not another word was spoken until much later, when they’d collapsed against the terrace wall, spent from competing with the brilliance of nature.  And winning.

“That…”  Sheridan had to clear her throat before she could answer.  “That’s lightning on the ocean.”

It was the general idea anyway, in a slightly abstract form.  The black and blue sky was split by a dazzling flash of light that tapered from white into a passionate shade of pink so hot it was almost red, searing into the ocean that held her spellbound.  That ocean was a turbulent maelstrom of color that could be blistering to the touch if you imagined hard enough, and scorching enough to ignite the force of nature that had burned between her and Jon that night on the terrace. 

“Sheri?”  A light hand touched her shoulder.  “Honey, are you okay?”

Sheridan shivered in the afterglow of her memory, a vivid smile dawning over her face. “Yeah.  Yeah, Suze, I’m great.”

She had just found Jon’s Christmas gift.