Wrapped Up in Holly (Hart Brothers)

3. Evan

Evan

“ C an I hold the money?” Ari asked, her head tilted up to me as we crossed the parking lot to Target’s entrance. Every year, the girls were given twenty dollars in cash from my parents to buy Christmas presents. As if forty bucks had any real value anymore, and I wasn’t actually paying for everything on my credit card.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ll lose it.”

She growled—literally growled—at me and attempted to wriggle her hand out of mine. Probably so she could stomp away.

“Nope. Nope. Nope. Stay with me. Riley, off the circle.”

“Sphere!” she corrected, spinning on top of the big red concrete ball.

“Sphere, whatever. Just get off. You’ll hurt yourself.”

She huffed, and not even five minutes into our shopping adventure, I had two angry little girls on my hands.

What else was new?

“Stay with me,” I said again as we passed through the automatic doors, since Riley was getting ready to sprint toward the carts, most likely planning to surf on the back of one. “It’s too busy for you guys to be running around like monkeys.”

Ari ripped her unicorn hat off her head and chucked it at me, followed immediately by her coat. “Hold it, Daddy.”

I raised my brow at her. “That’s how you ask?”

She smiled her most innocent smile. “Please hold ’em for me, Daddy.”

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” I said with a ruffle to her hair and pointed to the red cart Riley was trying and failing to disentangle from the rest. “Hand on the cart at all times.”

“But—”

“No buts. One hand on the cart at all times.”

She scowled yet stayed silent as I helped Riley with the cart.

“I’m driving,” she told me, and I tossed Ari’s coat and hat in it before gesturing for her to steer it ahead of me. Ari curled her little hand around the side, and I dutifully followed behind them as they searched for Christmas gifts.

This was their favorite thing to do. Buying presents. They both enjoyed finding the perfect thing for all their aunts and uncles, but especially their mom. Their first stop was the book section for their Aunt Claire then the gadgets, where they chose a sparkly pop socket for their Aunt Rosie.

Riley held up some new version of Animal Crossing for Switch. “How ’bout this for Uncle Aiden?”

“You think Uncle Aiden wants that? Or do you want to play it?” I asked, and she giggled, putting it back.

My brother was a gamer, and Riley had been begging us for a Switch for a while. Santa would finally be bringing it for her this year.

“Come on,” I said, pushing the cart away from all the games and televisions since Riley had already given up on driving it. “Let’s keep going.”

We perused the game boards and toys, and they not so subtly pointed out everything they wanted before I finally convinced them to continue our shopping for other people, the real reason we were here. They chose a wallet for their Uncle Aiden, a set of notebooks for their Aunt Julie, and matching socks for their Uncles Ryan and Tristan. The girls insisted all their gifts matched because they were twins. For Mimi and Pop, they picked out a set of hot chocolate bombs along with coffee mugs.

But when it came to their mother, they couldn’t decide.

“What are you getting her, Daddy?” Ari asked, and I took in my younger daughter’s face that was almost a spitting image of mine.

“Not sure yet.”

“But you always get her something way ahead of time,” Riley said, a twin of her mother, right down to the gangly limbs she had a hard time controlling.

I shrugged.

“I heard Mommy talking to Mimi about therapy. What is that?”

I puffed my cheeks up. These goddamn kids. They always figured out everything. “Um, it’s when you go to talk to someone about a problem you might have, and they help you solve it.”

“Like a puzzle?” Ari asked.

“No, like something that makes you mad or upset.”

Riley bit into her lip, her nose wrinkling. “So…how come you and Mommy are going?”

“We…” I rubbed at my forehead. Holly and I didn’t lie to our kids, but also…this was touchy.

Ari put down the purse that she’d been playing with. “Are you and Mommy fighting?”

“No, we’re not fighting,” I said, and Riley set one of her hands on her hips, suspicion written all over her face. “Look, girls, sometimes it’s hard to be married. It can be really fun and should be great, but sometimes it’s hard. And…I hurt Mommy’s feelings. I didn’t mean to, but I did, so we’re talking to someone to help us make it better.”

Both of my daughters eyed me, and even though I was a grown man, I couldn’t help but shrink under their gazes. I was their father. I wanted to be their superhero and the guy who would always make all of their problems better, protect them from anything that might hurt them.

Yet, I was the one who was hurting them, if only by hurting their mother. They were perceptive and smart. Of course, they could feel the tension between Holly and me.

“Did you say sorry?” Ari asked after a while.

“Yeah,” I said, a frustrated chuckle bubbling up from my throat at having to take advice from my kids.

“You always tell us to say sorry and mean it,” Riley told me because she remembered every goddamn thing. “Did you mean it?”

“I always say that because it’s true. When you apologize, you should mean it, and I did, but sometimes you have to do more than that,” I explained.

“So, what are you going to do?” Riley asked as she picked out sunglasses, which Ari immediately snatched out of her hands. “Hey!”

I took the shades before they could start fighting. “I’m still figuring out how to show your mom that I meant my apology.”

“What if you make her something?” Riley suggested, pushing the cart back out into the aisle. “Homemade presents always mean more. That’s what Mimi says.”

Ari shot her hand up. “Oh! Let’s make Mommy something!”

Riley swiveled her head to me for permission. We had done a lap around the entire store, and they still hadn’t been able to find anything for Holly. I shrugged my answer to her silent question. “Whatever you girls want to do.”

“We have to find the arts and crafts section,” she told me and clumsily navigated the cart to that aisle.

While Ari and Riley argued over what they would make for their mother, I found something that might just show Holly how much I loved her.