Chapter Two
"No, Eddie." a firm Jillian Deline said, holding the phone with her shoulder while decorating cookies with both hands. The blonde-haired woman didn't know why she was so surprised to get a phone call from her husband, begging for her help in Christmas shopping for another female. Had it not been for her, Delinda probably would have grown up never having gotten a Christmas present.
"Come on, Jill." Ed tried to beg, safely hidden with the confines of his private office at the Montecito. The former CIA spook would rather die than have his employees spot him in such a state. "You know that I'm not good at this sort of thing."
"Whose name did you draw?" Jillian sighed wearily.
"Mary."
"Well," Jillian suggested gently, grabbing the phone with one hand. "Why don't you ask Danny what you should get her? I'm sure that he'll understand and be more than happy to give you a few ideas." A smile crossed her face and she drummed her free hand on the counter. "By the way, I was going to head down to the Forum Shops this afternoon to get the kids' Christmas presents. I saw this brown coat at The Gap that would be just perfect for Danny." She paused for a brief moment. "And don't even tell me not to get him clothes, Eddie. I've seen the way he dresses outside of work."
"I wasn't going to say anything." Ed lied, mentally questioning Jillian's decision to get Danny, Mary, Sam and Mike a present. Then again, he thought, she doesn't have to make the money; just spend it. "So, what is my beautiful wife doing?"
"What you never do." Jillian replied, "Cooking, cleaning…" As she trailed off, she took a moment to sigh and close her eyes. "Dealing with the revelation that my mother-in-law is planning on spending the holidays with us."
"What!" a stunned Ed exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his chair at the mention of his mother.
"There!" Mike exclaimed, wiping sweat off of his brow. The African American man stared at the tree in front of him. "The last tree is up and ready for the decorating."
"But that doesn't do us any good if the lights don't want to work." Danny reminded from where he was sitting nearby, attempting to get a string of lights to glow. Sighing and throwing the lights aside, the brown-haired, former Marine looked at his partner. "Ed and Casey aren't paying us enough to do this."
"Ho ho ho!" Casey Manning, the Montecito's owner said as if on cue. The dark-haired man their age smiled down at Danny. "Sounds like someone doesn't want their holiday bonus."
"Well, I didn't say that." Danny chuckled, getting to his feet.
"You guys are doing a good job," an approving Casey commented, looking around the casino floor. "The trees are looking good." Suddenly spotting Sam, his ex-wife, on the casino floor, the Montecito's owner smiled. "Excuse me, guys."
"So, what do you want to do about the lights?" Mike asked, looking at his friend.
"Well," Danny replied, stroking his chin. "I guess that one of us could run to a store and pick up some more." As an idea hit him, McCoy sighed heavily. "Or I could check my dad's things, and see if he's got a useable string."
"You sure, man?" a concerned Mike asked, knowing the pain his friend had to be feeling as this was the first Christmas he would spend without his father. "I mean, I could just run to the store, and…"
"I'll be fine, Mike." Danny reassured, clapping an appreciative hand on his friend's shoulder. "Besides, I was going to look for stuff for my place anyway."
"All right." Mike nodded, "You will let me know if you change your mind, right?"
"Without a doubt." a smiling Danny nodded back, "Thanks, Mike."
"Merry Christmas, Samantha." Casey whispered, sneaking up behind the dark-haired casino host and wrapping his arms around her.
"More like bah humbug." Sam sighed, pulling away from her ex-husband instantly. With a glare, the brunette turned to face the smiling man. "What in the hell are you doing here, Casey?"
"Besides the fact that I own the place?" Casey grinned, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"There are plenty of other places in the casino." Sam pointed out as she started to walk away from him.
"Oh, come on, Sam!" Casey replied, following her. "Don't be like that!" Noticing that the woman was just under a sprig of mistletoe that someone had hung, Manning suddenly had an idea. "SAM!"
"What?" a curious Sam asked, stopping and turning around to face him.
"Merry Christmas." Casey smiled before leaning in and giving her a kiss on the lips.
"What in the hell?" Sam growled, pushing Casey away at the first opportunity. She narrowed her brown eyes, looking ready to kill. "What was that?"
"That, my dear, was tradition." Casey chuckled, pointing upwards at the mistletoe.
"That was desperate." a still angry Sam corrected, stomping past him.
"Don't be such a wet blanket!" Casey encouraged with a smile, watching her walk off.
Sinking down to the floor of the storage unit, Danny sighed and wiped his brow wearily. He had gone through box after box after box, and still hadn't found anything Christmas-related. He had even put in a call to Mary to make sure that the decorations hadn't been mistakenly sold at the estate sale. On the verge of giving up, the brown-haired man turned his gaze upwards.
"Dad?" he said quietly, "You know, if you're up there, I'd kind of like some help finding these lights." Laughing at himself, McCoy shook his head. "Yeah, right. What the hell am I thinking?"
Hearing a crash, Danny immediately got to his feet and looked around. Everything inside the unit looked the same, except for a box Danny had dismissed as empty because it felt light and didn't make a sound when shook. It had mysteriously toppled onto the floor from the pile the frustrated McCoy had set it on earlier.
"No way." Danny shook his head, walking over to the box. "There's no possible way."
Sure enough, a neatly coiled up string of Christmas lights lay inside the box as well as some other Christmas decorations. Chuckling in disbelief, Danny looked around him.
"Thanks, Dad."
To be continued...