A knock sounded at the bedroom door before I could reply.
“Sarai? If you’re not ready, I’m telling the whole family that you forced us to go to a sex shop today and made us wait for hours while you searched for Alex’s gift,” Ani called, then knocked again. “Up and at ’em.”
“See?” Alex whispered, his body shaking with laughter.
I gave him a quick kiss on the lips and climbed out of bed. Smoothing my hair, I grabbed my purse and opened the door. “I’ll see you in twelve hours.”
“Love you,” he called, amused.
“Love you, too.”
When I got to the kitchen, all the women were there. Liz and Ellie looked like their normal selves, neatly dressed but comfortable. Morgan was slightly rumpled and looked like I felt, and Ani appeared as if she hadn’t slept, and had a slightly deranged look in her eyes.
“No coffee for you,” Liz said firmly to Ani as she handed out travel cups.
“Don’t need it,” Ani replied, clapping her hands and shrugging her shoulders. “I’ve got Red Bull running through my veins.”
“Did you sleep?” I asked, eyeing her wild mess of wispy short hair.
“Nope.” She grinned wildly. “Arie woke up in the car and was still wide awake and playing in the living room when I left.”
“Damn,” Morgan murmured, looking at me in horror.
“Ani’ll crash on the way home,” Ellie said with a laugh as she ushered us toward the front door. “Bram will end up carrying her and her bags inside when we drop her off.”
“Not this year,” Ani said, pointing into the air. “This year, I’ll make it home and unpack before crashing.”
“No she won’t,” Liz said, bringing up the rear of our group as we stepped onto the front porch.
My hands were clenched as we drove into town in Ellie’s large SUV. The women around me talked about the stores they wanted to hit and the early-bird deals they hoped to find, but I couldn’t focus on any of that. The rain pounding on the windshield, and the bright lights that passed us on the highway held all my attention. Ellie was a good driver, but I knew that didn’t mean much. My dad had been a good driver, too, and that hadn’t stopped someone from hitting us. I didn’t relax until we pulled into the first parking lot and slowed down to a crawl as we found a parking space.
“Get excited,” Ani said as we crawled out of the SUV. She did a little dance and rubbed her palms together. “It’s time to shop for things we’d never buy at full price.”
“If you bring home another novelty waffle iron, Bram is going to kick you out,” Liz joked.
“It’s my house,” Ani replied, throwing her arms out. “I’ll buy as many waffle irons as I want!”
“She wasn’t lying about the Red Bull in her veins,” Morgan murmured, making me giggle.
I was unprepared for the madness that was Black Friday shopping. There were so many people. They pushed and shoved, practically raced down the aisles, pushed not one but two carts through the store. It was complete chaos.
“Okay, I’m headed to electronics and then home goods,” Liz said. “Where are you all headed? Does everyone have their phones?”
“I’ll go with you,” Ellie said. “There were only a couple things I wanted to look at here, and they’re in electronics and toys.”
“Toys, clothes, home,” Ani said, rubbing her hands together. “Bram can get his own electronics.”
“Electronic deals are better on Cyber Monday anyway,” Morgan said quietly.
“Oh, yeah?” Ani asked. “I’ll check that out. Where are you guys headed?”
“Socks, shoes, and clothes,” Morgan said. “Oh, and home. I need those towels.”
“Nice,” Ani replied. She looked at me expectantly.
“Oh, uh.” I looked around helplessly. “I’ll just browse.”
The entire group laughed.
“Stick with me, kid,” Ani said, grabbing a shopping cart.
Everyone grabbed a cart, and we headed into the throng of shoppers.
“Come on, Morgan,” Ani called, waving her hand above her head. “I want to look at the socks, too, so we’ll just go with you for a while.”
We followed Morgan to the left as Ellie and Liz broke off and headed right.
“If you find something, you can just throw it in my cart,” Ani told me as we pressed through the crowd.
“Thanks, but I’m not sure I’ll find anything.”
“Not your speed, huh?” Ani asked, pushing her cart around a little girl who was holding on to the back of her mom’s T-shirt while the mom searched through a rack of clothes.
“Yes, this is totally my speed. Who doesn’t love a good deal? But we’re flying home on Sunday, and my bag was pretty full already,” I said as she watched the mother struggle to calm her child. “Who would bring a kid to this craziness in the middle of the night?”
“Single moms, maybe,” Ani said with a shrug. “And sometimes you just can’t find a sitter, ya know? I’m just glad I’ve got Bram to hold down the fort.”