BEXLEY TURNER

WITH CHRISTMAS ONLY TWO weeks away, Chrissy and I thought that we should go out and do some Christmas shopping. I haven't bought presents for anyone in a while. The only people I buy presents for are my best friend, Audrey back in California, and Nash. 

"Bex, almost ready?" Chrissy asks after knocking on the wooden, white painted door of the guest room. 

"Almost!" I call out, shimmying into a pair of blue jeans that have a few rips on the knee and thigh. "Nash, darling, put on your coat." 

Nash looks at me with a pout and sets my phone down on the bed next to him, the YouTube video he was watching still playing. "It's too hot," he whines. "I don't want to."

"Nash, put on your coat," I repeat myself, giving him the classic mom look. "I'm not letting you get sick over a damn coat." 

"Fine, can you zip me up then?" He asks, his blue eyes watching as I button my jeans before throwing on a black sweater. "You look so pretty," he giggles. 

"Thank you and come here," I grab his coat off of the coat rack that hangs on the back of the door. When he walks over to me, I crouch down to his height and help him zip up his coat after it's on him. "Let's go, little man."

"I'm not little, I'm big and strong," Nash protests with crossed arms and I laugh. 

Taking a seat on the bed, I slip on a pair of black timberlands boots and look at Nash. "Like Superman?" 

"No, like Iron Man, mama."

"Will you protect me from the bad guys?" 

"Yes," Nash walks over to me and smooshes my cheeks together with a giggle. 

❄︎

"What do you want to get aunt Chrissy, Nash?" I ask Nash, who looks at the shelves of candles and shrugs.

Jared, Chrissy, and I split up and we're shopping for each other. Nash wanted to get Chrissy and Jared something for Christmas too and like the nice mother I am, I let him join in on the fun. 

"A nerf gun?" He asks and I roll my eyes. Sure, kid.

"We're shopping for aunt Chrissy, not you, silly," I ruffle his hair and pick up a pine-scented candle, closing my eyes and sniffing it. 

I place the candle in the cart and turn back to Nash, who is trying to grab wax cubes off of the shelves. "Nash, what are you doing?"

"I want to smell it too," he reaches for the wax cubes again and I grab them so he doesn't fall out of the cart while trying to get them. A trip to the hospital is all I need right now.

"Here."

He excitedly sniffs the package and scrunches up his face. "Mama, they stink."

"Well, I can't do anything about that," I shake my head, a small smile playing on my lips. I may or may not have grabbed the worst smelling wax cubes and gave them to Nash. He needs to learn not to grab things off of shelves.

I push the cart towards the office supplies aisle and grab a scrapbook. My fingers grip the plastic packaging of stickers and then I throw them in the cart, followed by markers, gel pens, paper, and more stickers. Chrissy loves crafts and many things arts and crafts related. So, why not give her a bunch of scrapbooking supplies? She'll find a good use for them. I have no idea what to get Jared though. I'm sure I'll think of something.

"You think your aunt will like her gift?" I ask Nash, eyeing the items in the cart. Maybe I should throw in some jewelry and then help Nash pick out a present for her.

Pushing the cart down a few aisles with Nash humming softly, we eventually make it to the jewelry section of the large Walmart.

"She'll make artwork?" He asks, his eyes pinned on the markers and paper. Nash faces me and looks at the racks of jewelry.

I nod and grab a necklace off of one of the many racks of jewelry. "Something like that."

I look at the necklace and grin. She'll love it. The necklace has a thin gold chain, a gold plate, and a person's name on it. Searching for her name, I start to give up but quickly grab one of the necklaces that have the name Chrissy on it. 

"Hallelujah!" I whisper-shout before placing the necklace in the cart and walking to the checkout. I'll pick up something for Chrissy from Nash later this week. 

As I push the cart to the checkout, a hand taps on my shoulder and I turn around, my eyes catching sight of familiar floppy, dark, curly brown hair. 

"Bexley?"

Thanks for reading!