Murder To Excellence

9.

Christmas with the Cole family, part 1.

The trees were decorated with Christmas lights, the sidewalks were decorated with all kinds of ornaments and so were the shop windows. The streets were filled with people doing last-minute Christmas shopping and so were Denise and Rose. They had already bought each other and Hazel a gift, but they had sent Hazel’s one to Indonesia way before Christmas.

“I swear if one of these wannabe Rudolph’s comes to try and converse with us, I’m going to scream,” Denise grumbled. She had a big fear of people that were dressed up as other figures. She was fine with Halloween, but going to Disney World and things like that, where you had people dressed up like Mickey Mouse for instance, that was way too much for her.

“I really don’t get you sometimes. Look over there,” Rose pointed to a ‘snowman’ talking to a little girl who was out with her parents. “The girl is like six.”

“Shut up, Rose. You don’t hear me bash you for your fear of clowns.”

“No, no, no, that’s totally different,” Rose protested, shaking her head repeatedly. She got interrupted by her phone ringing and as she checked the phone, the number was unknown. Still, she decided to pick up.

“Rose?”

“This is she…” she replied hesitant. Denise mouthed a ‘’who is it’’ and Rose shrugged her shoulders.

“Sweetie, it’s Fabienne. Remember me?”

 “Hi, of course I do,” Rose replied. Fabienne had called to ask if Rose had time to pass by the store. Fabienne would be in there past closing time so there was no need for Rose and Denise to hurry up.

After their long day and going store in, store out, they finally went to Fabienne’s when all the other stores had closed. Fabienne welcomed Rose and her friend warmly, but led Rose to the back while Denise was allowed to drool over the exclusive items in the store.

“I got you a Christmas present.” She handed Rose a bag with a wrapped box inside of it. She un-wrapped it and the box had the Chanel logo on it and Rose almost fainted.

She gasped when she saw what was in it. It was the signature Chanel tweed jacket, all black.

“Try it on! I want to see it on you.” The way Rose reacted to her present assured Fabienne that she had indeed done the right thing. She hadn’t known Rose for that long, but there was something about her that just drew her to her. Fabienne knew that Rose was a keeper and though they differed over thirty years, they hit it off.

The jacket stopped mid-thigh and Rose still couldn’t believe Fabienne had gotten her this jacket. She knew Fabienne probably got a discount on it since she worked with such big designers and brands, but the jacket was still really expensive. “You didn’t have to, Fabienne, thank you so much!” Rose squeezed all the air out of Fabienne. She couldn’t believe it. “I feel really bad right now. I didn’t get you anything.”

“Sweetie, it’s alright. I’m more of a giver than a taker anyway. So,” she helped Rose get out of the jacket and folded it before neatly putting it back in the box, “what are you and Raphael doing this Christmas.”

“I’m not spending Christmas with him,” she paused. Deep down inside she wished she was, but when she had asked about Christmas he quickly dismissed the topic. He ‘didn’t do Christmas’. On the bright side, she was going to spend her Christmas with her family in their cabin, four hours away. “He’s not really into festivities. I’m just going to spend it with my entire family.”

“Sounds just like him,” Fabienne giggled. “Happy holidays, sweetie.”

“You too, Fabienne. Thank you so much for the jacket, you’re amazing!”