Page 29 of The Scrooge Effect

“Uh…” I swallowed down my anger and plastered a smile on my face. After all, I loved my wife, and I would do whatever possible to make her happy. “Of course not. It’s great.”

“Really?”

I pulled her in for a hug, keeping that damn smile on my face. Fake it until you make it, and all that shit.

“Holy shit!” IRIS gaped as he looked at something hanging from one of the reindeer. “Did you see this?”

“No,” I muttered, afraid to even ask.

“A hundred and fifty bucks for one of these!”

Dropping the reins I was unraveling, I stormed over and grabbed the tag from his hand. I read it twice, and still, it didn’t make sense.

“Are they made of gold?”

“Are you?” IRIS laughed. “Dude, I really hope you have money stashed away somewhere.”

“A hundred fifty dollars,” I repeated, shaking my head in confusion. “Who would spend that much on a reindeer?”

“Who would buy nine of them?” he choked out. “And the Santa…That must be twice as much.”

I followed his gaze to the gigantic Santa, and then the sleigh full of presents.

“I’m guessing she dropped at least twenty-five hundred, if not more.”

“It’s not possible,” I murmured.

“She’s a woman. Of course it’s possible. Don’t sweat it. I mean, you should see the way Jane collects coffee mugs. And even worse, she leaves them around for me to see.”

My gaze whipped to his. “Do her mugs cost a hundred fifty dollars a piece?”

“Well, no, but I would bet over the years she’s spent just as much.”

I couldn’t believe it. I kept reading the tag and telling myself it was real, but no matter how I added it up, the math just didn’t make sense. No sensible person would spend that much money on Christmas decorations.

“Then again, I won’t have to pay the electric bill from her mugs. I’d hate to think what that’s gonna cost you.”

“Would you stop talking?”

“What?”

“Every time you open your mouth, you just make it worse.”

“Seriously? I was trying to be helpful.”

“Well, you’re not!” I snapped.

Stalking away from him, I went over to where Eli and Dash were raising the sleigh onto the roof. “Be very careful with that.”

“No sweat, man,” Eli grinned. “We’ve got this covered. I did the math and a few checks and balances just to make sure we didn’t screw this up.”

I nodded and turned to walk away just as I heard a snap, and then a shout, followed by a crash. Swallowing hard, I slowly turned and looked at the sleigh that was now on the ground instead of in the air.

“Whew!” Dash laughed. “Almost got me. Did you see it?”

“What happened to the checks and balances?” I bit out.

Eli hopped down from the ladder and scratched the back of his head. “Well, as far as I can tell, everything checked out.”