**

Chapter 25

The infamous Fairbanks duo braved the crowds of anxious shoppers looking for last minute gifts on Christmas Eve.  Their mission, although simple at face value, was proving to be extraordinarily difficult: the perfect Christmas gift for their mom.

Scarves, cds, books, and perfume had all been rejected and after five hours of shopping they did not have a gift. Not to say that the two siblings didn’t take immense pleasure of their day together taking time to hit the arcade and every sports and toy store they passed.  Now, sitting in the food court sharing a huge banana split, Dana knew it was time to get serious about finding this gift.

“What about a gift certificate to a spa,” Dana asked Howie?

“Mom hates gift certificates,” he replied taking the last bite of his ice cream before leaning back and patting his tummy-  full and content.

Chuckling lightly at her little brother’s actions, the athlete looked down at her watch and said, “Why don’t you go throw your trash away and we can start looking again. We only have two hours before we have to head home.”

“Okay, I am going to go to the bathroom,” Howie said indicating to the big restroom signs over by the trash cans as he picked up the empty ice cream container.

Nodding Dana called out that she would wait at the table.

 As she waited, Dana tried to think of all the gifts she and Howie had gotten her mom in the past hoping to remember what her mom liked the most.  Her thoughts were interrupted however.

“Merry Christmas Dana,” the familiar redhead greeted. “How are you doing?” 

After only the briefest of hesitations, Dana replied, “I am well Mrs. Perkins. Merry Christmas to you. Last minute shopping?”

“Yes. Usually I am finished shopping in November- Black Friday sales and all. But since Lara wasn’t home during Thanksgiving, I found myself without my favorite shopping pal and without the motivation to go on my own. But I guess you girls are around the age where there is so much going on that trips home are less frequent.”

At the mention of her ex’s name, Dana kept her expression the same while internally she was panicking slightly. She was pretty sure that Lara never told her family about their relationship although the redhead was out to her family. Despite Lara’s actions that lead to their breakup, part of Dana was grateful that the redheaded chef had cared enough not to out her. However, this did not mean she wanted to run into the redhead today- or anyday in the future.