CHAPTER 4

By that evening, Iris had replied that she didn’t know where my gift went and Jeanine still hadn’t responded, so I sent another text. Eventually, she got back to me saying she’d been busy and didn’t know what happened to Dad’s present. I was back to being suspicious of Felix since I had no more leads. So much for being positive. Would my family lie to me? Steal from me?

If I was going to blame Felix, I needed to be certain. I needed to make sure it wasn’t anyone else and snooping while baking cookies at Felix and Faye’s house was a good place to start. Mary, Iris, Ivory, and Jeanine would be there, too.

After a quick stop at home to walk Sharky around the block, I found myself at Felix and Faye’s house, lifting a fresh pine wreath to knock on the door. Tucked beneath my arm were a few pieces of empty Tupperware. I didn’t eat many Christmas cookies, but my employees at the firm devoured them like they’d grant all their Christmas wishes.

Faye opened the door with a big smile and a hug. “Thanks for coming! Iris and Ivory are already here, but Mary and Jeanine aren’t coming. Jeanine had to run Esme to swim team practice and Else had to get her dance outfit fitted. And Mary came down with a stomach virus!”

I swallowed. Hopefully she didn’t pick up the bug or spread it at my house last night. I had way too much to do to deal with sickness before Christmas…unless…she was avoiding me.

I had to stop my suspicious mind. These thoughts were not me—especially not around Christmas time. I had a lot going for me this year. It could turn out to be the best Christmas ever, as soon as I found my perfect gift for Dad. I’d win the Best Gift trophy back, PLUS, I’d do it all with my new humanoid companion at my side.

Almost as if Faye read my mind, she led me back to the kitchen, glancing over her shoulder. “Iris and Ivory were just filling me in on the details of your robot…excuse me, I mean droid.”

I was glad Dayton had prepared me for scrutiny from my family. “He’s humanoid, actually. Designed to function very much like a human. While you and I were born, he was created. He still expresses feelings and emotions.” Sentient was the term, but I stopped myself. Dayton had told me that education was the key, but sometimes, less information was better than more.

Faye seemed satisfied with that explanation. “Does he have a name yet?”

“No name yet. I want something that matches his personality.” I pulled my blond hair off my shoulders and pulled it back into a ponytail.

“Personality? Don’t you pick that ahead of time?”

By now, we had joined Ivory and Iris at the table in Faye’s large eat-in kitchen. “Yes, I pick a personality, but when his personality is paired with the knowledge I give him, little nuances can happen. Nothing largely different, but enough that I’m not sure what name he should have.”

“It’s just so…different of an idea,” Faye said.

“I still think it’s brilliant,” Ivory said. She had her cookie dough rolled out and formed into the most beautiful cookies—but she was a baker, so that was no surprise. Iris’s lump of dough looked like what I was capable of creating.

“Maybe you should get one, too,” Iris teased.

Ivory burst out in laughter. “They’re way too expensive for me! I only work part-time. Maybe if I owned a big accounting firm like Ivy.” She winked at me, and I humbly shook my head.

“There are so many single people out there. So many lonely people. All you have to do is meet the right one. What excitement is there in creating a perfect companion? All the flaws people carry are what makes them unique. Flaws are what gives someone character,” Faye said.

She didn’t approve of my choice in a humanoid companion either, and it wouldn’t make anyone feel better if I argued. Iris may join in, and a too-honest sister/sister-in-law debate may ruin my evening. Both Iris and Faye would have to meet my humanoid and form their opinions of him then. The humanoid robots I encountered when deciding to go this route were quite human-like. You couldn’t tell the difference except for the glow of their eyes in the dark…and, as Dayton told me, it was against their programming to ever say I love you.

“Great party last night.” Ivory knew to change the subject. She rounded the table and threw her arms around me. “Thanks for always hosting the Parade of Presents. There’s no way everyone would fit in my apartment.”

“I don’t mind. The whole thing was my idea, anyway.”

Ivory smiled in a way that made me feel like I was looking in a mirror, with bright green eyes and too full lips that matched mine. “There seems to be good competition this year for the Best Gift and some easy points for all of us towards the Spoiling the Fun award.”

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My stomach sank, and I took a seat at the old farm table. “Unless I don’t find my gift for Dad.”

“That still didn’t turn up?” Iris’s lips twitched, then she tightened them. “How odd.”

I knew that expression well—she was keeping something from me.

“Iris, what do you know?”

Her eyes darted to Faye, then back at me. “Nothing.”

“Iris. I know that look on your face. It’s the same one you had when you dated Evan McNougherty in seventh grade and didn’t tell me.”

She looked back at Faye. “It’s just that…I overheard Felix and Alex talking about secretly unwrapping your present and replacing it with something funny—liked those snakes that jump out of a can.”

I sat forward, causing the old wooden chair to creek. “Do you think they took my gift?” I turned my eyes to Faye.

“I would have noticed,” Faye said. “I carried all our gifts back inside last night and only noticed the ones we came to your house with.”

“This isn’t good.” My shoulders tensed. “It went somewhere, and I need to find it.”

“Maybe you can just buy another one and return it when the other gift shows up.” Ivory put her and Iris’s batch of cookies on a baking sheet and plopped them in the oven.

“It’s not that easy. It was one of a kind…” My voice trailed off. It wasn’t one of a kind, just rare and expensive. My mind reached back to a thought planted there a few days ago at Dream Droids. Dayton had said Comic-Con had lots of items like the Spider-Man action figure. He said some of them were cheap, too. Maybe I could replace Dad’s gift. I hated to spend the money, but with Comic-Con only in town this weekend, that was my best choice, besides, maybe I’d bump into Dayton.

If I was lucky enough to find another 1967 Spider-Man action figure, I wouldn’t be able to return it, but I could resell it for more than I paid. At least I’d have something. Whoever took Dad’s gift would be shocked that I pulled through, anyway. All of a sudden, the gray cloud that lingered over my head disappeared.

“So…” Ivory pulled a large mixing bowl covered in plastic wrap out of the refrigerator. “Tell us about your humanoid. You have to know something about him. Did you design how he looks yet?”

I shook my head, but dug through the image I had created in my mind. “Not quite, but I have a pretty good idea of what I’d like. He’ll have beautiful blue eyes and dark blond hair.”

“Dark blond?” Iris said. “That’s more Ivory’s type. I thought you liked the tall, dark, and handsome type.”

“I like tall, but dark and handsome are not necessary. In fact, I kinda like the nerdy guy…” An image of Dayton filled my mind with his too-thin frame, dark-rimmed glasses that hid his blue eyes, and wild, light brown hair. My lips seemed to have a mind of their own as I fought back a smile. I couldn’t think about him. I was about to get the man of my dreams—who cared if he was artificial or not?

Iris continued, “It’s just that Niles had nearly black hair.”

It’d been three years, why did his name keep coming up? Probably because I wasn’t quite over it—nobody was. He was the man who broke my heart. Not just broke it, but cut it into tiny pieces and washed them away. “Niles wasn’t perfect.” At least I knew he wasn’t anymore. At the time, I worshipped him. I gave all of me into our relationship.

“Sorry,” Iris said, handing me a big ball of cookie dough. “I didn’t mean to bring him up. Tell me more about your humanoid.”

The moment was ruined. Every time I looked into my mind for the image of the man I was creating, a picture of Niles showed up instead. And I wasn’t remembering the good times, it was Niles with the cold look on his face when I confronted him about the affair he had with his secretary. Of the way he twisted his story, telling me it was my fault he cheated.

“I think I’m going to keep it a surprise.” I tried to brighten my eyes. “You’ll get to meet him in a few weeks. He’ll be done by Christmas.”

“Really?” Faye asked, rolling out her dough. “By Christmas? I can’t wait.”

“I’m so happy for you,” Iris said.

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I heard. Maybe she wasn’t judging me or she changed her mind since yesterday.

“I know this is a hard thing to do, but you’ve been alone for three years. I doubt he’s just a rebound guy after so long, but even if he is, he’ll get you back on your feet.”

“He’s not a rebound guy!” I snapped. Maybe it was the missing gift, the hope Iris understood, or maybe the constant battle I felt with my family about this decision, but I couldn’t hold back anymore. “It’s true Niles broke my heart, but I did love him. I loved him for nearly ten years. He’s been out of my life for three now, and I’m over it. I just don’t ever want to experience that pain again. If it wasn’t for the option of a humanoid, I’d be happy to live alone for the rest of my life. Just me and Sharky.”

Ivory placed a hand on my upper arm and gave it a rub. Iris and Faye exchanged glances, then went back to rolling their cookie dough. I focused on my own lump of flour, sugar, and butter, beating it flat with a little more force than what was needed.

Once it was an overly thin mess stuck to the table, Iris looked to me. “Feel better now?”

I looked down at the dough and laughed. I followed my chuckle with a deep breath. “Much better. Thank you.”

She smiled at me, and I scraped the dough off the table and reformed it into a ball.

The next few hours flew by as we baked and decorated six dozen or more cut-out cookies. When I left, I was certain that Iris, Ivory, and Faye were not my gift napping culprits, but I hadn’t ruled out Felix. When I took a bathroom break, my eyes wandered their house for any signs of the red wrapping paper or silver ribbon, but came back empty-handed.

Sharky greeted me at the door.

“Wanna go outside?”

He jumped up and down, which for a massive, one-hundred-sixty-pound Great Dane is a sight to see. I opened up my kitchen’s sliding back door and let him out. After placing the cookies on the counter, I wasted some time searching for my dad’s gift while waiting for Sharky to bark to be let back inside.

I searched through the spare bedroom I had set up for my humanoid, relooked under the tree, and even dug in my kitchen cabinets. I would feel foolish if it was my fault I couldn’t find the gift. As soon as I finished checking under my bathroom sink, Sharky barked, and we headed off to bed.

Tomorrow, I’d head to Comic-Con and try to find another gift for Dad. I was more determined than ever to win the trophy back this year, no matter who was setting me up for failure.