"Yum." I shook my head.

"You are an absolute nut, you know that, Haley?" She nodded.

"That I do."

Our waitress had put our ticket on the table in the little leather binder. Haley swiped it off the table. I just stared at her.

"Ha! I am not about to let you pay for this." She opened the binder to see a piece of paper that simply said, "Thank you, and please come again." She looked at me, confused.

"Why don’t you put that down, and let me give you your present?"

"You mean this wasn’t enough of one? And what’s up with this?" She flashed the paper at me.

"Ah, the wonders of the credit card numbers." She glared at me. "It’s all taken care of, Haley, so get over it."

"Thank you."

"You’re welcome. Happy birthday." I reached into the inside pocket of my jacket, and took out the long envelope I had stashed in there. "Here." I put it on the table in front of her. "You’ve got to make this snappy."

"Okay." She grabbed it, ripping into the paper, and pulling the humorous card out. Reading it, she laughed. "Ha ha. You’re an old hag, too, I hope you know." I smiled. A smaller envelope was inside, and she took it, setting the card down. With a drawn brow, she opened it, and pulled the two tickets out. As she read them, her eyes got huge, and her mouth fell.

"She’s having a Fourth of July concert?" she whispered, looking back at the tickets. "And, oh my god! How did you get backstage passes for Linda? I had no idea she even did that!" She stood from her chair, grabbing me from mine, and tugging me to her. Nearly having the breath knocked, then squeezed out of me, I hugged her back, so happy she liked it.

"I got you two so you could take someone with you." She pulled back from me staring down at them again.

"Third row back, center," It hit her what I had said. "Take someone with me? Are you kidding me? Andi, there is no ‘someone’. It’s you or no one." I had hoped she’d say that. I wanted so badly to experience that concert with her.

"Well, the option is there, okay?" She nodded, then grabbed me in another bone-crushing hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"You’re welcome. Come on, woman. We have to get out of here."

We hurried through the restaurant, and to my glee, the customers were telling her happy birthday as we passed. She took all in stride, being her usual gracious, charming self. At the door, she turned and gave them all a huge bow.

In the car, I turned to her.

"Okay, turn away from me." She did as told, and I took the sleep mask from my jacket pocket, tying the black, satin ties behind her head.

"Oh, Andi. I had no idea you were into the kinky." I grinned.

"You have no idea. Can you see?"

"No. Not really."

"Good. Now just sit back and relax."

"Is this going to hurt?" she asked.

"Maybe. Especially if you peek."

I got the car started, and the heat going strong, as it was really cold in the car, and outside, and I figured it would be best to get her warmed up now.

As I drove, I glanced over at her, and saw that she was resting her head against the back of the seat, the slightest bit of a smile on her face. She looked so relaxed and peaceful, and utterly beautiful. As we had eaten dinner, I had watched her, the way she moved, the way she spoke and her expressions. How was it fair that one woman could be so beautiful and kind, yet intelligent and talented all at the same time? It wasn’t fair.

I cleared my thoughts as I knew I’d start going into dangerous territory, and concentrated on the road. We had just had another storm this morning, so the streets were slick. I was so glad it wasn’t snowing now.

Just up ahead I saw all the lights, as well as our mode of transport, and began to get excited.

I pulled the Jeep up next to the carriage, always in awe at the sheer size of the Clydesdales. Turning to Haley, I quickly untied her blindfold, and shoved it back into the inside pocket of my coat. She opened her eyes, pushing some hair out of her face, her eyes stopping when she saw the horses. In fact, they grew huge.

"Wow," she breathed.

"Come on." I opened my door, and hurried around to the carriage. The driver was waiting for us. He was in a tuxedo, but you could barely see that beneath the layers he wore.

"Good evening, Haley." He smiled at my friend. "Happy birthday, and watch your step." He helped her into the convertible carriage, and then me. I sat in the seat next to her, where we were shoulder to shoulder in the narrow space.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking around.

"Crowsbend," I said, reaching beneath the seat. Bingo. I brought out the thermos. "Hot chocolate?" She grinned, her breath coming out in white puffs.

"My, you do think of everything. Please." I pulled off the top cap that served as a cup, as well as the lid underneath. "Crowsbend? This is a hugely wealthy area."

"Yes it is." The driver urged the horses on, and we began to move. Haley looked like she’d burst when we started going, the little sled-like bottom on the carriage making a soothing swishing sound on the packed snow. I looked behind us to see the tracks they made. Turning back, I saw that Haley’s eyes were everywhere. All the houses were lit up with Christmas lights and scenes in the massive front yards.

"Wow. Look at that. There must be a million little lights in that display. Hey, look!" She pointed to a house we were passing. "Santa is sticking out of one of their five chimneys."

"Yeah." I smiled. "He’s waving at us." I reached my arm up. "Hey, Santa!" I called. Haley giggled, waving, too.

"My god! How many bedrooms do you think that place has?" she asked, pointing to one coming up at the end of the block.

"Jeez, seven? Eight, maybe."

"Wow. I bet my entire condo is the size of just their foyer."

"I hear you. When I was looking to buy a house, I actually looked at a place over here. I could have done it if I never wanted to go out again,"

"Or buy boots."

"Hey, you have to have priorities." She laughed, scooting in closer to me, sharing our body heat as we sipped the hot cocoa.

It was an extraordinary night, being taken throughout the neighborhood, seeing incredible setups in houses and Christmas lights. There was even an obviously Jewish family, as the entire house was lit up with decorations of the Jewish faith. A huge Star of David on the roof, and an outline of a menorah on the lawn, complete with yellow lights to represent the flames. There was even a Santa who was losing his pants as he tried to climb out of a chimney.

We laughed and talked, and pointed, and giggled. I felt like I was ten years old again, yet very much a woman as I felt Haley link her arm with mine, tugging on me to point something out, or leaning her head on my shoulder as we stared at a beautiful house.

"This is magical," she whispered against my neck. I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, trying to memorize every aspect of this for my mental photo album that I could flip through later. I wanted to be able to recall the smell of Haley’s shampoo, the smell of all the fireplaces that were lit in the houses around us, the smoke pouring out into the night, mingling to tickle my nose. I wanted to be able to recall the way the snow looked, the street lights making it look like an orange wonderland as we passed under them. The magnificent beasts that pulled us along, and the driver that talked to them ever so gently, prodding them along to obey his commands.

I leaned my head against Haley’s head, remembering what she had said.

"Yeah." I agreed. "Magical."

Eventually the ride came to an end, and it was time to leave the fairytale, and head back into reality. I gave the driver an extra large tip, which he acknowledged with a smile, and the tip of his hat. Haley and I got back into the Jeep, me turning the heat on full blast, rubbing my gloved hands together. After being out in that for thirty minutes, I was pretty much an Andisicle.

I turned to my passenger to see that peaceful smile from earlier still on her lips.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" She leaned her head back against the head rest, and looked over at me, nodding.

"Definitely. This is truly the best birthday I’ve ever had, Andi. Thank you." I was thrilled.

"You’re very welcome, Haley. And, you, too are worth it." I smiled, she smiled back.


* * *

I smiled when I saw Kendall run out of the house, her purse in her hand. She’d be eleven soon. Where does the time go?

"You know, Andi, I don’t know how I didn’t see it before." Haley said from the passenger seat next to me.

"See what?" I asked her, not taking my eyes off the girl.

"That she’s your daughter. You two have the exact same eyes." I smiled.

"Yeah. I was always so glad she got something of mine."

"Oh, it’s more than just that. She got your mouth, too." She stopped herself short as the door was thrown open, and a little bundle of energy was whisked into the backseat.

"Hi!" she exclaimed, hugging me from behind, wrapping her arms around the head rest to my neck. I squeezed her forearm.

"Hey, you." Then to my surprise, she did the same to Haley. I smiled over at her as Haley was grins from ear to ear. She grabbed my daughter’s arms in return.

"How’s my favorite ten year old?" Haley asked.

"Good." I got the Jeep in gear, and we were on our way to the Mall of America.

"Are you ready for a full day of shopping, kiddo?"

"Yeah! Christmas!" Haley and I both grinned.

"That’s right." Haley turned as far as her seatbelt would allow, and looked back at the girl.