Zane & Lucky’s First Christmas (Forever Love #3.5)(12)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“I see.” Zane gave me another look and I turned to Diana, hoping that the next words out of her mouth weren’t going to be too crazy.

“So have you and Gilbert been together long, then?” I smiled as her eyes widened with happiness.

“We’ve been together for six weeks.” She nodded happily. “We met online and we knew right away, we were meant to be. We bought our place a month ago and now we’re planning the rest of our lives together.”

“You bought a house together a month ago?” I frowned. “After you were together two weeks?”

“When it’s love, it’s love.” She giggled. “But we knew we had to, Gilbert found a great foreclosure deal so we decided to jump on it.”

“I see.”

“What about you and your fiancé?” She nodded at Zane, and then reached over and pinched me hard. “Good job, by the way. He is a hottie.” She mouthed the words as if she were whispering, but her voice was so loud that everyone heard her.

“Thanks.” I plastered a smile on my face and sat back and faced the front of the room. I could hear Zane laughing before he whispered in my ear.

“Bet you wish you had listened to your hottie fiancé right about now.”

“Whatever.” I turned to look at him, but gave him a brief smile when I saw his twinkling eyes.

“Okay, everyone. I guess we’re going to get started.” The man slammed the door closed and stood at the front of the class. “I guess everyone else got stuck in traffic. Their loss.” His voice was aggressive and he looked pissed, as he messed around with some papers on his desk and mumbled something under his breath. “Anyways,” he looked back up and made eye contact with all four of us. “My name is Mr. Joseph Markener. My rep number is 1w45y78a.” He rushed the last part and I looked at him in confusion. “I have to give that last part for legal reasons,” he flashed a fake smile. “But anyways, we can start.” There was a knock at the door and his eyes lit up as he ran to open it up. “Hello,” he uttered eagerly, but his face fell as he saw a little boy.

“Is this the men’s room?” the little boy asked curiously, and Joseph slammed the door in his face instead of replying.

“Stupid kid.” He muttered under his breath and then turned back to us. “Okay, I want to ask a question of everyone first. How much money do you expect to spend on purchases before your baby is born? Let’s go in a line, so everyone can answer.” He nodded at Gilbert, “You can start.”

“I expect to spend around $100 after all the coupons.” Gilbert looked pleased with himself and Joseph glared at him.

“You,” he nodded at Zane.

“I have no idea.” Zane shrugged. “As much as it costs, I suppose.”

“Oh, really?” Joseph’s face lit up and he smiled widely at Zane. “Do you happen to have a Mommy and Me credit card?”

“No.” Zane looked at him in confusion. “Why?”

“Oh, nothing.” Joseph’s eyes looked delighted. “But let’s make sure to get you signed up before you leave. You’ll get a 10% discount on your first order and I will make $100.”

“Uh, I don’t—” Zane started but Gilbert jumped in eagerly.

“Sign me up too. I love saving money.”

“Of course, sir.” Joseph’s frown was definitely gone now and he was smiling widely. “Okay, you.” He pointed at me.

“I don’t know exactly,” I started. “But I’m thinking about $1,000.”

“$1,000.” Joseph laughed. “That’s the cost of a good stroller.”

“I don’t think that—”

“Don’t worry, young lady, I’ll get you and your man sorted out.” He grinned at me. “I know all the good products.”

“I thought this class was going to be telling us what we should be thinking about buying and getting us ready for when we have our baby.” I frowned. “I thought we were going to learn about bottling and bathing and how to choose a car seat.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be able to sell you all of that.” He nodded eagerly. “And what about you ma’am, how much are you spending today?” He looked at Diana, and I felt very annoyed and slightly uncertain about the direction the class was going in.

“Well, it will depend on my boyfriend Gilbert.” Diana started. “We currently have $5,000 in our joint checking account, but we can’t spend anything until we come to an agreement.”

“$5,000 is a good start.” Joseph was practically rubbing his hands in glee. “Okay, well let’s start with a quick video.”

“Okay,” I nodded, relieved. Now for the practical part of the class. I sat back expecting to see a new parents video starting when all of a sudden I saw Joseph’s face on the screen.

“Hi, I’m Jospeh Markener. The new California rep for Bugabooboo products in California. We sell the best products for rich kids, and you can show them off to all your friends. Thanks for coming to my class. Today, via this video, I will show you the products you need to buy, and then after the video is done you can place an order.” Joseph paused the DVD and looked at us. “Any questions?” There was silence in the room and then he pressed play again. I turned to Zane, annoyed that he hadn’t said anything, and he just shrugged and looked back at the screen, his eyes laughing at me.

“Hey guys, it’s me Joseph again. Now I’m going to tell you which Bugabooboo products you need to buy before you leave today. No need to take out a pen, I have it all noted down for you. Don’t forget to open a store card as well.” The screen then went fuzzy and I waited for Joseph to turn it off or say something, but instead he was staring at it intently. Within twenty seconds, his image appeared again and he was surrounded by a bunch of florescent yellow products.

“Hey guys, can you see me?” He laughed on the screen. “I wanted to tell…”

“Excuse me.” Gilbert raised his hand and cleared his throat. “I have a question.”

“You want to purchase everything already?” Joseph’s eyes lit up. “It will take me a minute or two to go around the store and get you everything.”

“No,” Gilbert looked panicked and jumped up. “I just wanted to know when the sales start.”

“What sales?” Joseph looked confused.