However, I didn’t have much time for self-flagellation over abandoning my pet, because once Mr. Mittens was settled, I needed to shower and do my hair, then get dressed and head over to my mother’s house. Her present — and Faye’s and my grandmother’s — had been purchased and wrapped weeks before, so all I had to do was retrieve the boxes from where they’d been residing on the shelf in my office closet, and then set them on the coffee table, thinking I could scoop them up as I headed out the door.
We never got too dressy for Christmas, so I put on a good pair of jeans, a winter white cashmere cardigan, and an ivory tank top. As I was fussing with my hair, my gaze fell on the aquamarine pendant Allan had given me, which lay on top of my dresser where I’d taken it off before getting in the s
