Christmas P.I.E. (Life With P.I.E.)

Chapter 2

I stood outside Wal-Mart with no list in mind.

'Okay,' I told myself, 'It shouldn't be too hard, right? I can do this!' Then I walked in and saw the huge shelves full of gift ideas all at my disposal and I was lost all over again. 'No I can't!' I looked frantically in my head for a plan. But I was more of a second-in-command kind of girl. I wasn't good at making plans.

'I'll just call Dad,' I pulled out my phone, 'Hopefully he's not on a job and I can ask for help. He's clever.'

It rang a few times before I heard Dad's voice say, "This is Creed from Temporal's Towing. Sorry I can't get to the phone right now. Your call is important to me so leave a message and I'll get right back to you." It beeped and I just hung up.

'Maybe Jo Jo can help,' I hoped, putting in my step mom's number.

"Hi girl!" I heard, "What's up?"

I sighed with relief. "I'm in a bit of a jam right now actually."

"Well what's the matter? I was just reading Truth or Die. I'm almost finished and it is getting good!"

"Well... I told you about who I'm living with now, right?"

I could almost see the nod that I was so familiar with. "Sure! Those ghost hunters sound fun! You still dating one of them?"

Johanna's cheery tone was starting make me feel better. "Yeah, but I need to find him a Christmas present and I'm not sure about anything! I've never bought a present for anyone before."

"Okay, let's see... What does he like? That's always you're first question."

"Um..." I thought hard. He was really childish sometimes. He especially loved going down slides and playing with dogs. "Dogs. I know he loves dogs."

"Okay. Do you have a dog already?"

"No."

"That rules out a present for the dog. One way to win a man is through his pet. Remember that. My suggestion is find something that will mean as much to him as he does to you. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Just keep in mind it has to mean something to the both of you."

"Got it. Thanks Jo Jo," I said, not mentioning that he already has more money than he knew what to do with and probably already has everything he could ever want.

"No problem! Any time!"

We hung up and I looked around again. I thought about Johnny. He meant so much to me.

But then I knew whatto do.