Nightmares Do Come True

Chapter 42

Once Mateo left with William and Lindsey I went down into my studio. I had finished the painting of us dancing on my balcony and hid it from him. I pulled it out and wrapped it up with a big red bow. Then I put it back in it's hiding spot. I skipped out front to meet my best ghoulies. 

"Hey Nic, are you going to be back in town for NYE?" Maria asked. 

"I was planning on it. New Orleans has risen to be the place to be over NYC for NYE." Nicole answered. 

"Great. Since the Fleur De Lis drops in the French Quarter, I'm having the get together at my house. We could exchange our gifts for each other then. 

"That sounds like a good idea to me! I love watching our Fleur De Lis drop and then the fireworks over the river. Always so romantic and pretty." I said dreamily.

I spotted a necklace in a boutique window that has Nicole's name all over it. They were headed into the boutique next door, so I let them know I'd catch up with them. I went inside and bought the necklace with the crescent moon that has a quartz stone hanging from the top of the crescent point. I looked around but nothing else caught my eyes, so I went to the next store to catch up with my girls. By the time we finished with Magazine St I'd finished all the women. I'd checked Nicole, Maria, Lindsey, and Isabella off the list. We stopped at my place so I could drop off my purchases. Then we went to Nicole's to drop her purchases off. After that we took Nicole's car to the French Quarter versus the streetcar that way, we'd be able to put any purchases in her trunk rather than have all of that on the streetcar.

We stopped in a shop with collectibles and I spotted guitars hanging on the backwall. One immediately caught my eye. It has a purple, violet burst in the middle that's black around the edge. I walked up to the beauty and saw it was a Les Paul. I knew that was it. It was perfect for Mateo. I wondered if I could get him to play Glycerine for me as I called for the shop keeper. I asked him to put it to the side while I continued to look around. I found a beautiful antique locket and knew I wasn't done with Isabella after all. I bought both and checked in with the girls.  

"No luck for me." Nicole said. 

"I found something for my dad." Maria said. 

"Hey, I got your mom a beautiful locket. Do you think you could get me 2 small pics to put in it? Of whatever you think she'll appreciate." I asked. 

"Yes, I can totally get that to you." Maria said. 

"Awesome. Can we drop this off at your place? I don't want to lug this guitar around, nor do I want to put it in the car and invite thieves." I said. "Yes, sure. Let's roll ladies." Maria said.

Mateo's POV

It was getting later in the day and I had everyone, but mi Corazon taken care of. I had some gifts for her but not the main one. We were on Royal St when we stopped in a jewelry stop. I was looking around and was about to leave when I spotted it. A star shaped opal with small moon stones clustering around it. I went to my own home with the gifts I purchased and began wrapping them. I sent my butterfly a text asking if she was doing dinner with her girls or if she wanted me to cook something. My phone vibrated with her response asking me to make something and she'd be home by 7 pm. I finished wrapping the gifts and then headed to her place.

I'd just finished dinner when she walked in. 

"I hope that fishing pole isn't for me because well I already know now." I teased her. 

"Nope, it's for your dad. I remembered him saying at dinner that he needed a new one." Gabby replied before continuing, "but trust me you won't be disappointed with what I got you." 

"What more could I need when I already have you?" Mateo said as he wrapped his arms around her. 

"I'll be right back. I need to go return your gifts." Gabby teased me. I grabbed the back of her shirt to keep her from leaving. 

"Ah, ah, ah. Where do you think you're going? Dinner is served m'lady. Go hide the presents or whatever." I said. 

"Your presents are already hidden so nothing to worry about." Gabby told me with a wink as she disappeared into her room with the gifts. I brought the drinks out to the living room, and then grabbed our plates.

Gabby's POV

"Home Alone?" I asked as I said down. 

"Time for the Christmas movies, eh?" Mateo asked. 

"Fair warning. I love Halloween, Christmas, and carnival season at an extreme level. In fact, once we're done eating Christmas decorating will commence." I said with a gleam in my eyes. 

"Well, I did say I love your passion. I guess there's no take backs on that." Mateo teased me. 

"Nope, no take backs." I said firmly as we settled down to the movie and eating. Once we were done eating, I cleaned up and had Mateo get the tree down from my "attic" which is really just a crawl space. Then I went into my room to get the containers with my holiday decorations from under my bed.

While he put my tree together, I grabbed garland and went out onto my balcony to wrap it around the wrought iron railing. Then I strung the lights around the railing as well. I went back in we began decorating the tree together. 

"You aren't going to be like my mother with the ornament placing, are you? Like oh no those are too close together hijo, they have to be further apart." Mateo said with a bad impersonation of his mom's voice. 

"I'm going to have to tell your mom about this." I said with a tsk.

"You wouldn't dare.  I thought you loved me but you're conspiring against me." Mateo said dramatically. 

"Oh you're so overdramatic. I digress, if you do really poor placement of the ornaments then yes, I'll say something. I'm not a harsh judge. Like I know I wouldn't meet your mom's standards. But if you've got them so close, they're touching then yes I'll say something." I said. 

"Gotcha. It's good so long as they don't touch." Mateo said with a nod.

A/N:  I thought I wouldn't get to write today b/c of a migraine but it was gone by 8 pm.  So I got two chapters written after all.  YAY!  Also, accord to Microsoft Word my word count is now at 60K!!  30K until 90K!  I'm so excited!!