Can't get enough of those christmas shopping blues

People always talk about the magic of Christmas but for Sally, stood in the middle of Cardiff Queen Street, it didn’t seem very magical. Because Sally had a problem. It should have been, as Dean Martin was telling her from some loudspeaker in a shop doorway, the most wonderful time of the year, and for Sally it should have been even more special; after all, Sally was in love. Not just any old love either but weak at the knees, fire burning inside love. This was going to be the first Christmas she was spending with Steve but instead of causing happiness and excitement, right now, that was the very cause of her frustration. She was trying to buy Steve a present but she didn’t have a clue what to buy him. She had to get the balance right. It needed to be something that said ‘I love you’, but in a cool, calm, we’ve only been together 6 weeks kind of a way. It would help if she had known what he had got her. But she didn’t have a clue. He was being very cagey about it. She didn’t want to buy him plane tickets to Paris if all he bought her in return was a bar of chocolate. It wasn’t the difference in price that worried her but the disparity in message. She could be saying ‘I love you with all my heart’ while he was saying, ‘you’re all right I suppose.’ 
But of course she didn’t want to go the other way; she’d thought about buying him a Jenga tower. She thought about the fun they could have playing it after Christmas dinner, but then what if he’d bought her a gold necklace or something else elaborate like that. 

There was also the message a present can send. He didn’t wear jewellery so if she bought him a ring or a chain, would he think she was trying to change him? She’d thought about aftershave but if she got him the one he already wore, it would look lazy and if she bought him a new one, it might suggest she didn’t like the old one. 
She knew she was thinking too much but she couldn’t help it. Cardiff was cold, wet and crowded and she wasn’t the only one looking frazzled. She’d been stabbed by umbrellas, pushed and barged by impatient shoppers and ignored by shop assistants. She’d looked at watches, and fountain pens, iPad accessories and computer games. She felt like she had been to every shop there was, but nothing seemed to say the right thing in the right way. She just couldn’t find the right key to fit this keyhole. She might have to finish with him just to save her the pain of not getting him the right gift.

It was then she saw Steve, her Steve, sitting on a bench head in hands. She hesitated at first, not sure if to approach him; he looked so upset. She sat down next to him quietly.

‘What’s up?’ She said nervously, she’d never seen him like this.

So lost in his own world it was only now he became aware of her. He looked up, and managed to raise a smile but he looked pale, like a shadow of his usual self.

‘What’s the matter, lovely one?’ She asked again, without real conviction, preparing herself for the worst.

‘Can I be honest with you?’ Steve’s voice was gravelly, she hardly recognised it. Sally felt a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes. She nodded.

‘I’ve been ‘ere since the shops opened.’ He pointed to the bags at his feet. ‘Done nearly all my shopping but there’s not one thing in these bags for you. Why?’ He continued without letting her say anything. ‘Cos I just dunno what to get you. I’ve got perfume for me mam, stuff for the car for me Dad but I can’t find that something just right for the girl I love.’

Sally smiled through her tears, for once in her life she agreed with Mariah Carey.