“Get excited,” Ani said as we crawled out of the SUV. She did a little dance and rubbed her palms together. “It’s time to shop for things we’d never buy at full price.”

“If you bring home another novelty waffle iron, Bram is going to kick you out,” Liz joked.

“It’s my house,” Ani replied, throwing her arms out. “I’ll buy as many waffle irons as I want!”

“She wasn’t lying about the Red Bull in her veins,” Morgan murmured, making me giggle.

I was unprepared for the madness that was Black Friday shopping. There were so many people. They pushed and shoved, practically raced down the aisles, pushed not one but two carts through the store. It was complete chaos.

“Okay, I’m headed to electronics and then home goods,” Liz said. “Where are you all headed? Does everyone have their phones?”

“I’ll go with you,” Ellie said. “There were only a couple things I wanted to look at here, and they’re in electronics and toys.”

“Toys, clothes, home,” Ani said, rubbing her hands together. “Bram can get his own electronics.”

“Electronic deals are better on Cyber Monday anyway,” Morgan said quietly.

“Oh, yeah?” Ani asked. “I’ll check that out. Where are you guys headed?”

“Socks, shoes, and clothes,” Morgan said. “Oh, and home. I need those towels.”

“Nice,” Ani replied. She looked at me expectantly.

“Oh, uh.” I looked around helplessly. “I’ll just browse.”

The entire group laughed.

“Stick with me, kid,” Ani said, grabbing a shopping cart.

Everyone grabbed a cart, and we headed into the throng of shoppers.

“Come on, Morgan,” Ani called, waving her hand above her head. “I want to look at the socks, too, so we’ll just go with you for a while.”

We followed Morgan to the left as Ellie and Liz broke off and headed right.

“If you find something, you can just throw it in my cart,” Ani told me as we pressed through the crowd.

“Thanks, but I’m not sure I’ll find anything.”

“Not your speed, huh?” Ani asked, pushing her cart around a little girl who was holding on to the back of her mom’s T-shirt while the mom searched through a rack of clothes.

“Yes, this is totally my speed. Who doesn’t love a good deal? But we’re flying home on Sunday, and my bag was pretty full already,” I said as she watched the mother struggle to calm her child. “Who would bring a kid to this craziness in the middle of the night?”

“Single moms, maybe,” Ani said with a shrug. “And sometimes you just can’t find a sitter, ya know? I’m just glad I’ve got Bram to hold down the fort.”

Morgan had stopped, and she was searching through a box full of socks as we reached her.