“I can’t believe this,” I say. “I can’t believe you talked to my mom.”
“Is it working?” he asks. “The brownie points thing?”
I roll my eyes. “That depends,” I say. “Are we dating?”
His thumb slides across my palm. “I was going to wait until Christmas to ask you to be my girlfriend. You know… try to make it all special and stuff.”
I reach for the door handle. “Then I guess I’ll wait until Christmas to tell you how many brownie points you have.”
I am on cloud nine as we walk into the animal shelter. As far as I’m concerned, Connor and I are totally a thing, but if he wants to wait to make it official in a special way, then I’m happy to oblige him. Ricky never did anything sweet like this. The animal shelter is playing Christmas music on the speakers and the lobby is decorated in tinsel and lights.
Even thought they’ve only just opened for the day, several families are here looking for a dog to adopt. It makes me happy knowing that several of these animals will get their forever homes this holiday. Connor and I walk through the facility looking for the perfect dog for my brother. There are no puppies available, which is what everyone else seems to want. Not me. A puppy needs a lot of time and training and we all go to school or work so after the holidays a puppy would be alone all day. I want a dog that’s a little older. One that won’t be quickly snapped up by a family. One that needs us.
Connor stays quiet, following me as I walk the aisles of dogs in their kennels. It’s a little sad, seeing all these precious animals and knowing I can only take one. I say a little prayer that they’ll all find their perfect human soon, and I keep my eye out for a dog that Max would love.
We round the corner and I make eye contact with a dog. He’s fluffy and adorable. Some kind of husky mix with white and gray fur. His tail wags as he looks up at me. I kneel down in front of his kennel and put my hand to the fence. He licks my palm.
“Hi there,” I say, reaching in and petting the top of his head. His tail wags eagerly. It only takes two seconds and my heart has made its decision. I look back at Connor. “I think we found him,” I say.
“Good choice,” he says back.
We adopt the sweet dog, which I decide not to give a name so that Max can name him, and then take him back to Connor’s house. He’s going to watch him until Christmas morning and then sneak over and drop him off just before Max wakes up. We plan out the whole thing and I’m so excited I could burst. These last few months might have been hard on my family, but Christmas morning is going to make up for all of it. Max will be so excited.
Mom is getting a job. I’m getting a boyfriend. Things are going to work out okay, after all.
The next morning is Christmas Eve, and I decide I can’t wait any longer to give Connor his Christmas present. I take the bus over to his house to surprise him.
He opens the front door in his pajamas—flannel pants and a black long sleeve thermal shirt. He looks insanely cute. And also surprised. “Jayda?” he says, stepping back and letting me inside. “Why are you here this early?”
I grin and hold out the wrapped present. “I couldn’t wait any longer to give you this. Plus I wanted to see the dog.”
The dog rushes up to me, tail wagging. He’s so soft and fluffy and sweet. I drop down and wrap my arms around him. “I can’t wait to take you home,” I whisper to him.
“He’s such a sweet dog,” Connor says. “I’ll be sad to see him go.”
“You’ll just have to come over and visit a lot,” I say, standing up. “Open the present.”
Connor frowns, staring at the gift in his hand. “You didn’t need to get me anything, Jayda.”
“I didn’t spend money on it, if it makes you feel any better.”
His eyebrows narrow. “Okay, now I’m curious.”
“Open it!” I say, bouncing on my toes.
He pulls off the paper, and his eyes go wide as the paper falls to the floor. His lip quivers and I can tell he’s holding back tears. “Jayda…” he says softly, running his hand down the cover of the hardback book.
“I want you to have it,” I say. “You were right—there are a lot of pictures of your mom in here.”
He swallows and a tear rolls down his cheek as he clutches last year’s yearbook to his chest. “Thank you,” he says.
I wrap my arms around him, squeezing him tightly. I feel his lips kiss the top of my head. “Seriously,” he says, setting the yearbook on the couch so he can wrap his arms back around me. “This was the best gift ever.”
We stand like this for a long time, wrapped up in each other. He smells like body wash and cinnamon, and he’s warm and feels like home. Like someone I should have been with all along. I close my eyes and let my cheek rest against his chest. “I’m glad the holiday brought us together,” I whisper.
“Me too,” he says back as he takes my face in his hands and peers into my eyes. He tilts my chin up and kisses me softly on the forehead. “Me too.”
Chapter Fourteen
