“Okay that was a lot,” he said as we drove away from their house three hours later loaded down with gifts and a whole cake. We’d ended up leaving as soon as I’d wrapped the gifts and arrived in time for the dinner chaos. Mom had made a huge pot of spaghetti and enough salad and garlic bread to feed a small army, and I was worried it might not be enough.
“It was,” I said before we both snickered. “I forget how crazy it is in that house with so many people living in it.”
“It wasn’t that bad until you insisted we put the sweaters on the chickens,” he said, making both of us laugh again.
“I will never forget the look on my mom’s face when she noticed.” Just thinking about it made me laugh almost as hard as I had at that moment.
“Yeah, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I am so glad my family had other plans,” Tig said and shook his head. “We do not need more people around here anytime soon.”
“Nope, all I need is you,” I said as we pulled into Foggy Basin, and I had never meant anything more in my life. “And maybe a chicken or two. I really like those sweaters.”
Ten
Tig
I woke up andreached for Isaac. Normally he was wrapped around me but this morning his side of the bed was cold. I tried to remember noticing him getting up but apparently, I was more tired than I thought and slept far deeper. “Babe?”
“Hey, I’m out here,” he yelled from the kitchen.
After a stretch and throwing on a pair of sweatpants, I stumbled out to find him cooking something. “What are you doing?” I walked over and gripped his hips while looking over his shoulder.
“I’m making chili. I wanted to get it all going then it can sit in the crockpot until we’re ready to take it to the fire station,” he explained before kissing my cheek.
“You have a crockpot?” I asked because I sure as hell didn’t.
“Of course. I just haven’t busted it out for a while. It’s nice coming home to dinner already cooked.”
“Then we are definitely need to start using it. What time are we dropping it off?”
“Around noon. I want to make sure it’s there when they need it. Plus, we can just leave it in the crockpot, and it’ll be ready when they are,” Isaac said. “I’m excited to open presents tonight.” He lifted his shoulders in excitement before wrapping me up in his arms. “I hope you like what I got you.”
I knew he’d been stressing it, but it didn’t matter if it was a can of soup. If it came from Isaac, I’d love it.Well, maybe not a can of soup.All that really mattered was this was the first Christmas we were a couple and hopefully the first of many. I glanced at the tree and grinned at how many packages were under it. Many years I didn’t have anyone to give a gift to, and many more I just didn’t celebrate at all. Not this year. This year was going to be great.
“I already love it, and I hope you like what I got you,” I said, and tried to hold back my smile. Every time Isaac had mentioned he needed something the past month, I’d ordered it for him nomatter how small or insignificant. Plus, I had a few fun gifts I hoped he thought could be a little exciting. “What time are we doing presents?”
“Whenever you want. I thought we could eat at the firehall if there’s enough for everyone who needs it or we could go to the diner.”
“Let’s go to the diner, it’ll make it special,” I said and realized how much I liked that idea too. I wanted us to start building traditions and memories that we could share for a lifetime because Isaac was my everything and the more shared experiences the better.
“That sounds great, baby,” he said and put the lid on the crockpot.
“Now, how about some coffee?” I asked.
“It’s like you could read my mind,” he said and put some bread in the toaster while I made him his usual cup of decaf and started my cup of caffeinated heaven.
“We have a lot going on today and tomorrow,” I said and handed him his coffee. A light rain fell outside, but it was cold and I was still holding out hope for snow.
“Yeah, but we have the rest of the week off, so we’ll have time to be lazy and watch movies, and fuck whenever we want to,” he said.
“That does sound nice,” I said and took a bite of the toast he handed me. “And we’re probably not going to need to eat for a few days after tomorrow.” Last year there was plenty of food, but I had been nervous about being with Isaac and very preoccupied with him so hadn’t eaten much.
“Tig, look,” Isaac said and opened the blinds, pulling me out of my thoughts. Light flakes of snow had started to fall just like they’d predicted.
“Well, what do you know, they were right,” I said and the two of us moved closer to stare out the window.
“It’s going to be the best Christmas ever,” he said.
After packing up the chili, crockpot and all, we drove to the fire station. “Whoa, everyone is here,” I said because with how many cars were parked nearby, it looked like most of the town was here.
