“I’m pretty sure you squirted. Let’s get you out so we can relax. I can help you cook some food for your brother and the other guys at the station.”
“I have something for you, too.”
I smiled, cradling her in my arms, and brought her back to the couch so we could finish exchanging gifts.
In all her naked glory, Lucy ripped into the wrapping paper to reveal a small velvet box, tears forming in her eyes when she opened it and pulled out the necklace.
It was a simple locket, and when she opened it, she had to wipe away a stray tear. The inside had two pictures. The left, a picture my father took when I had graduated from basic, dressed in my blues and wishing she was the one who had tapped me out. On the right side, a picture of us I’d snagged over the weekend and put a rush on printing. The night of the fire.
It wasn’t my first choice, but I had seen it in the window of the jewelry store and was sold, knowing she loved anything vintage. When the jeweler placed it in my hand, I knew right then I had to give it to her.
Chapter 19
LUCY
My heart swelled when I opened the gift. The necklace was so beautiful, and it meant more to me that he put so much thought into something so simple. I absolutely loved it.
I pointed to the small gift, wrapped in eco-friendly wrapping paper. A small thing I preferred to do for climate change. Sam would learn to love the small, eco-friendly changes I’d bring to the household.
I watched as he pulled at the small ribbon slowly. I’d have to get used to his quirks if this went somewhere, learn his triggers, and help him through long nights. As long as he could take over on the nights I felt less than desirable myself.
This could work if we try.
“Wow. Thank you so much,” he said with a soft edge to his tone.
The journal rested in his hand as he held it to his face to examine the design. “I know it may be hard to speak about what you went through sometimes. I thought, maybe if you wrote it down, it would be easier to speak about it. Something I did once I filled mine was burn it. Some confessions only between myself and the universe.”
His eyes glossed over, eyes darting between me and the journal.I hadn’t expected him to say much, and that’s okay. If the journal helped, then I was happy.
“There are also two different engraved pens. I didn’t know which one to get. So, I got both.”
He inspected them with a thunderous laugh, and a smile I would remember for days appeared on his face. I couldn’t help but laugh along.
“It has the wrong rank.”
“No, it doesn’t,” I said, eyes widening like saucers. I crossed my legs, leaning forward to inspect. “There are so many types of sergeants. I just guessed.”
“And I love you for it.”
After presents, we both cleaned up, and I texted everyone their respectiveMerry Christmasmessages.
While it was supposed to be a day away, I sat at the now-clean kitchen table to open my laptop as Sam cooked brunch.
I started to compose an apology email to the task creator, asking for a bit more time as I had a beautiful idea, and needed to bring it to life now.
Leaning back in the chair, I scoffed as Sam’s phone pinged.
A coincidence?
He finished flipping the bacon and reached for his phone, sighing as he read over a message. I was curious to know what was so funny when he turned to me with a shit-eating grin plastered across his face.
“I’ve waited this long. Go for it.”
He created the task? Sam had really been here the whole time, right under my nose, and I was in too much denial to realize. It may not have been noticed too much over the weekend, but he’d been giving me small clues over the last year, and I had thought they were all Jack this whole time.
The random flowers at work, Orchids to be exact. Thenotes on the windshield of my car were a bit creepy. The way ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’ by Aerosmith would conveniently play when I would visit my brother, and he blamed it on his phone connecting it to some Bluetooth system in the house.
A grin stretched across my face as I closed my laptop and moved to the cabinets to help set the table.
