“What are you doing?” I say with a soft chuckle. “You know which ones are yours.”
“I know!” she calls, almost all the way in behind the tree. “I think Grizz should get to open a present first.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t?—”
“Here it is!” Jovie calls, crawling out from the depths holding a heavy box in her hands—one I’d stashed back there last week, knowing that if Grizz saw that I’d bought him something, he’d lecture me on all the reasons why I didn’t need to.
But I did.
I needed to get this.
And I hope he understands why.
Jovie places it on his lap, the little sticker reading I love you.
We said it earlier, but either way, it would have come out today. It’s been there for a while, and I’m sure we both have known, but there’s no way I could have spent the first real Christmas I’ve ever had with this man, and not told him what he means to me.
The fact that he told me first, is just that much more special.
Grizz holds the present, looking to me with a comically angry stare.
“Open it,” I tell him with a wide grin, not at all intimidated but prepared to guilt him into it. “Jovie’s waiting, and she’s not going to open hers until you open yours.”
“I’m going to get you for this later,” he mutters so only I can hear.
“I can’t wait, now open the damn present,” I reply with a laugh, shaking my head.
His tattooed hands finally tear into the sparkly paper, pulling back the layers to reveal the leather underneath. He runs his fingers over it before flipping it open to the thick, blank pages inside, each one ready to be filled.
When he doesn’t say anything for a minute, Jovie grabs the discarded wrapping and tosses it over her shoulder, bouncing on her toes.
“It’s a new scrap book, like the one you and your mom were making,” she explains excitedly, clapping her hands. “Mom said maybe we can start planning a road trip. She said families takeroad trips to see cool things, and I think that bridge you wanted to see looks cool!”
“The Golden Gate Bridge?” he asks, his voice thick and raspy.
Jovie nods. “Yeah, I’d like to see that.”
“Me too,” he whispers and sucks in a long, deep breath.
Jovie turns away, her attention back on the gifts, while I can’t help but look up at this amazing man with tears in my eyes. “If you don’t want to?—”
“I do,” he says, cutting me off. “But only if you and Jovie come with me.”
I nuzzle into his side, wiping a stray tear on the sleeve of his shirt. “Where you go, we go.”
Grizz quickly clears his throat. “Speaking of going places,” he announces, drawing Jovie’s attention again. “Jon Bon, there’s something for your mom in the bottom drawer in the kitchen.”
Her eyes light up and off she runs.
I glance up at Grizz with a smirk. “Hiding presents, huh!”
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while,” he answers with a shrug. “Christmas just happened to be the perfect time to give it to you.”
Jovie rushes back over holding something very flat.
It’s not wrapped.
Just a manila folder with a little bow stuck to the top.
