“Bad sleep?”
“No.”
“Excited?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I admitted.
“Me too,” she agreed, snuggling in for a moment, then rolling over to move to sit off the side of the bed. “You’re not allowed togo out there without me,” she warned, walking on her tippy toes to the bathroom.
She really wasn’t supposed to do that. But her feet were healing pretty well and she had a hard time navigating the wheelchair in her bathroom. She came back out and planted her ass in the chair before I could lecture her.
She waited for me in turn, then let me push her out into the living room.
Christmas had thrown up all over it for weeks. But it looked extra shimmery with all the presents piled under the tree.
That bubbling sensation intensified as I realized that after I’d snuck her presents under the tree, she’d somehow managed to sneak ones for me under there as well.
A Christmas morning with presents.
For the first time in my life.
I wasn’t the kid with his face pushed up against the window, looking at a scene I could never have anymore.
“Do we make coffee or do we dive right in?” she asked.
I glanced at my watch, knowing I had a very tight timeline for when her last present was getting dropped off.
“Got all morning for coffee,” I said.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Then, with the twenty-four-hour marathon ofA Christmas Storyplaying on the TV, we both tore into our presents.
“Hold off on those few,” I said when she reached for the last couple.
“For what?” she asked as I heard the girls in the hallway.
“For that,” I said when there was a light tap on the door. “Close your eyes.”
“Okay,” she said, beaming at the idea of another surprise.
I answered the door to find the girls standing there with the dog they’d been keeping for me for a couple of days.
She was a pretty long-haired dog that looked like a cross between a Collie and maybe a Golden Retriever. She was four, housebroken, and even knew some tricks. She ticked all the boxes.
The girls had their hands full.
Not only because of my gift to Steph.
But because their gift to Meatball was a little Frenchie brother in a pretty brindle shade.
Sammy was holding Meatball and the new puppy.
Andy held the leash for the rescue but was quick to take the new puppy once I silently took the leash and led the dog with her big red bow on her collar over into the living room.
The girls stayed in the doorway just out of sight to watch.
“Alright. Open.”
