Right now everything is awkward, and neither of us wants to be the one to take the first step. But I lean in to hug her, and she just stands there at first, arms still at her sides.
“Thanks for hanging out with me,” I say, and I feel her arms slowly lift to encircle me.
“Thanks for taking me to see my dad. And to the market.”
We just hold each other like that for a while. She can definitely feel my erection pressing against her. I try to control my breathing, but it’s useless.
“Oh yeah!” she exclaims suddenly, leaning back and smiling up at me. “I did get you something.”
She steps out of my arms, leaving this cool empty space where she was just a second ago.
“I actually got you something too,” I say.
Man, I wassoabsorbed with my time spent withherbeing my gift today that I just about forgot the gift I have for her. But I’m actuallymorethan surprised she got something for me.
We walk over to the Christmas tree. Gabby pulls out a small gift and hands it to me. I take it, then reach under the tree and pull out a bigger gift for her.
I brace myself, half-expecting a bag of coals or a handwritten note telling me to go to hell.
She takes my gift and I hers.
As I rip open the intricately wrapped gift, she smiles, waiting patiently.
There’s a small cardboard box. Inside the small box is a hand-carved wooden keychain shaped like a cat paw. On the back she burned in tiny lettering: “For Morris’s other favorite human.”
“Awww. This is… wow. The nerve of you,” I smile big, relishing the thought.
Only she could give me a gift so silly and yet so thoughtful.
She opens the box from me and her face does this slow bloom of surprise.
“Oh… my God. No… wow. Haha! Wow!” she beams in delight.
Inside is a custom pillow-sized plushie of Handsome the seagull, complete with a tiny collar around his fluffy neck engraved with his name:“Handsome.”
Under the plushie is a folded hoodie. At first it just looks soft and gray, but when she takes it out, it unfolds into a full seagull hoodie.
The hood is designed like a gull’s head, with a soft yellow beak stitched at the front, black eyes on the sides, and even little feathery tufts.
The sleeves have fabric wings attached that flutter when she moves her arms.
Her mouth drops open.
“Oh my God…” she whispers.
“Is this… WOW. This is Handsome too!”
“Yeah. I got it custom made,” I grin.
She pulls it on over her pink shirt. The hood sits perfectly, the beak flopping a little over her forehead. When she lifts her arms, the wings spread.
She looksexactlylike Handsome.
And suddenly she’s laughing, her whole face lit up the way it used to when life wasn’t beating her down.
Before I broke her heart.
My chest aches from how hard I’m smiling.
