I needed to get this present under my tree without Ayla knowing about it. I didn't have a choice. I had to call the only guy I knew with a truck.
I hit Call before I could rethink it.
"Angela?" Hudson's steady voice came over the line.
My heart was racing. "I need your help."
"What is it? Are you okay?" His voice went from relaxed to concerned in a second.
"I'm okay. Nothing's wrong. I'm at the bike shop trying to load Ayla's bike into my tiny car, and it's not working. I didn't want him to take the bike apart. It's assembled with this pretty red bow. I need to get it home and hide it until Ayla goes to bed."
"You need my truck?" Hudson asked.
"I don't know what you're doing. You might be busy?—"
"I was just finishing up an inspection. I'll be right there," he interrupted.
"Thank you." I got into the driver's seat of my car and turned on the engine to get warm. I felt like an idiot for not thinking this through. For not realizing that her bike that I'd bought large enough for her to grow into was never going to fit into the back of my car.
I scrolled my phone until Hudson's truck lumbered to a stop next to my car. Hudson hopped out, and I met him at the back.
"This is awesome. Ayla's going to love it," Hudson said, easily hoisting it into the bed of his truck. He had a blanket under it so that it wouldn't get scratched.
"Thank you for coming. I know you were probably busy with something else."
Hudson leaned a hip against the side of his truck. "I don't mind helping. We can't have Ayla not getting the big present she asked for."
"I was so relieved when they said they would assemble it and add the bow that I didn't think about whether it would fit in my car."
A slow smile spread over his face. "I'm glad you called me."
"You are?" I asked.
"I want to make Ayla's day special tomorrow too. Now, where are we hiding it?"
"I was hoping you'd have an idea since it's your house. I was planning on putting it in the spare bedroom and dropping a blanket over it."
"I think we can do better than that. I have a little shed you could put it in. She'll never go out there in the winter."
"That sounds good."
Then his forehead creased. "Where is Ayla?"
"I dropped her off at Clara’s shop so I could come here, but I need to pick her up soon."
He moved toward the driver's side of my car, opening the door. "We'd better get going then. You can follow me."
"Okay." I needed Hudson, and he'd come through for me.
I waited for Hudson to back out, and then I followed him all the way home. I parked next to him and waited for him to get the bike out of the back of his truck. He lifted it like it weighed nothing.
"Where's the shed?" I hoped it was close to the house I didn't want to be struggling with a bike in the middle of the night when it was cold and windy.
"It's right around the side of the house. I use it for lawn equipment. But there's plenty of room."
He set the bike on the ground by the door of the small shed that looked like a miniature house. He opened the door and rolled it inside. "We can grab it after she goes to bed."
"Oh, I can get it. It's not that far from the house, and I can roll it across the lawn." I wasn't expecting him to stick around on Christmas Eve to help me with a present.
