“Everything,” Leticia groans loudly while scrubbing her hands down her face.
“Devious. I like their style,” Mom shouts again. I hear her, but Leticia probably doesn’t. “I’ll have to remember that trick for revenge someday.”
“Stay in here with Mom. I’ll take care of unloading the truck, and we can sort boxes in the garage after it warms back up.” I kiss her forehead before grabbing the keys off the rack and heading back outside.
It tookthe moving company guys less than twenty minutes to unload the whole truck into the garage stall and for me to sign the paperwork. After leaving the heat on in the garage for an hour, it was finally warm enough for us to sort boxes without Leticia needing to be bundled up in more than a sweatshirt.
“Oh!” Leticia gasps and then folds the lid back on the box she’s looking at. Her eyes are wide with shock or surprise.
Danger?My wolf questions, scenting the air.
“Oh?” I encourage for more information.
“We never exchanged Christmas gifts, and yours is in this box.” She folds the lid back over, trying to seal it up.
“No way, it’s my gift. I wanna see it.” I step over to her and teasingly try to lift a flap to peek inside.
Leticia bats my hand away. “No way, it’s not even wrapped.”
“So?” I shrug. “Neither is yours.”
“Oh.” Leticia worries her bottom lip, and I bring my hand up to her face, gently cupping her chin. I brush my thumb across her lips, freeing the one trapped between her teeth, and she turns thoseintense blue eyes on me. “I guess we could have Christmas in February.”
“I’ll go get your gift and put it in this box.” I pick up one of the boxes we already emptied. “While I’m gone, you can put my gift in another box. We don’t need fancy wrapping paper.”
She nods and nuzzles into the touch of my hand. “Sounds good.”
I rush through the house, down to the basement, and into my storage room. The safe, where I hid Leticia’s presents, is on the far wall, and I spin the dial through its combination like the thousands of times I’ve done it before, but it still feels slow compared to how fast my heart is beating.
There, stacked on one of the shelves, sit the presents. Various blue phone cases and computer cases sit stacked on top of each other, and the top box is a blue velvet ring box. I wasn’t planning on giving it to her today, but... we’re giving gifts, and this is the one that matters most.
No.My wolf riots.She deserves a better proposal. The garage is for killing people, not that.
He makes a valid point.
I tuck the ring box back into the safe and pull out the other presents, placing them into the box for her to open. After closing the safe, I head back upstairs.
“You better be proposing to her. With a ring!” Mom calls from where she’s reading in the living room.
“According to my wolf, we can’t propose to her in the same place we kill people.” I back up from the hallway to the garage to look at her.
“So?” Mom puts the bookmark into her book. “Take her someplace nice. Tell her you heard there are swans down on the pond and that you want to go see them. It’s true enough.”
“The swans or me wanting to see them?” I clarify.
“The swans, Royal,” Mom growls, shaking her head like I’m smart enough to know better. “That girl has been here, pining over you while you were gone, and now she’s living here and being the absolute sweetest, and even starting to get to know people in the pack. You’re obviously utterly obsessed and in love with her. Why wait?”
I put the box down in the entryway. Retreating down the stairs, I go back to the safe. More intentionally this time, I spin the knob.
She deserves to have it all.I agree with Mom.
Swans are stupid.My wolf disagrees.They’re just birds.
They mate for life.I argue, trying to find the romantic nature of a half-frozen pond and swans.Maybe it doesn’t have to be entirely romantic. It just has to be pretty and peaceful? I just want it to be perfect, and nothing seems perfect, especially not compared to her.
My wolf concedes with a sigh.At least it’s not where Dad killed someone with a screwdriver.
I grab the small box, taking the stairs two at a time until I’m once again standing in the hallway in front of Mom. I shake the ring box at her, demonstrating that I have it before tucking it into the pocket of my jacket. I stack Leticia’s jacket on top of the box with her presents and take them out to the garage.
