“Good, I think. We should get our results over the winter break.”
“Ugh, so much to do. I wanted to make each of you something and bake cookies for the people at Finn, but I ran out of time.”
“We'll help you where we can, Summer. As for the other gifts, it’s the thought that counts,” he replies, bumping my shoulder.
“I know and I appreciate you guys so much. I’ve got to study for the SAT and get my applications in over break.”
Olivia asks Seb to grab a toolkit from the upper shelf for her. “Look Summer. We picked this out for Dad.”
I step up and have a look. It’s a fairly large kit of different wrenches and other tools he can use at the shop. “That’s a nice set,” I reply.
“Yup, Dad needs a new set, and this one is 40% off,” she replies.
“Come on, squirt. Let’s go pay for it,” Bay says, grabbing the set from Seb.
We follow behind him and Olivia and wait for them to pay before we hit the next store. There, I pick up Seb’s present, and then we walk over to a third store to grab Zander’s gift.
Once I’ve got everything, I follow behind the rest of the guys as they shop and pick up a few smaller items I find. Zander has wrapping paper at the house, so I don’t need to worry about that.
It takes a few hours before we’re done, and then I drive us back to Alex’s house after saying goodbye to Olivia and Bay.
We part ways after I drop them off and head home. Zander and I spread out in the living room and wrap presents while watching movies. “I never even asked what the plan is for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Dad.”
“Usually, I visit Troy on Christmas Eve, and they come here for Christmas dinner. Since we’ve been so busy and Jake is here now, we adjusted. We may get visitors in the morning,” he smiles. “The guys usually exchange gifts with each other early on Christmas Eve. You can visit Jake after that. I thought you and I could spend the night here with cookies, hot chocolate, and movies. Troy and crew will still join us for turkey dinner on Christmas Day, but Troy is going to deep-fry the bird for us, and we will make half the side dishes. We can bring dinner over to Jake and Ray as well. ”
“Okay. Sounds good. What do you and Troy do for the Finn employees?”
“We give them a bonus. A percentage of earnings each year, and they received those last Friday. It’s fairly quiet over the holidays, and the office is closed unless someone wants to work. There are two single guys who will be on bodyguard duty tomorrow and on Christmas Day because they wanted overtime, and we have a security job at a New Year’s party on the beach.”
Nodding that I heard him, I finish tying a bow on Alex’s present and set it aside. I ask Zander about his Christmasesgrowing up, and we tell each other our favorite movies, cookies, and presents. It’s a relaxing few hours that help me decompress. We put all the presents under the tree when finished.
There’s a knock at the door after dinner as we’re cozy on the couch with the tree and fire on. Zander gets up to answer. “Hi Summer,” I hear E call.
Turning around, I see him heading for the kitchen with a few bags in hand. Getting up, I follow him and Zander. “Hi E, what are you up to?”
“I overheard you mention you wanted to bake cookies for all the Finn employees and since I made too many sweets for the three of us to eat, I brought you a bunch,” he replies, pulling out cello bags with four cookies in each one. They even have a ribbon and gift tag attached.
Wow. “That was so sweet of you, E. You didn’t need to go through all that trouble.” I can’t believe he did all this so fast.
“Very kind of you,” Zander comments.
“We told Summer we would help any way we could, and this is my way. There should be enough for everyone here and a few extras,” E tells us.
“How do we get them to everyone?” I ask Zander.
“I’ll send out a text to everyone that they’ll be in the front office tomorrow morning, and people can come by whenever they have a chance to grab one.”
“Yay! This makes me so happy. I really wanted to do something for the crew. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome,” E smiles. “Just put your names on the tags and they’ll be ready. And no, before you argue, Summer, these are from you and Z. I’ll get out of your hair now. Alex and I are wrapping gifts tonight.”
I give E a hug before he leaves and then sit at the island. “I can’t believe he did all this,” I say, waving at allthe bags.
“They’re all good boys, darling. Let’s fill out the tags so I can drop them off in the morning before our visitors get here.”
Zander grabs a few pens from the drawer, and we add our names before putting them all back in the bags, ready for the morning.
Chapter 58
