Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 75107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“Wow. Okay. Great. Thanks.”
“Yep. Off to do the sex now,” she said before hanging up.
“What?” Venezio asked.
“That was such a weird call.”
And as I was rolling back to the living room, I heard their door open and the two of them moving down the hall. I heard the tap of dog nails too. Those sounded a little fast and light for chonky Meatball, but who knew; maybe he really had to go.
“She’s probably stressed about all the family shit she has going on,” he reasoned.
“I guess. So, you get to learn to make pie tonight,” I told him.
“What kind am I making?” he asked.
“It’s cute that you think it will just be one kind. This is Christmas, Venezio. We get all the pies.”
“Well, put me to work then.”
Venezio - 5 Days
I was tired to the fucking bone.
I have a lifetime of sleeplessness, of working myself as hard as possible to make sure my future looked nothing like my past. And yet nothing made me as tired as creating the ‘magic of Christmas.’
Still, I had to admit, I kind of enjoyed it.
Especially with Steph perched up on the counter, giving me instructions, laughing at my mistakes, and singing loudly to the Christmas carols on the stereo.
And we hadn’t even gotten to the Christmas meal yet. Though Stephanie made sure we did a lot of the prepping ahead of time so it would be a so-called ‘easy meal.’
Still, though, as I lay in bed beside her, there was this strange, bubbling feeling in my stomach. Like champagne bubbles. It took an embarrassingly long time to realize it was excitement.
For Christmas.
For the first time in my life.
“Merry Christmas,” Steph mumbled, making me look down to find her looking up at me with sleepy eyes and messy hair.
“Merry Christmas, babe.”
“How long have you been up?”
“A while.”
“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 to go 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 of A Christmas Story playing 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.”
The squeal she let out had all three dogs bugging out, making the girls struggle to hold onto their dogs as Steph’s new dog leapt up on the couch with her, all tail wags and excitement.
“Oh, you’re so beautiful! What’s your name?”
This was possibly the best part.
“Noel,” I told her.
“No! Did you name her that?”
“Nope. That’s the name she had when she went into the rescue.”
“Noel! Well, you will fit in just perfectly here, won’t you? Hi, baby, hi,” she said as Noel licked her face furiously.