Thirty-One | Avery
Thirty-One
Avery
“I think this is a terrible idea,” I muttered to Cassidy as she continued on with her latest idea. “He is already pissed at me, Cass. He’s hardly talked to me ever since I told him about the job in Houston.”
“I know, but he will get over it.”
“It’s not that easy. I hurt him. I haven’t even had a chance to tell him that I declined the job. For all I know, he’s so mad at me that he won’t even care if I stay in Sugarplum Falls. He’ll probably call the school in Houston and demand that they take me so he can be done with me.”
“You’re being a bit dramatic.”
“Says the girl who is measuring ribbon to tie around the box she wants her best friend to hide in.”
“Hey—this is a brilliant idea. You guys have been fighting over the job in Houston so what better way to give him the news that you’re going to stay in Sugarplum Falls than to make yourself into the best gift he has ever gotten?”
“Is mommy ready to get in the box?” Kennedy asked as she walked into the living room.
“Almost,” Cassidy said. “But she needs to hurry up and get her butt in there before Sam gets home.”
“Why does Sam want my mom as a Christmas gift?” Kennedy questioned, plopping down on the couch. Thankfully, we had more or less broken the habit of her calling him Uncle Sam .
“Umm...” Cassidy looked at me with a lost expression.
“Don’t look at me. This was your crazy idea,” I hissed so Kennedy couldn’t hear me.
“Okay, enough out of you. Climb in the box, and I’ll come wrap you up in a minute.”
I rolled my eyes but carefully got in, making sure not to tear the cardboard in the process.
“Your mommy is getting in the box so she can surprise Sam when he gets home. She hasn’t told him your guys’ secret yet, so that’s part of the gift she’s giving him.”
“Our secret?” Kennedy questioned, her eyebrows pulled together. “Is it that mommy is going to have a baby?!”
“No,” I answered quickly, pinning Cassidy with a look before she could run with the idea again. It took me forever to convince her I wasn’t pregnant the last time Kennedy said something. “Mommy is not having a baby. You’re my only baby.”
“But that’s not fair,” Kennedy grumbled, folding her arms over her chest and pouting.
“What’s not fair, honey?” I asked, not having the energy to deal with this while trying not to fall out of the box.
“That Santa doesn’t give me what I told him I wanted for Christmas.”
“Oh, sweetheart. I’m sorry. I know that you want a baby sister or brother, but that’s not something Santa can give you. That’s something that happens between adults, and it’s very complicated sometimes.”
“The little girl in the movie got it,” Kennedy countered, still upset about it.
I frowned for a moment, trying to recall which movie she was talking about. We watched so many recently that they were all starting to blur together.
“Miracle on 34 th Street is a pretend movie,” Cassidy explained, kneeling in front of her as she spoke softly. “While Santa is real, the movie wasn’t. They were all actors and actresses.”
“But it’s not fair!” Kennedy cried louder, making my heart break.
Suddenly, we heard the garage door open, and Cassidy and I exchanged a panicked look.
“Here, take your sign,” she said, grabbing it from the coffee table and throwing it at me as she jumped up. “Duck down, and I’ll tape you up real quick.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I hissed as I sat on the floor and let my eyes adjust to the darkness as Cassidy closed the top and taped it.
“Sam is coming, so we have to be quiet and not tell him that Mommy is in the box, okay?” Cassidy asked Kennedy. “I’ll give you some of that fudge you like if you can sit with me on the couch and pretend we’re watching TV.”
“Cassidy!” I scolded, then immediately shut up as I heard the door to the house opening at the same time the sound on the T.V. turned up.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Sam asked, closing the door behind him.
“Oh, I’m just hanging out with Kennedy. Avery had to run a last-minute errand, so we’re just chillin' and watching T.V. You know how much Kennedy likes her cartoons.”
I didn’t have to see the screen to know she was lying, given that a monotone man started talking about the recent snowfall and how Sugarplum Falls hadn’t seen a storm like this in years. I closed my eyes and pressed the palm of my hand to my head.
“Umm, that’s not cartoons. That’s the news,” Sam commented. “What’s with the box?”
“Oh. Haha,” Cassidy said, her voice going higher. “Silly me. I must’ve bumped the buttons and changed the channel on accident.”
“You’re being weird,” Sam replied as he walked past, the sound of his footsteps getting closer to where I was hiding in the box.
“No way. I’m just being me,” Cassidy nearly sang. She was about to lose it, and I was about to run out of air in this damn box.
“So, what’s with the box? Do you need me to take it to Mom’s for tomorrow?”
“Nope. That’s actually for you. You can open it now.”
“For me? How do you know? I don’t see a name tag.”
“It’s from Avery. Open it,” Cassidy pressed.
“Yeah, open it,” Kennedy said, her mood already sounding happier.
“Shouldn’t I wait for Avery to get back before I open it?”
“No. You should open it now while she’s not here.”
“Why? That doesn’t make any sense. If it’s from Avery, it’s only fair that I wait until she’s here to open it.”
“She doesn’t want to be here when you open it.”
“Why not?”
“Ummm,” Cassidy said nervously, and I could tell she was trying to pull something out of her ass at this point. We didn’t have enough time to plan or think this through before committing to it. “She’s mad at you.”
My eyes bulged in the darkness of the box. I was going to kick her hard when I got out.
“What? Why is she mad at me?” Sam questioned, the hurt evident in his voice.
“You, of all people, should know why,” Cassidy scoffed. “Now just open the damn gift.”
“You said a bad word, Aunt Cassidy,” Kennedy scolded.
“Sorry, sweetie. I’ll give you two pieces of fudge to make up for it.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. My kid was going to end up with cavities from all the sugar she was giving her these past few days.
“Hurry and open it,” Cassidy pushed. “Avery will be back any minute now, and I promised her I would have you open it before she got here.”
“Fine. But if she’s mad about this, I’m blaming you,” Sam warned as he pulled the piece of tape and started lifting the top flaps of the box.
I had planned to jump up and surprise him, but sitting in an awkward position had made my foot go to sleep.
“Surprise,” I said awkwardly, holding up my sign for him to read.
“Avery?” he asked, looking past the sign I was using to hide my flushed face. “What are you doing in there?”
“Well, I was going to jump up and surprise you, but my foot fell asleep,” I explained, realizing that my sign was backward so he couldn’t see it.
“Okay, but why are you in a box to begin with?”
“I... umm....” I looked nervously at Cassidy, who was sitting on the couch, grinning wildly beside Kennedy.
“She’s your gift, you dumbass,” Cassidy blurted out.
“Another bad word,” Kennedy pointed out, holding her hand out to Cassidy.
Cassidy reached into the box on the table, retrieved a piece of fudge, then handed it to Kennedy.
“You’re going to pay for that,” I said, pointing at Cassidy as I took the hand Sam extended to help me up.
“What does she mean that you’re my gift?” he asked softly.
I lifted the sign for him to see and watched as his facial expressions changed as he read it.
“Ms. Harrison—Sugarplum Falls Elementary Kindergarten Teacher,” he said, his eyes looking up to meet mine. “You’re staying in Sugarplum Falls?”
I nodded, wiping an errant tear with the back of my hand.
“After I declined the position in Houston, Cassidy told me about a position that had just opened at Sugarplum Falls Elementary School. It’s a kindergarten class, but I’m really excited about it.”
Sam searched my face for a moment before looking at his sister to see if this was some sort of joke.
“Ms. Jackson decided to retire early. She told me about it the other day when she came into Waldon’s. I immediately called Avery and told her to go to the school and see if they would let her interview for it. Everything just kinda fell into place after that,” Cassidy explained.
“I can’t believe you’re staying,” Sam whispered, holding the sign and continuing to stare at it.
I couldn’t tell whether he was relieved or disappointed that we weren’t going to Houston after all.
“Is that a good thing or...”
“It’s a wonderful thing, Avery. It’s the best present you could have ever given me.”
“Well then, I guess I’ll take the other stuff back,” I teased, giggling when he reached down and tickled my sides.
“I don’t need anything other than you and Kennedy. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you guys are staying. How will it work with you being the kindergarten teacher and her starting kindergarten next year?” he asked.
“I talked to the principal and explained everything. She said that she didn’t see an issue with it and that we would make changes as needed. But since Sugarplum Falls is such a small town, they can’t really do anything about it because there’s only one elementary school and only one kindergarten teacher. But I gotta admit that I’m happy I’ll get to experience her first year of school alongside her and that we get to stay in Sugarplum Falls. It turned out you were the sign I was looking for all along.”
“That’s amazing. I still can’t believe the good news. I mean, I wish I would have been more prepared, but like my grandfather always used to say, sometimes good things happen when you least expect them.” Sam shoved a hand through his hair nervously, then looked from Cassidy and Kennedy to me.
“I know that staying in Sugarplum Falls wasn’t something you planned on doing, but I’m so glad you are. I hope that you and Kennedy will continue living with me because you’ve made my house into a home, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I have a question I’d like to ask you, but because I wasn’t prepared for this, I’m going to have to wing a few things.”
My heart began racing as he pulled two candy canes out of his back pocket and then dropped to one knee.
“Avery, you’ve shown me what true love is, and I can’t imagine a life without you and Kennedy. You’ve already made me the happiest man in the world when you told me you loved me, but I would love it if you’d give me the honor of being my wife and making me the happiest man again. I don’t have a ring because I wasn’t planning to do this right now—”
“Sam, you don’t have to—”
“No, Avery. I want to. I want to ask you to marry me more than I want anything else. And while I don’t have a ring right this moment, I have these two candy canes,” he said with a smile.
“Women want diamonds, dumbass. Not candy canes,” Cassidy commented from the couch.
Sam glared at her before returning his focus to me.
“I’m probably a little crazy for doing this, but this feels right, Avery. And I will buy you all the diamonds in the world if that’s what you want. But for now, I present to you the symbol of love that my grandfather used to always tell me about. When they’re separate, they’re just candy canes. But when you put them together, they make a heart. Without you, I’m just a guy who makes some of the best coffee in Sugarplum Falls. But with you, I’m the luckiest man in the world who still makes the best coffee.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
“And still so humble,” I teased, whispering loudly behind my hand.
“Avery, will you accept my candy cane heart with the promise that I will get you a real engagement ring, and be my wife?”
I covered my mouth and nodded, the tears already filling my eyes.
“Yes, Sam. I’ll marry you!”
He stood up and wrapped me in the tightest hug as Kennedy and Cassidy cheered for us from the couch.