Chapter 11
Eleven
Isaac
By the time we finally fucking got home I was ready to explode with excitement. “Do we have to wait to do presents?” I asked. Not sure why I felt so anxious other than I wasn’t used to opening presents with my boyfriend and I didn’t know how that worked.
“Hell no, we’re adults we can do what we want,” Tig said.
A sound came out of me that I hadn’t heard for years. But I was so excited I couldn’t help it and I didn’t have it in me to care. “Here, open this,” I said and handed Tig one of his gifts.
“Okay then, you open this,” he said and handed me one too. I tore it open without him having to say it again and gasped when I saw what it was.
“You got me gloves.” I had mentioned a few times I needed warm gloves but so far I had yet to get them for myself. Now Tig had taken care of me and surprised me all at the same time.
“You mentioned your hand was bothering you in the cold. Those are supposed to be very warm and they’re waterproof.”
They were blue, my favorite color, and when I tried them on, they came up a little past my wrist and were a perfect fit. “I love them, thank you,” I said. “Now open yours.”
He tore the wrapping paper off the box and after looking at it he smiled. “How did you know?”
“You mentioned you had a big Lego collection when you were a kid, but you didn’t know what happened to them. I thought it would be fun for you.” He stared at the Star Wars Lego kit before grinning and pulling me in for a kiss.
“I love it, and maybe we can both work on it?”
“Sure, I mean if you need help, I don’t mind helping,” I said making him chuckle. “Here, open this next.” This was the present I’d put so much thought into, and I hoped he liked it as much as I thought he would.
“Here’s one for you.” He handed me a box, but I watched as he opened his. It was small so it didn’t take him long, but when he opened it and saw a jewelry box, he paused and looked up at me.
“It’s not a ring I swear,” I said.
“Bummer,” he said and opened it. I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. He stared for a moment before lifting the leather bracelet out of the box. In the center was a silver badge with our initials intertwined.
“I designed that myself.” His head shot up at my words and his eyes locked on mine.
“It’s beautiful,” he whispered and his hands shook so badly he couldn’t clasp it.
“Let me help.” I fastened it and it was a perfect fit, just like I knew it would be. “I measured your wrist while you were sleeping and had the guy we talked to at the craft fair make it.”
“When we went out of town last week?” he asked still staring at the bracelet while tracing his finger over the delicate design.
“Do you not like it?” I asked because he was acting really weird, and I wasn’t equipped to figure out emotions.
“Oh, baby, I love it. It’s the most meaningful gift anyone has ever given me,” he said and cradled my face in his hands before kissing me. “I love you.”
“I love you too, but are you sure?” He still kept staring at it.
“I’m positive and I’m never taking it off,” he said and finally smiled so big, if I didn’t know better, I would have sworn his eyes sparkled a little brighter. “Open yours.”
After one more glance at him to be sure he was okay I tore the paper off the box he’d given me.
I opened the box and inside was a picture of Roger and me working on one of the fans at the dryer.
He was grinning while he watched me struggle to loosen a nut that had rusted in place.
“When did you take this?” I asked and tried to hold back my own amusement.
“I saw you guys working and the thought hit me to take a picture of the two of you. I didn’t expect to get a shot of you working that hard,” he said.
My jaw was clenched tight as I struggled to loosen the nut, making it look like I was struggling far more than I really was. “I hope you made a copy for Roger because he will love this,” I finally said and set it on the coffee table.
“Here’s another,” he said and handed me another identical gift.
I opened it and there was a picture I knew Hudson had taken when Tig and I were at Nuts and Bolts recently.
Both of us leaned on the counter and our fingers were intertwined on top of it.
But what stood out most was the way Tig looked at me.
I was looking at Hudson, but Tig’s eyes were completely focused on me and were filled with love.
“This is what you were whispering to Hudson about?” I asked without looking away from the framed image.
“Yes. I didn’t want it to be a selfie, and it’s not like random people take cute pictures of us around town,” Tig said and leaned closer to look at it with me.
“Thank you,” I whispered and I was sure my eyes were now shining the way Tig’s had earlier.
We went back to opening gifts because we’d both bought way too much, but it was fun, and it was our first Christmas.
Both of us had given both thoughtful and funny gifts.
Tig had given me another framed picture of him and me that he’d taken after work one day when the sun was setting behind us and we were sitting on the bed of the truck just enjoying the view.
It was beautiful, and again, I swore I could see his love in that image.
“Is this the selfie you were worried about?” I asked.
“Yeah, I mean it’s us after work, but I thought the sunset was nice,” he said and glanced at it.
“It’s more than nice. I love that we don’t look perfect. We look like us.” He kissed me and that same warmth from the photo was in his eyes before he knelt by the tree to see if there were any presents we hadn’t opened.
“I think that’s all of them,” he said from behind the tree.
“We bought way too many gifts,” I said while staring at the photos of us.
“It’s our first Christmas and I wanted it to be special,” he said when he sat next to me on the couch. “You really designed this?”
I lifted his hand and took a closer look at the bracelet on his wrist. “Yes, and it looks perfect.”
“You and I twined together? I can’t think of anything else more perfect,” he said, and once again I fell in love with him as the snow fell outside our window in the small town we called home.
THE END