Chapter 21 Elizabeth
ELIZABETH
“Oh, I almost forgot,” I say excitedly, kicking the sheets off my legs and jumping out of bed. I don’t even stop to put my panties back on as I run out into the kitchen. I can feel his eyes on me the entire time.
Normally, I feel self-conscious about things like this; it makes me feel exposed. But with Jon, I’ve never felt afraid to show my true self or naked body. He has this way about him that makes me feel safe.
Reaching into the bag I’d brought from home, I fetch the gift I bought for him earlier today and bring it back to bed. “Here, I got you something.”
“What’s this for?” he asks with a smile.
“It’s a Christmas gift. It isn’t much since I didn’t know what to get you.” I scoot closer to him and nudge him to open it. He looks at me for a moment before carefully opening the deep blue wrapping paper.
I wasn’t sure if I would see him on Christmas since I don’t know his normal traditions, but it was worth seeing his face when I surprised him earlier.
“You didn’t have to get me anything, Lizzy. I feel bad because I wasn’t able to get you something in return.” Jon pulls out a slick, wooden box and looks at me again.
“That’s okay,” I reply, excited to see his reaction. “I wasn’t expecting you to get me anything. Just open the box.” I can barely contain my impatience.
Nodding, he opens the box, and sitting on a felt cushion is a set of cufflinks with his initials engraved on them.
When shopping, I had no clue where to even begin. While I know things about him, the relationship is still fresh enough that I was afraid of getting him the wrong thing.
With him wearing suits every day, cufflinks were the best and safest option. Jon’s eyes light up as he inspects them closer. “Whoa,” he exclaims. “You really didn’t have to do this, Lizzy.”
“Do you like them?” I ask, unsure of his reaction.
“Like them? I love them. Thank you so much.” He sets the box down on his lap and kisses me before immediately going back to looking at them.
The moment went perfectly, as I was hoping it would. There was a small part of me that worried that getting him a gift this early on might come off as weird, but he seems to love them.
With me surprising him and with how well the gift went, I feel entirely wrapped up in the Christmas season as I turn to him. “Do you want to come to my parents with me tomorrow for Christmas?” I blurt out, and his eyes shoot to mine.
The silence that now fills the room immediately has me feeling embarrassed. “I’m sorry, you probably already have plans, and it’s too soon.”
“No, no,” he says. “That’s not it at all. Sorry, it just caught me off guard.”
My face heats up, and I drop my eyes. Why did I have to just blurt it out like that? The last thing I want to do is scare him off before our relationship has had time to flourish.
“It’s a nice offer,” he continues. “And if I didn’t already have plans, I would love to. But every year, I grab a few drinks with Chase at Murphy’s Pub. It’s the only bar that stays open on Christmas.”
“Really?” I reply, laughing. “That’s crazy because Dani does the same ritual since her family lives a few states away now, and traveling prices are ridiculous these days. I’m surprised you haven’t seen her out before.”
Jon chuckles. “That is odd. Well, I usually get a table away from everyone. We might have been in the same place, and I didn’t even notice.”
He throws his arm around me as we lean against the headboard, and I rest my head on his shoulder. But just as I start to get comfortable, he sits up once more and slips out of bed without a word.
Curiously, I watch as he walks into his large closet and returns rather quickly, holding a small gift bag, and hands it to me. “What’s this?” I ask.
Smiling from ear to ear, he climbs back in bed. “I lied earlier,” he admits. “I did get you a gift.”
My heart leaps in my chest as the excitement practically explodes out of my skin. I don’t waste any time pulling the black box out of the gift bag and opening it.
A gasp slips from my lips as I see a silver-chained necklace resting on a white cushion. Dangling from the chain, a bright blue gem hangs, glimmering as it catches the light from across the room.
“Jon,” I whisper. “I can’t … This is beautiful. Are you sure?” I feel terrible getting him such a small gift now that I’m holding the most beautiful necklace I’ve ever seen.
I take it out of the box, and Jon takes it, helping me clasp it around my neck. As it falls, the metal cools my skin.
“Yes, I’m sure,” he laughs as he admires his gift to me. “Lizzy, I know we’ve only known each other a short amount of time, but you have changed my life already. This is nothing compared to what you deserve. Besides, it matches your eyes.”
To say I’m shocked is an understatement as I place my hand over the gem. I’ve had other boyfriends in the past, but none of them paid attention to me like Jon does, let alone gave me gifts. Then again, I never let them stay around long enough.
I’m very much a straight-to-the-point woman. I don’t enjoy wasting my time when I know that things won’t work out. So why string either of us along when we both know how it will end? But with Jon, everything is different, even me.
I was ready to swear off dating altogether, but now, I can’t find a single thing wrong with him. Jon may be the man to change my life, or completely destroy it …
“Thank you so much. I love it,” I say. I throw my arms around his neck and hug him tightly, still in shock.
“It’s nothing, really. Look at your gift to me. I love it,” he replies. “Hey, I have an idea, if you’re up for it. It’s still pretty early, want to lounge on the couch and watch old Christmas movies while eating those delicious cookies you brought?”
I still can’t believe such a perfect man even exists, let alone wants to be with me. It’s as if he were made for me in a lab. “Of course I do,” I say excitedly. “That’s my favorite thing to do around Christmas.”
We climb out of bed, and he tosses me one of his larger T-shirts that has the name of his favorite football team written across the front, and it’s a dress on me, but it smells like him, and I want to wear it forever.
He steps into a pair of gray sweatpants and escorts me into the living room. As I sit on his black leather couch, he fetches the container of cookies from the kitchen and sits next to me, turning on the television that hangs on the wall above his faux fireplace.
As much as I joke about how it should be a real fireplace, it’s adding the perfect aesthetic to the mood. “Frosty or Rudolph?” he asks, leaning back into the couch.
“Surprise me.” Taking off the lid of the container, I grab us each a cookie and lay my head across his lap. His hand instinctively runs through my hair, and I could fall asleep with how relaxed I feel.
As the movie starts, the snowfall outside thickens, blanketing the entire city with white fluff.
“So, I hate to bring it up again, but you seem a little less stressed since the Sherry situation. Everything okay with that?” Jon treads lightly, and I understand he doesn’t want to ruin the mood.
Since I made the deal with Sherry, I have no plans on telling him anything, except what he needs to know. “Oh, yeah. I’m not stressing over that anymore. I realized that she can only get to me if I let her.”
“That’s good. I’m proud of you.”
I’ve been hearing that a lot lately, but it’ll never get old.
Nestling back in, he continues to run his fingers through my disheveled hair, and everything is perfect. But it doesn’t take long for my brain to sneak up and try to ruin a good thing.
Things are perfect at the moment, but will things last?
Once the holidays are finished, and Jon meets his deadline at work, will he still want me around, or is this just a short fling before he throws me away?
“You okay?” he asks as if he feels the shift within me.
“Me?” I question. “Yeah … I’m perfect.”