Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Jenna
Christmas Day is relaxing and perfect. We sleep in, then make love again before getting up for the day.
Aaron makes us coffee, and I curl up on the couch, pulling a blanket over my lap, wearing my own lounge pants and tank top, with one of his flannels thrown over it.
It’s warm, way too big for me, and smells like him. I love it.
He settles on the couch next to me, his own coffee in hand. After taking a sip, he sets it on the coffee table. “Ready to open presents?”
Grinning, I raise my eyebrows. “Sure.”
He chuckles, then retrieves a couple of presents from under the tree, setting them in my lap.
“More than one?”
He shrugs. “I had more than one idea.”
Shaking my head, I set the presents on the table and stand. “Your present is in my bag. Hang on.”
I quickly head to the bedroom and retrieve his present, mildly annoyed with myself for not doing it sooner.
But everything happened so quickly last night—from Amelia’s blowup on the front step, to Aaron coming out to get me, then we jumped right into dinner, and once everyone left, we went to bed pretty much straight away.
Sure, we got up and ate the cookies and drank the milk Colin left out for Santa, snuggling on the couch for a bit before we went back to bed for sleep, but again, I wasn’t thinking about presents at that point.
“You first,” Aaron says when I set his present in his lap—a noticeably smaller box than either of his presents for me.
“Okay.” As soon as I claim my place on the couch again, Aaron dumps his presents back in my lap. He’s like a little kid on Christmas morning, but reversed. He seems very excited for me to open the gifts he got for me.
Chuckling, I pick up the smaller package and slide my finger under the tape at one end, only to stop at the sound of annoyance Aaron makes.
When I look at him, he’s hiding his smile behind his mug. “Of course you’re the type to open it carefully and not just rip open the paper,” he mutters.
With another laugh, I continue. “Yup,” is all I say in response.
Inside the wrapping paper—the same red with penguins that wrapped Colin’s Pjs—I find a white box.
When I open it, I gasp, but my smile is irrepressible.
“You didn’t,” I whisper. He just smiles back.
Spreading the thin layer of white tissue paper, I pick up the green tooled leather notebook featuring a spreading tree of life design on the front.
Soft and supple in my hands, I carefully unwind the leather thong holding it closed, opening it to reveal a planner inside.
“I wasn’t sure if you had a preference for style of planner, so I just got what they had there. But it should be able to hold anything you prefer.”
Shaking my head, I murmur. “It’s perfect. Thank you.” Leaning over, I kiss him.
His hand rests on my back as he returns my kiss, but then he pats me gently, ending the kiss. “Open the second one.”
“You don’t want to open yours next?”
He shakes his head. “Open yours. Then I’ll go.”
“Okay, fine.” Grinning, I tear open the second package, not bothering to open it carefully like the last one, and Aaron laughs, the sound happy and free. It’s amazing how much we’ve both changed in such a short time.
Before we started dating, even that first night we talked at the Red Arrow, he was serious, sometimes surly, only rarely smiling.
I don’t know, maybe he was more smiley with his kid, but in all of our interactions, he seemed cranky—which he probably was, since he definitely didn’t like me at that point—but even when I saw him talking with others, I rarely saw a smile.
Now, though, he smiles often, laughing freely, and it makes me happy.
And for my part, I’m starting to feel like I belong here after all.
Once the paper’s disposed of—this one blue with white snowflakes all over it—I open the box, and discover a dark purple puffy coat. Lifting it from the box, I examine it in awe.
“You’re always cold,” Aaron murmurs next to me. “I thought you could use a coat that would keep you warm.”
“You’re the best,” I tell him, my heart full to bursting. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so seen or cared for in my life. Not in my adult life, at least. “Thank you so much.” I lean in and kiss him again, this one lasting longer.
This time, I’m the one to put an end to it. “Okay. It’s your turn. Open yours.” I hope he likes it as much as I like mine.
I watch, scooting to the edge of my seat as he carefully opens the brown paper wrapping his package. I went with a minimalist wrapping choice, the pop of color coming from the dark green bow. I can’t help laughing since he teased me about doing the exact same thing. Meeting my eyes, he grins.
Laying the paper aside, he sets the box on the coffee table and opens it, revealing the pen I got him.
“I wasn’t sure what you’d want,” I admit as he lifts it from the box and looks it over.
“But then I saw the vendor selling these pens. Did you see them when you were there? Anyway, he makes pens out of different kinds of wood, and when I saw them, it made me think of you. I had a hard time picking what kind of wood to get, but I decided on cedar.”
Still turning the pen over in his hand, a soft smile comes to his lips. “Thank you,” he murmurs. “This is great. It’s beautiful. I love it.” Then he leans over and kisses me. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” I say back, smiling against his lips.
I was worried this Christmas would suck. After working my ass off to put on the best ChristmasFest I could, I thought I’d be spending the day alone, eating sad girl dinner, watching movies, and enjoying whatever I bought for myself as a Christmas present.
Instead, I’m spending it with the most thoughtful boyfriend I could ask for, curled up on a couch with a fire going, a gorgeous Christmas tree on the side.
Sighing, I lean against Aaron and smile. “Thank you for a great Christmas,” I say, and he kisses the top of my head.
“Thank you,” he murmurs. “I’m glad you’re happy.”
“I am,” I confirm. Happier than I could’ve hoped.