16. Kiley #3
“I sure do,” Jax responds, and my mind scrambles to picture him in sexy Spidey jammies. “Then on Christmas morning we wake up early to open presents and just hang out around the house together.”
“That sounds really nice. Are you upset that you didn’t get to go home this year?” my dad asks.
“No, because everyone is flying in tomorrow, even my sister, so I don’t feel like I missed out on anything.”
Keegan asks Jax how he feels the season is going, and I sit back in my seat, enjoying watching Jax light up as he talks about hockey. He really loves what he does, and it shows.
“I want to learn how to play hockey!” Zander interrupts, making us all laugh at his outburst.
“I would love to show you, kiddo. Maybe we can go skating on one of my days off before you go back to school.”
Zander whips his head in my direction. “Can we, Mommy?”
“Sure, buddy.”
“Too bad we didn’t talk about this ahead of time. You guys could’ve come to our annual team holiday party that the club puts on. They always have staff and player’s families come skate. It was a couple of days ago.”
I’m relieved to hear it has already happened. Too many curious eyes would be wondering what Zander and I would be doing at a place we don’t belong.
“Hey, I have an idea.” Jax turns to Keegan and asks, “Do you think you can man the bar while your dad goes to my game on Sunday with Kiley, Zander and my family? It’s an afternoon game, so it’s usually over by six p.m.”
My dad answers, “Oh no, I can’t,” at the same time my mother says, “Yes, he can.” Jax looks back and forth between them, amused.
I’m grateful to Jax for inviting my father, because selfishly, I didn’t want to be alone with his parents and sister for the first time meeting them.
Having my dad there with us would be a nice buffer and help calm my nerves.
Plus, my father rarely ever gets to go and Jax knows this, so him inviting my dad is another generous gesture on his part.
“I’ve got a suite this time, so you’ll be watching the game in luxury.”
“It figures the one time I don’t go, you get a suite,” Keegan sarcastically comments, making Jax chuckle. Jax is always offering my brother free tickets, and he has taken him up on the offer several times.
“Killian, you’re going, no arguments,” my mother warns him. “You deserve to take a day off to do something fun.”
My dad pursues his lips while looking at my mom.
He knows he now has no choice. It isn’t that he doesn’t want to go, but for some reason, my dad always feels guilty if he doesn’t put in a day’s work at the pub.
“Alright, I’ll go and then go to the bar afterward to relieve Keegan. Thanks for the offer, Jaxy.”
My brother smirks. “Who said I need relieving? Enjoy your night, Dad.”
My dad nods, but we all know he’s showing up to the bar afterward.
Jax surprises me next by turning the topic of discussion to me. “How’s winter break going for you so far, Kiley?”
I blush, not liking everyone’s attention solely on me. “It’s been good, thanks for asking. Zander and I are enjoying sleeping in, right buddy?” I ruffle his hair, and he gives a goofy smile with gravy all over his face.
We continue to make small talk while we finish our meal. Once everyone is done with the main course, my mom and I start picking up everyone’s plates and taking them over to the sink. The boys follow suit, and we have the table cleared for dessert in no time.
“Can I help with the dishes?” Jax asks when I start to rinse plates off.
“Kiley, why don’t you rinse the plates and then hand them over to Jax to load in the dishwasher?” My mom suggests, and I see the glint in her eye. “Then once the dishwasher is full, Jax can dry the remaining dishes.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Jax opens the door to the dishwasher and stands next to me with an expecting smile on his face.
I grin and start rinsing. We work diligently and quickly, with the dishwasher loaded and ready to run within a five-minute span. After that, it takes us another five minutes for Jax to hand dry the washed platters and plates. Once dry, I then put them away.
While we were doing that, my mom and dad set up the table for dessert, and Keegan kept Zander occupied. After a couple more minutes, we congregate again to load our plates with dessert.
“That was incredible,” Jax says thirty minutes later after we’ve consumed copious amounts of baked goods, pudding and ice cream. “I don’t think I need to eat for another two days.”
“I can’t suck in my stomach,” my brother moans while rubbing his gut. “I ate too much.”
“This is a great time for everyone to open the presents I brought.” Jax gets up from the table and walks out of the dining room to the front door where my dad put his bag.
“Presents? Jaxy, you didn’t need to bring us anything,” my dad exclaims with my mom agreeing.
“Seriously, Jax, you’ve done too much already.”
“Contrary to what some think, I love buying presents for people.” He gives me a slight smirk, and I know he is referring back to our conversation at the Italian restaurant all those months ago. He pulls out presents from his bag and hands one to each of us.
“Well, this is uncomfortable. I don’t have a present for you,” Keegan tells Jax with an awkward smile.
“It’s not about tit-for-tat. Besides, this lunch was a present enough.”
I have a present for Jax, but I didn’t want to give it to him in front of my parents and brother.
It’s a real personal gift, and they would pepper me with questions.
I just felt it was the perfect gift for him.
I feel it in my pocket as if it’s burning a hole right through my jeans.
I’m about to pull it out when my mom announces she has a present for Jax.
She stands up, walks swiftly to her bedroom and comes back with a small gift bag.
“It’s not much, but I hope you enjoy it.” She hands him the present.
“Can I open it?” he asks and my mom nods.
He sticks his hand in the bag and takes out the tissue paper and then grabs what’s inside. He lifts it out and holds up a blue knitted scarf. His eyes light up with appreciation. “Did you make this, Kim?”
“I sure did.”
“Then that makes it even more special.” He wraps it around his neck, and the blue of the scarf intensifies his eyes. “Thank you, Kim, I love it!” His gaze travels around before landing on Zander. “Who’s ready to open their present?”
“Me!” Zander yells while jumping up and down.
Jax chuckles and nods at him. “Go for it, kiddo.” Zander immediately starts ripping into the wrapping paper, and we’re all silent while watching him.
“Did you wrap that yourself?” Keegan asks, and I was secretly wondering the same thing. The box is meticulously wrapped in Christmas themed wrapping paper.
“Guilty,” Jax grins adorably, and I bet he used that grin on his mom a lot when he was a kid. “I actually find it quite therapeutic to sit at the dining room table and wrap presents for a couple of hours. Gives the mind a rest.”
“Dude…” Keegan shakes his head in disgust, causing Jax to laugh. I snicker because that’s the complete opposite of what Keegan’s views are on wrapping. He’s either asking me to do the wrapping for him, or he utilizes tissue paper and a gift bag.
Keegan looks my way, sees my sneer, and chucks a throw pillow at me.
“What’s so funny?” Jax questions with a quizzical smile.
“Keegan hates wrapping presents, so your admission confirms what a wuss he is.” I throw the pillow back at Keegan while everyone laughs.
“Whoa, cool!” Zander’s excitement steers our focus back on him. He tears away the last remnants of wrapping paper to reveal a mini hockey goal set with two sticks and two foam balls. “Can we play with this now?”
Jax looks between me and my parents. “If you don’t mind, I can put it together rather quickly. It’s also easy to take down and comes with a carrying bag for you to take back home, Kiley.”
“I’m fine with it if my parents are.” When they nod in agreement, I turn to Zander. “Let’s wait until after everyone has opened their presents, okay?” He nods and sits down in my lap. I whisper in his ear. “What do you say to Jax?”
“Thank you, Jax!” He shouts, making me giggle.
“You’re welcome. It makes me so happy that you love it. I also bought one for my place so you and Chloe can play together.” He looks at me when he says, “And maybe we can convince your mommy to play as well.”
Zander looks back at me, and I nod. “I’ll definitely play with you.”
Jax continues playing Santa Claus and hands out envelopes to me, Keegan and my dad, and a wrapped box for my mom. “Kim, you go next, then Keegan, Killian and Kiley,” Jax instructs.
My mom opens her box and is excited to see the latest, fancy Dutch oven. “Jax, how did you know I wanted this?” My mom gives me a questioning look, and I shake my head because I had no idea she wanted that.
“The sales lady at the store picked it out when I told her I needed something for a woman who’s always cooking and baking,” Jax explains. “Glad to see she was spot on.”
Keegan goes next and opens his envelope to find two lower-level tickets to the next home game for the local professional football team. “Jax, this is too much!” He looks at the tickets in awe. “Can you go with me?”
Jax shakes his head. “Sorry, Keeg. Family will be in town. You take whomever you want and enjoy.”
“Thanks, Jax.” Keegan looks over at our dad and says, “Maybe if some old fart over there would take a day off once in a while, he would go with me.”
“I’m always telling your father that we don’t need to be open seven days a week,” my mother chimes in. “We should be closed Sundays and Mondays.”
“And miss out on Sunday and Monday night football revenue? Absolutely not,” he huffs.
I know this conversation is going to go nowhere if we continue. I see my dad’s point, as college and professional football does bring in good revenue. “Let’s change the subject, please, because we know it’s a dead-end street.” I nod at my dad. “Time to open your present.”