“Thank you.” I pull out my tank top, ignoring the spot on the bottom that I can’t get off. “Merry Christmas, Calvin.” I give him a kiss, too. I vanish into his bear hug.
“Merry Christmas, Chiefie. Did you dream of sugar plums?” Calvin asks.
“Something better,” I say.
“Really, now?” Calvin wiggles his eyebrows. I did have good dreams. And they were Christmas ones. We weren’t here. I’m not sure where we were. But I still gave the guys the gifts I made, and they loved them. But then we had electricity and running water.
“Merry Christmas,” Sam says from the other side of the table, though he’s not smiling when he says it. His eyes flick to the tree for a second, and it confuses me even more.
I’m about to head over to my cubby when Dante grabs me around the waist, dips me, and claims my lips. “Good morning, Sassy. I hope you’re ready for a fucking fantastic day?”
“I am,” I say as I catch my balance. Dante hands me a cup of coffee and a bowl with a biscuit in it that’s topped with mango puree. “Oh, this looks like heaven.”
Dante laughs. He passes out bowls to the guys, each with only half a biscuit. Guilt rises up my throat.
“Don’t even start, Sassy. They all wanted a taste, so they’ve had half of theirs already.”
“Oh.” I savor the next few bites. We all do, in silence. I’m not the only one who licks the bowl.
“Present time!” Zane yells. The guys rearrange the two deck chairs and a bunch of the wooden stumps we use as stools in a semicircle around the tree. “Sit here, Little Bird.” Zane positions me in a deck chair. “Sam, get it rolling.”
“Let me get mine.” I step over to my cubby.
But Easton spins me around and ushers me to sit. “In a second, Firefly. Open Sam’s present first.”
Sam bends and slowly walks over to me. “I hope you like it.”
Zane elbows Sam and shakes his head. I’m a little nervous to open it. It’s heavy-ish, ten inches long and almost square. It’s wrapped in banana leaves and tied shut with a bit of string. I hold it in my lap for a second and gaze up at Sam. Whatever he’s made, I’m absolutely sure I’m going to love it. And I’m trying not to worry about how nervous he seems. I hold it up to my ear and give a careful little shake. Not after Easton’s ornament dropped stones on the table yesterday. “It doesn’t rattle. Guess it’s not Legos.”
“Not Legos, but that would be brilliant, Little Bird. Think of how much fun we would have putting together one of those huge adult sets.”
“Legos have erotic building kits?” Dante smirks.
“No, you turd,” Zane says.
Dante laughs and slaps Zane’s back.
“Hush, don’t ruin this,” Calvin growls.
“Should I open it?” I ask Sam, who’s taken the seat next to me.
“Please. But carefully.”
I untie the string and slowly open the leaves. In front of me is an orange and red square of the raft plastic. “It’s a book.”
“It’s a notebook,” Sam says. “Some of the pages are still a little bumpy. It’s taken me a while to figure out how to get the paper smooth. But those are the best ones.”
I open the cover slowly, like I should have on white conservatory gloves. The plastic cover must have something thick in the middle. The first page has a dried orchid pressed into it. Beside it, Sam has written:To Haley, Merry Christmas. I love you, Sam.
It’s weird—I’ve heard them all say it, but this is the first time I’ve seen it written down and it makes a difference. It really does. There’s no way I’m letting my fat tears land on the pages. I wipe them away with the back of my hand. I should pop up and tell him how much it means to me, but I’m speechless as I turn the thick pages. He made paper! He said they’re bumpy, but they’re perfect. I turn the pages carefully.
That shakes me out of it. “It’s beyond perfect. How... I... It’s...” I hold it to my chest and bounce to standing. “I love it, and you. And thank you so much. This must have taken forever.” I place the notebook on my chair and give Sam a kiss that I hope makes him understand how much I appreciate all the time this must have taken.
“Damn, Sassy, wish I’d made you a notebook. But I did help.”
Sam ends the kissing. When he does, I’m dizzy. “Everyone helped. There was a lot of experimenting. Which brings us to...” From behind them and under the table, the guys fill up the space underneath the tree. There’re all kinds of wrapped presents. Wrapped in what must be some of Sam’s first attempts. The paper is bumpy and has holes. But the guys have colored it with patterns.
“Holy... Night.” It’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. “Wait, I want to?—”
