‘I didn’t ask you. I’m fine.’
‘Three jobs is quite a lot, you know,’ Logan said with raised eyebrows. ‘For normal people, at least.’
‘Funny. I’m quite tired, but my little pot of savings is growing by the day, and that’s all I’m interested in.’ Cally rolled her eyes. ‘Just a shame I have to work on that chatbot with women who spend more on a scarf than my laptop cost.’
‘Is it still running really slowly?’ Logan asked.
Cally rolled her eyes again. ‘You could say that. I really need to get on with getting a new one. I’ve decided I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and get on with it. Eloise mentioned about getting a reconditioned one. She sent me a link. I’m going to have a look later. It’s time for the old relic to go. I just need to suck it up and make it happen.’
Logan made a funny face. ‘Well, you might not have to bother with that.’
Cally screwed her nose up. ‘Yeah, I will. I’ve had that laptop for a long time. It’s from the dark ages. It doesn’t work properly with all the current technology and it’s becoming an issue at work. I’ve had my money’s worth.’
Logan pulled his bag around, put it beside him, and slid out a beautifully wrapped parcel. ‘I was saving this until later, but seeing as it came up… it might help. I’ve just been to collect it. Great minds think alike, as it were.’
Cally looked at a box wrapped in pink paper with a huge white bow on the top. ‘Sorry? What is this? It’s not my birthday or anything.’
‘Doesn’t need to be your birthday for me to buy you something. I decided someone needed to do something about the state of your laptop and it wasn’t going to be you any time soon. Though it seems I was wrong and we were, in actual fact, thinking along the same lines.’
‘Oh my God, did you get me a new laptop?’ Cally slowly took off the white ribbon and carefully unwrapped the pink paper to see a white box. She shook her head, pulled off the lid, and picked up a gold laptop. ‘Wow! It’s absolutely gorgeous.’ Cally hissed as she turned it over and held it up as if to assess its weight. ‘Goodness, it’s on a different level to the one I’ve got. I can hardly even pick that one up. This is so light!’
‘It is. I tried to use yours the other day and just lugging it from the table to the sofa was enough. Honestly, Cal, it really did need an upgrade.’
Cally ran her hand across the top of the laptop and then squinted as something caught her eye. ‘Oh my goodness, did you get it engraved?’ She looked closer to see that Logan had had the laptop engraved. She chuckled as she saw the word “Blackcurrant” just underneath the serial numbers on the back.
‘I thought you’d like it,’ Logan laughed.
‘Like it? I love it. I can’t believe you’d do this for me!’ Cally swallowed as she traced her finger over the engraved word. She couldn’t quite get her head around the gift. She feltpatheticallygrateful. An image of sitting in the spare room at her grandma’s house in the early hours of the morning, wrapped in a duvet, trying to finish an assignment on her old laptop, flashed in front of her eyes. Her voice was thick with emotion. 'I don't know what to say. It's too much. You shouldn't have. It must have cost loads. I looked at these and, well, that’s why Eloise suggested a reconditioned one.’
Logan shook his head. 'Nonsense. You need to stop saying that. You deserve this and so much more. I want to spoil you. Get it?’
Callydidn’tget it. Not at all. Not even close. She thought about what her friend Eloise had told her about money blocks. This was clearly one of them right in front of her, wrapped in pink and topped with a bow. ‘Right.’
‘If a new laptop makes your life a little bit easier and brighter, then it's worth every penny as far as I’m concerned.’
Overwhelmed, Cally felt a prick at the corner of her eyes. She put the laptop back in the box, hugged Logan, buried her face in his neck, and breathed in the familiar Logan smell. 'Thank you. So much.’
‘You aremorethan welcome.’
‘I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I am so grateful to have you in my life.'
Logan squeezed her and then held her way from him. ‘Are you getting soppy on me, Blackcurrant?’
‘No, no, course not.’
‘Ha, you are. I like it. Continue.’
‘I’m just happy.’
'You deserve everything good in this world, Cal. I feel great to be the one who gets to share it with you.’
Cally was silent for a bit. She mused how she’d spent her whole life before meeting Logan, caring for other people and holding up the sky. ‘It’s taking me a while to understand being treated.’
‘Get used to it, chicken-licken. It’s here to stay.’
‘Thank you. I love you.’
‘Right back at you. I’m so happy you came crashing into my world. Let me tell you, Ilovebuying stuff for you.’
