17. The Greatest Gift

17

THE GREATEST GIFT

SANTA TELL ME, ARIANA GRANDE

Livie

“Merry Christmas, Liv,” I hear a voice whisper in my ear. I open my eyes and see Alex sitting next to me on his bed where we spent the night exploring our bodies. If I didn’t know better, I’d say his touch and his kisses all night were more a plea than a goodbye, but maybe I’m just hoping.

Twelve days. Twelve days is all it took for me to fall head over heels for the best man I’ve ever met. Twelve days and my silly, silly heart can’t comprehend that this is ending today. I want to cry just thinking about it, but this was our deal and I’m going to be a big girl and deal with it. And by deal with it, I mean smile and nod when he tells me it was nice but then cry in a pint of ice cream tonight while watching Divergent for the eighth time in a row.

“Merry Christmas,” I whisper, sitting up and covering my very naked body with the blanket. I ended up not needing any of the clothes I packed since he stripped me out of the red dress I wore last night. And to be honest, I was entirely too tired to fight him on the you don’t need clothes moment before we went to sleep. We slept intertwined with each other and it was perfect.

“Coffee for you so you don’t die a slow death,” he teases, giving me a mug with ad little cinnamon sprinkled on top of my coffee.

“You angel, I love this,” I say, closing my eyes and taking a big whiff before taking a sip. “How’s your mom?” I ask, knowing he was already over there for their morning routine.

“She’s thankful for another Christmas together and she just left to spend some time with her friend,” he answers, adding air quotes around the word ‘friend.’

I chuckle and take another sip, letting this perfect cup of coffee warm up every inch of me. “So, what’s your plan today?” I ask, secretly hoping that whatever it is, he can take me with him.

“It depends.”

“It depends on what?”

“Here, why don’t you put this shirt on and sit the balcony with me?” he offers, handing me one of his shirts and opening up a blanket for me to step right into. I do as he says and when he wraps me up with the blanket, he leads the way to the balcony right outside of his room.

The balcony faces the vast greenery of his farm and some of the oaks, too. It’s beautiful and peaceful out here. I can imagine myself sitting on this comfy chair, wrapped in a blanket with a book in hand.

Alex sits on the chair first, pulling me onto his lap and kissing my cheek gently. God, I’m going to miss these sweet kisses .

“Liv, I’ve been trying to tell you this for the past four days and it has been near impossible. So I do really need you to let me say it. If when I’m done you think I’m crazy, we can add that to the list of names you’ve called me. Is that okay?” he asks. Even though I want to ask so many questions, all I do is nod.

“I know we only met twelve days ago. I know that for most people, and on most occasions, that’s not enough time to say someone has changed their lives. But I think that might not be the case here. You see, Livie, these past twelve days… I’ve laughed more than I have in years. I’ve smiled more, too. I know it may sound dumb but I’ve been trying to find how to give more meaning to my life, and I thought volunteering and fundraising events might give me that. And I’m sure they will, but to be honest, what has shown me that life is more than the daily grind and whatever other lies I’ve told myself… is you. I’ve enjoyed every single second I got to know you. I’ve more than enjoyed it. I don’t know how I’m supposed to wake up tomorrow and not see you or talk to you. God, I don’t even know how to say this other than I think I might love you, Liv. And I know it may sound crazy, but I do, and I would love nothing more than to show you for the rest of your days how much that’s true.”

I stay quiet,. letting this moment sink in. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. “Alex,” I start.

He shakes his head, looking away from me. “It’s okay, Livie. I just needed to let it out. The deal was until today, so I understand.”

I can barely contain my grin. “No, you dummy! That wasn’t a sad Alex , that was an I can’t believe this is happening, Alex . What if I told you I love you, too, you big grumpy, closeted hippie, dork? I thought I was crazy, but apparently I’m not. And we’re both just two fools who fell in love with each other.”

Alex lifts me up, pulling me closer to him and hugging me tight, spilling the coffee all over the floor. “God, I love you so much. Thank you,” he says.

“Thank you for what?” I ask.

“Thank you for being you. Thank you for being the gift rarely given this Christmas and thank you for letting me love you, Liv. I promise I will show you how you deserved to be loved every day for as long as you let me.”

“I can’t wait to show you how you deserve to be loved, too. Merry Christmas, Alexander James Haddock.”

“Merry Christmas, my little elf.”