AllFreeNovel
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Maddox turns some cheesy Christmas music on his phone and yanks Carter to his feet, forcing him into a kind of weird waltz. Nolan is humming as he pulls out some cookies from the oven, and Jake is talking with Andi about their plans for later to meet up with their parents at Caroline’s bed and breakfast.
The big windows of my cabin have piles of snow gathering at the ledges and the trees outside are all frosted white.
I don’t know if anything is truly perfect, but I’m not sure I could think of a better morning or a better moment. I’ve had thousands of fans screaming my name–people telling me how good I am at the thing I’ve spent my life perfecting. I’ve had highs and lows. But this? I’m not sure how I’ll ever top it.
Once everyone has taken their coffee and Liam has finally emerged fully showered, groomed, and dressed for the day, we go around opening presents. I already know what Andi got everyone since she was using my card to buy the gifts when we went Secret Santa shopping.
She has labeled everybody’s gift with the silly nicknames she gave us that first day. Carter gets a scooter–like the kind kids ride around. For some reason, he seems absolutely thrilled with the gift and gives Andi a huge hug in thanks.
For Maddox, she got a fancy set of tarot cards, which he loves. He promises to do a “reading” for her later. If Andi is pretending to be excited about that, she’s a great actress.
She got Liam a nice jacket that he puts on over his sweater and admittedly looks pretty damn good in. Then again, the man is like a fucking male model, so she probably could’ve bought him a paper bag and he’d make it look good.
Nolan gets a pair of oven mitts that look just like goalie gloves. He puts them on immediately and doesn’t take them off.
Jake gets a giant lump of real coal, which is exactly what he got for Andi. Apparently, it’s a long-standing Summers tradition to get each other coal. Weird, if you ask me, but they both seem to get a huge kick out of it.
I’m surprised when she pulls out a big box for me last and lifts it up. “This one is for the Captain.”
“When did you get this?” I ask. “I was with you when you bought gifts.”
“Jake snuck me out. I owe him money for this one.” She winks at her brother, who smiles back. “I hope this isn’t too, um…” Andi looks down and suddenly appears adorably nervous. “I don’t know if this is too cheesy or sappy and if you don’t like it, it’s–”
“Andi,” I say calmly. “It’s from you. That’s all I care about.”
She licks her lips, nods, and then waits with her hands clasped. She’s on her knees in front of me like she can’t stand to be any further away while I open the present.
I pull back the paper and see it’s an ornament in gold plated metal. It’s a circular shape with an embossed image in the center. There’s a man on a stage with a microphone and a girl on the ice in sneakers. Fireworks are going off in the background and a crowd of less detailed people are all surrounding them.” I smile and feel an unexpected tug of emotion.
“This happened last night. How did you–”
“Mikey knows a guy with one of those CNC machines. And the CNC guy knows an artist. Jake made him a very generous offer to work all night on the image and the CNC guy owed Mikey a favor. And the gold plating lady owed the CNC guy a favor. So really, it was easy. Jake went out and picked it up this morning so you wouldn’t suspect anything.”
I laugh. “Wow. This is…” I hug her tight, pulling her up from her knees to my chest. “It’s incredible. This will be front and center on my tree for the rest of my life.”
Andi sniffs and I pull back to see she’s crying.
I laugh again, wiping at her eyes. “Why the hell are you crying?”
“I’m just so happy,” she blubbers.
“Jeez,” Maddox says. “You guys are just sickening, aren’t you?”
“Fuckin’ disgusting,” Liam agrees.
“Would it be rude if I take this bad boy for a ride while they’re having a moment?” Carter asks. I can see he has finished getting the scooter out of the box and assembled. He tries to do a little jump kick in the middle of the living room and busts his ass. Maddox howls with laughter and Liam helps him up.
I kiss the top of Andi’s head. “Thank you. This is perfect. And now I feel like my gift doesn’t live up to it.”
“Then maybe I shouldn’t tell you I got all of you one more gift.”
“Damn it,” I say, laughing. “I’m definitely going to have to make it up to you.”
“I told you,” Jake says. “Andi always outdoes everyone with gifts.”
“Well,” I say, going to the tree and plucking an envelope with Andi’s name from the branches. “This is what I got you.”
She looks at it and shakes it. “Did you get me cash, Jesse? I always love cash.”
