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Chapter 18
Ginny
When we got back to the cabin last night, we decided to huddle together in Melly’s room. We ate popcorn and watched Hallmark movies until we fell asleep. But it’s Christmas, and just like when I was a little girl, I’m up at the ass crack of dawn, excited about giving Melina her gift and then seeing the guys later.
The only downfall is having to leave them. I never thought it was possible to grow so close and develop such intense feelings for someone so quickly, let alone three people.
Sitting up, I see Melina is still sleeping. Her soft snores, which she will never admit to, fill the room. She obviously doesn’t have the same excitement as I do about the day. Getting on my knees, I begin to bounce up and down on the bed, making sure to shake her.
“Come on, Melina, wake up. It’s Christmas,” I sing to her.
“Leave me alone,” she cries as she pulls the pillow out from under her head and puts it over her ears.
I reach out, taking hold of her arm and shake her until she rolls over, finally relenting. “Fine, I’ll get up. Seriously, Ginny, are you five?”
“Aww, you know you love me and hello, it’s Christmas!” We both get out of bed and head to the living room. The only difference between now and when I was a kid is the number of presents under the tree. Instead of an abundance of gifts, some I didn’t even want, there’s a small cluster. These presents, though, are given with love and thought. It’s always been that way with Melina and me.
We stop for a moment to take in the tree. It’s stunning, decorated in shades of ice blue and silver. It’s a medley of icicle and ball ornaments with twinkling blue and white lights. On top of the tree is a shiny silver star. In all my years and all the trees we’ve had, this is by far my favorite.
“Can we get some coffee before we open?” Melina’s voice is sluggish. For coffee, I can definitely wait.
“Let’s do it.”
We both head into the kitchen, one heading to the cabinet for sugar and then to the fridge to get our creamer, while the other heads to the coffee pot to begin brewing. Working like a cohesive unit, each doing what needs to be done so we can sit in front of the tree with a steaming cup of goodness in hand.
It’s a perfect morning. One that could only be made better by having Chase, Carter and Blake with us.
We both sit for a moment, letting our coffee take effect. “Okay, time for gifts,” I announce, tired of waiting. The excitement in me to see her face when she opens hers has me giddy. Setting my coffee on the floor, I reach under the tree and pull out the first of the three boxes underneath it and hand it over to her. It’s a large rectangular box, wrapped in purple and pink paper, her favorite colors.
“The wrapping is so beautiful I don’t want to open it.” She looks at me and smiles, no doubt seeing my jitteriness, waiting for her to rip the paper. “But I will,” she adds with a laugh.
She takes her time, much to my dismay, carefully pulling the tape up and undoing the ribbons. While Melina savors the moment of opening gifts, I rip them open, needing to see what the giver picked out for me.
I know the minute she sees it as she lifts the top of the box off, her eyes go wide as tears build in them. Inside is a painting I had made of her and her parents on their last Christmas. With the help of her aunt, I was able to obtain the picture to have the scene recreated. Her parents died in a fatal plane crash when she was sixteen, six months after the picture was taken. In the middle of the flight, something happened with the engine and the plane went down. It killed her parents, the couple with them, and the pilot.
“It’s beautiful, Ginny, thank you.” She sets the picture down, leans over it, and captures me in a hug. “Somehow I don’t feel anything I got you will compare to this.”
Handing over the other two gifts to her, I wait as she opens them, taking in her excitement with each one; the first, a bracelet with a heart charm that when opened, holds a picture of the two of us, and the second, a trip for us to Greece for a month in the summer.
Setting hers to the side, she leans over, pulling three boxes of different sizes out for me. “Now it’s my turn. I hope you love them.” She slides them over to me and I smile, so happy for this time we have together.
One by one, I open them, chuckling at her silliness and her thoughtfulness. Much like me, she had a similar idea. Instead of a bracelet, she got me a necklace and only when I had put it on, did she show me the one around her neck, the connecting piece of the best friend necklace.
The next gift was a picture album collage she had made of us through the years, and last, a spa weekend for us with an open date. All things she knew I would cherish, sentimental and girlie girl.
“I love these, and I think we should do the spa weekend before we go to Greece.” I smile widely.
“Ginny, I couldn’t agree more. It would seem great minds think alike.”
She looks over at me as I pick up my coffee, taking another sip. I can tell she wants to say something by the way her nose scrunches and those little wrinkles in her forehead as she furrows her brow.
“Go ahead and spit it out. I know you’re dying to say something.”
“I know you’re going back to the guys’ place tonight, but are you sure you want to? Maybe just staying here and letting the last time you saw them be it. Maybe it’s the best thing for you.”
“No, Melina, I can’t do that. I need closure and for them to have it, too. It will be the last thing I truly do for myself for a long time.”
“Okay babes. I love you,” she tells me, and my heart warms at how much she cares about me.
