When it was nearly nine, Gael seemed to be yawning more often than he was turning pages.
“Should we head up?” Jenny asked. “It was a wonderful Christmas, but I can barely keep my eyes open.”
“Me too,” Gael said.
She knew he was ready for some rest, but he looked a little sad that the day was over. Which was understandable, since Jenny was feeling a little of that herself.
“Erik offered to take us to a big farm tomorrow,” she reminded him. “He said they have a lot of Christmas stuff there. What do you think about that?”
“Okay,” Gael said, brightening instantly. “Will the Christmas stuff still be there tomorrow?”
“Erik seems to think so,” Jenny said, not exactly wanting to promise when she couldn’t vouch for it personally. “And he lives in Trinity Falls, so hopefully he’s right.”
“He’s a good guy,” Gael said around a big yawn as he slid off his chair and grabbed his stack of comics.
“He really is,” Jenny said. It was a funny thing for a nine-year-old to say, but he wasn’t wrong.
They headed upstairs and took turns in the bathroom. When they both had clean teeth and faces and warm pajamas on, Jenny walked with Gael to the nook where his cot was waiting.
“Is this thing comfortable?” she asked him again.
“It’s awesome,” he said right away. “And I can hear you walking around and stuff, so it’s cozy.”
“Well, I’ll try to keep it down,” she told him. “We need our beauty sleep if we want to have enough energy to explore a real farm tomorrow.”
“Beauty sleep,” Gael echoed, chuckling as he crawled into his cot.
“Sleep well,” she told him, tucking a blanket around him.
“Can we say a prayer tonight?” he asked her.
“Of course,” she told him. “You don’t ever need my permission to say a prayer. You know that, right?”
“I know,” he said contentedly. “Ready?”
She lowered herself to the floor beside the cot, then nodded and closed her eyes.
“Thank you for a great Christmas,” Gael said. “And thank you for good food to eat and a safe place to sleep. Please bless Abuela and make sure she doesn’t miss me too much. And please help the soldiers find stuff to do and people to love them so they don’t feel scared and lonely. Amen.”
Jenny felt a twinge of heartache at the innocent yet wise words of the boy she loved so desperately.
“That was beautiful, Gael,” she told him, trying to keep her voice calm and level so that he wouldn’t see that she was close to tears.
“Thank you,” Gael said sleepily. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” she told him, rising and kissing the top of his head before heading out to the living room area.
The rooms they were staying in, thanks to Erik, were quiet and cozy. The light from the little Christmas tree was just enough that she didn’t need any other lights on to make her way to her bedroom.
But on her way past, she spotted her cell phone charging in the windowsill and decided she’d better check on it since she’d been without it all day.
She and Gael had done a video call with her parents this morning, but she must not have plugged it in properly on Christmas Eve, because that was about all the battery it had left. So she’d left it plugged in here when they headed to the Center since she figured she wouldn’t really need it there.
It was funny. There was a time when being without her phone for even a short time would have filled her with anxiety. But ever since Gael came into her life, she had been relying on it less and less. She guessed that she just didn’t need it as a way to check on theworld now, since her whole world was right here with her.
As she picked it up, she was surprised to feel it buzz in her hand.
She unplugged it and carried it into her bedroom with her. It buzzed twice more as she walked the short distance.
