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“Well,” Audra glances at me, a sign that she's found one she likes, but hasn't mentioned to me yet. “Neil was joking around one night and mentioned Grace. Liana Grace Lawson sounds pretty, doesn't it?” Our moms nod. “Do you like it, Neil?”
I lean over to kiss her temple. “Yeah, babe. It's perfect. Plus, her initials won't be LOL.”
Audra laughs and that makes the night so much better than it was.
WHEN WE FINALLY make it home,
Audra props her feet up on the coffee table and sits down on the couch with a sigh of relief. I lay with my head in her lap, feeling much the same way.
“That went pretty well, don't you think?”
“Yeah,” I answer, closing my eyes.
Her fingers play with strands of my hair. “I hope she has your hair.”
“Mhm,” I hum, feeling sleepier.
“When are we going to talk about hockey?”
“Later.”
“Ooh! Head up.”
I lift my head as she stands, probably going to the bathroom. I lay back down.
“Neil,” a voice whispers in the distance. “Neil. Wake up!” she says louder, shaking my shoulder to jar me away. Audra is hovering over me, looking a bit aggravated. “About time. Come on, let's go to bed,” she finishes nicely.
As we change and get ready for bed, I realize I never gave her what she asked for. “Babe,” I start as we slip between the sheets. “Did you still want a massage?”
“No, it's okay. You need to sleep a bit before you go into work anyway.”
“Fuck.” I reach for my phone having forgotten to set my alarm. After I set it, I finally relax, closing my eyes once more.
“Good night, Neil,” Audra whispers.
Turning my head, I open my eyes. She's seems so far away even though she's only on her side of the bed. “C'mere.” Once she's cuddled against me, I continue, “Everything will be okay, so don't worry, alright? We'll talk soon. Promise.”
CHRISTMAS DAY IS finally here. Audra really loves the holiday. She could barely fall asleep last night as if Santa himself was about to climb through my window and surprise her. I was nearly asleep when she shook me awake again because we didn't make cookies. Not even kidding. So then I had to not only go bake cookies with her, but I had to quickly run to the store to buy what we needed to make them. We ended up eating all of them before we went to bed. It was more fun than what I'm making it out to be. Probably because I need more sleep.
It's five in the morning and Audra wants to do presents. Seriously.
“Babe, don't you want to wait until later? It's one present. Two, if you count Liana's. The sun isn't even up yet. Why are we?” I roll away from her, intent on going back to sleep.
“Neil Lawson, get your butt out of bed right now.” She pokes me hard in the back.
“This is crazy, Audra.”
“Please. We're already awake.”
Yeah, because she woke me up. “Fine,” I give in, knowing that she won't stop otherwise.
She actually giggles with excitement. “Let's fix a cup of hot chocolate first. Good thing you bought some last week.” Only because she insisted.
We head into the kitchen and start fixing us some hot chocolate. I leave her to finish as I go gather the presents together and put them on the middle cushion on the couch. Audra walks into the room with our cups just as I've grabbed a blanket for us since it's a little chilly in here. She puts the cups on the end table as I sit and then pull her into my lap, so she sits sideways. I lay the blanket over us and Audra hands me my cup. After we both take a sip, Audra places them back where they were.
I reach for only one present and hand it to her. “This is for baby girl. I had them wrap it anyway.”
She unwraps it as if she's an excited kid who has a big box to open. Upon seeing the stuffed toy duck, she says, “Aw, it's so cute. Once the guys get back, we can start on the nursery and put it in there.” Audra gives me a kiss and then sets it aside. “Your turn,” she tells me before drinking more of her hot chocolate.
