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“I don’t think there’s anything better than what you guys just gave me,” she said softly.
“That’s because you haven’t seen the next one.”
“He wouldn’t even letmesee it, Cass,” JJ said, her eyes wide in honesty. “It must bereallygood!”
Cassie carefully pulled the paper off the package. At the final tug, a plain box was revealed.
“Dad! What’s in thatbox?”
“Cassie will just have to open it and see,” he said with a smile.
Cassie lifted the lid of the box and gasped in shock. She reached into the box and pulled out what Jamal had spent countless hours online trying to find.
“Jamal, it’s so beautiful,” she breathed, carefully lifting the hand-crafted globe out of the box.
“The ocean is diamond cut mother-of-pearls. That’s how it shines so much. Each continent is made with other hand-carved gemstones,” he said. “But look over here.”
Jamal turned the globe until North America was facing Cassie. “I had them specifically make an Oklahoma for this globe and I made sure they made it with turquoise, because I know that’s your favorite color. I also made them put that heart in the center of the state. It’s a garnet. You told me that the reason you came to Oklahoma was because you spun the globe at your house and it landed on this state. I just want this to remind you that you now have a reason to stay.”
Cassie’s tears were flowing freely now. “This is the best gift anyone’s ever given me,” she said softly. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“You’rethe most beautiful thingI’veever seen,” he replied, kissing her softly.
“Yep. Definitely the best Christmas ever,” JJ said, holding her OU tickets in one hand with her new glove perched on the other.
Jamal smiled. He had to agree.
Untitled
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
“Thunder Up! Thunder Up!” Cassie and JJ were shouting with the rest of the crowd seated in the Chesapeake Arena on Christmas day, watching their favorite Oklahoma team leading the L.A. Lakers by twenty halfway into the last quarter.
“Man, my dad is having agame!” JJ hollered up at Callie. “Twenty-eight points, seven rebounds and ten assists?! He’s on fire!”
Cassie had to agree. Since she had begun watching Jamal play, she slowly but surely learned all the lingo associated with the sport. Now she actually understood what a rebound and an assist were. She finally even had all the names of all the players committed to memory.
“Hey, Cass! Look! There’s Aria!” JJ was pointing to the center of the court, where the Thunder cheerleaders were performing a commercial break routine. The squad struck their final pose and Aria blew a kiss their way.
“She’s super pretty,” JJ commented. “Why doesn’t she have a boyfriend?”
“Ya know, JJ, I really don’t know. I’ve never seen her with a guy on a regular basis the entire time we’ve been friends. She did go on a date with Trevin, though.”
“My Trevin? As in, the Trevin I’m probably gonna marry? That ain’t right!” JJ frowned.
Cassie held back a smile. “Maybe he just wanted to date her to pass time until you’re old enough to marry,” she replied. “Why do you want to marry Trevin, anyway? And does your dad know of your marriage plan?”
“I’m gonna marry Trevin because he likes everything I do - pizza, basketball, softball. Although he likes baseball more, but whatever. He’d still watch it with me. And you know what his favorite movie is?”
“No. What?”
“The Sandlot! We could watch it like, every day,” JJ grinned. “That would be awesome!”
Cassie pulled softly on JJ’s ponytail. “That would be pretty awesome.”
“So, Cass, I need to ask you something.”
“What’s that?” Cassie asked, holding her bottle of water up for a drink.
