Page 105 of Our First Christmas

“I guess you could say it's a playbook.” Her eyes were cutting from me and Kace then back again. “Just like you guys, I wanted to give you something that spoke to everything that led us here and everything we have to look forward to. Open it.”

Kace and I both started opening the Christmas wrapping at the same time, and within seconds, we each had a book in our hands. I opened it and thumbed through it, realizing it was written like a novel with pictures taped inside.

“It's a journal, but you guys relate better to the word ‘playbook’. They are just small entries that I had started writing, replaying moments that meant a lot to me. I cannot play sports or afford major things, but I can write, and I couldn't think of a better gift than to give you two my version of our story. My words. Not just the past, but the future.”

There was a lot of room to add pages and memories.

“Ali,” Kace spoke first. “This is the perfect gift.”

I nodded but couldn’t look up yet. How did this woman turn me from a big, bad football player, to a pile of emotions—on the same fucking day?

“If you look inside,” she spoke to Kace, who had moved to stand next to her. “It has dates and things we have done. But there is also a schedule of sorts. You helped me make some of this possible to surprise Cam, but here is the final product.”

I finally looked up and walked to where they were standing. Ali’s smile was bright, and she turned Kace’s book to show me.

“You will never miss Christmas, Cam. Tomorrow, your family is doing their Christmas Day and we will be there. The next day, Kace’s parents are hosting us. Every year, we will make this work so that not only do we get to see all of our families, but we also get to be together.”

“Then maybe one day,” Kace added, moving to where we made a circle. He took Ali’s hand and kissed her fingers, while resting his other hand on my shoulder, squeezing tight. “One day,” he continued, “we can combine our families and make Christmas a day to remember.”

“Just as memorable as this one,” I agreed. “Our first Christmas.”

ALSO BY KATIE RAE

The GAMES Series

The Games We Play

The Lies We Tell

The Love We Make

The Way We Dance

The Way We Fight

Men of the Military

Ranger

Raptor

RECON

The Boys of Summer Novella

Pretty Boy

Man of the Month Club Novella

Love Bites

Silverbell Shore Series

Now & Then

Co-Write with Zoey Drake

Dirty Monsters

Source: www.allfreenovel.com