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“Sure, as long as you say thank you to Auntie Lucy and Uncle Dante first.”
What the actual fuck.Uncle Dante? I stiffened, felt more than heard Lucy’s sharply indrawn breath, then braced myself as Chloe catapulted herself into my lap, while Mila climbed quietly into Lucy’s. Without an ounce of shyness, Chloe threw her arms around my neck, gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek and said thank you. Mila, obviously much shyer than her sister, looked at me cautiously. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable, I murmured, “Fist bump?” She nodded, so I put a fist out, she tapped hers to mine, which was very cute, said a quiet thank you and climbed down again from Lucy’s lap, taking her onesie to Matt, so he could help her put it on.
“Uncle Matt’s her favorite. When he’s here, we might as well not exist,” Lucy explained with a chuckle.
“I see.” I watched as Matt helped Mila into the suit with practiced ease. He was obviously very used to caring for his nieces. It was adorable the way she climbed up onto his lap once she was dressed and immediately snuggled in. It gave me a strange pang to see them that I wasn’t ready to think about, so I turned my attention back to Chloe.
“This is the best presentever!” She was standing in the middle of a pile of wrapping paper, hugging her arms around her body.
“Does that mean we should take your Elsa dress back to the store?” Bruce joked.
Chloe looked concerned for a moment, a worried frown on her little face. Then her face cleared again. “I know! I can wear both!”
While Chloe was putting her Elsa dress on over her Bluey onesie, Lucy turned to me, her eyes dancing, and said quietly, “I think you’re in charge of all future present buying.”
I grinned and, without even thinking about it, tapped her nose. “And I did it all without an app.”
We both went still, gazing at each other for a long moment. We’d been pretty careful not to mention Seattle or say anything that might stir up memories of that weekend. It wasn’t a deliberate, conscious decision; it just seemed easier to focus on the here and now rather than bring up the weekend that had led us to this strange point.
“And now, we’ve got something special for the lovebird newlyweds.”
We both turned our heads to look at Elissa.
“What’s this?” Lucy asked, taking the envelope Elissa was holding out to her.
“If you open it, you’ll find out.”
It was clear that it was a gift for both of us and I hoped it wasn’t going to be something that would make Lucy feel awkward. No such luck. Lucy opened the envelope, removed a sheet of paper and read what it said. A weekend for two at a winery—the honeymoon package, no less. There were pictures of the cozy living room of a little cottage with a fireplace, a hot tub with a bottle of champagne and two flutes sitting beside it, a couple getting massages together, and a woman sitting in a chair with green goo and a blissful expression all over her face.
Ellen piped up. “We realized that you’d been too unwell to organize a honeymoon and since you hadn’t mentioned taking one, we all kicked in and got you this. You can take it any time you like, it’s good for twelve months.”
“Oh, wow, thanks, Mom. That’s great. Thanks, everyone.”
Lucy did an admirable job of faking her excitement and I did my best to do the same, smiling and nodding while Claire talked about a work colleague’s experience at the same place. It was “pure luxury” and we’d “love it so much”, apparently. It was awkward as fuck, but we got through it. Until the next awkward moment, of course.
“What about you, Luce? What did Dante get you for Christmas?” Jen asked.
“Oh, um…”
“We were running too late this morning for us to swap presents, so we’ll do it later, when we get home,” I put in smoothly. It was true as far as I was concerned, since I did have a present for her in the trunk of my car. We hadn’t talked about buying presents for each other, so I didn’t know if she’d got me something, but there was no way I was giving presents to her whole family, plus Gabe and Jake, without having something for her as well.
Lucy shot me a grateful look, and I smiled at her reassuringly. A few minutes later, Ellen said it was time to get dinner happening, which meant everyone hustled to clean up the living room before moving into the kitchen, to do what they had to do to prepare.
Lucy hung back after everyone left the room, looking at me uncertainly.
“What is it?”
“Just, you know, it must all be a bit weird and uncomfortable for you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. It can’t be any easier for you.”
“Uncle Dante. A couples weekend. Buying presents for people you barely know. Going to a baseball game with two friends you haven’t seen for over a decade.” She let out a sigh. “It’s…a lot.”
Unable to help myself, because she looked so uncertain and guilty, I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “It will be well worth it once the insurance is approved.”
“You’re so calm about it.”
“I’m just doing what I’ve gotta do to make sure you’re okay.”
