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Duke smiled as he reached back for my door to throw it open. An older guy in his sixties with salt and pepper hair shuffled in.
“How’s my Claire Bear doin?” he asked with a grin.
Claire looked between the two men, shocked. “How? I thought–”
“Got him on a flight this morning,” Duke said, looking real proud of himself.
Claire launched herself at Duke again.
“I don’t get a hug?” Her dad scoffed, shaking his head, but a grin played on his face. It was obvious he wasn’t actually upset. He liked seeing his daughter happy.
40. Tyler
Case and I usually drove back to Minnesota for Christmas. We typically went to Claire and Addie’s dad’s house for Christmas Eve and then the Callahan house for Christmas dinner. The Callahans were known for inviting “lost boys,” aka billet kids, over to their house for Christmas, and now it was a tradition for all of us to show back up there every year for dinner.
But with Addie on bedrest, things were looking a little different this year. Case was the first to say they wouldn’t be making the trip back to our hometown. And after that, Claire said she didn’t want to leave town just in case her sister needed her. And Duke wouldn’t leave his wife during Christmastime, so now we were all here.
Hassik, originally from Sweden, and Garcia, from Florida, couldn’t make the trek home and then back again in time for our next game, so they were sticking around as well. It actually worked out well because I needed their help. They found a last-minute Christmas tree last night– not quite sure how, but I didn’t want to question it.
This morning, I woke up before everyone else to make sure everything looked perfect. It was mine and Stevie’s first Christmas together, and I wanted it to be a day she’d never forget. I sipped my coffee while making sure the gifts were all lined up.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the sugar cookies Stevie laid out for Santa. I completely forgot about those. I quickly swiped one up and froze when I heard rumbling behind her door, alerting me that she was up.
I took a large bite and quickly downed it with some coffee.
A second later, Stevie bounded out of the room, barefoot and in her pink pajamas. She came to a complete stop in front of the tree.
“Oh my Gosh.” Her eyes danced over the presents, the stockings, the half-eaten cookie on the fireplace, and I felt my chest swell with pride over giving her a fun Christmas morning– the kind of Christmas morning Casey always tried to give me when I was a kid. As a teen, I looked back and felt kinda bad that he went to all the trouble to try and make things fun for me, but now I realized it must’ve been nice for him too. Getting the chance to provide was also a gift.
“Santa found me,” she said, her eyes tearing up. I quickly got to my feet to pull her into a hug. I hadn’t even known she’d been worried about that. It just showed she needed more time to fully let me into her little world.
“Of course he found you. You’re a great little girl,” I told her, patting her messy hair.
She wiped her eyes and tentatively walked toward the presents. It shocked me when, instead of tearing into her own presents, she shyly said, “Should we wake up the boys? I got them something.”
My eyebrows popped up in surprise. “You did?” When did she have the time to go out and pick something up?
“Yes, I got you something too,” she said with a tiny smile. “But I wanna give them at the same time so no one gives it away!” She was running to their rooms then.
“Rise and shine, boys!” She knocked loudly on their doors. “It’s Christmas time!” she practically shrieked with happiness in her voice.
I couldn’t help but laugh as my teammates came strolling out of their rooms, wiping the sleep from their eyes.
Garcia, who’s hair was sticking up at odd angles, gave me a look that said it was way too early.
“Don’t be a grump. It’s 9am, could be way worse, bud,” I said, clapping him on the back.
Stevie ran behind the tree and grabbed up three shirt boxes wrapped in red wrapping paper. “Josie helped me,” she said in a little voice, “but they’re from me, okay?”
The three of us made eye contact and went for it at the same time.
Inside the box was a very bright, very busy, plaid button-down dress shirt.
“Aren’t they pretty!” she shrieked. “You can wear them under your suits for your next game! You’ll be matching! Then everyone will know your best friends!”
Hassik was already trying his shirt on.
Garcia was cringing hard as he took in the clashing colors.
