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“I did, too.” I looked at it again. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Keep going.”
I set it beside me and reached for my stocking, pulling out a cherry lollipop. I unwrapped it and popped it in my mouth. He laughed, reaching for his phone to no doubt capture the moment to blackmail me with for eternity.
I gave him the finger and laughed, reaching for another gift under the tree with my name on it.
A couple touristy T-shirts. One with Curaçao on it in a fun glittery font. The other said Willemstad with an outline of the city on it. Another had the fort on it. When had he gotten all this stuff? I’d been with him the whole time we were out and shopping—wouldn’t I have seen him buy this? I couldn’t figure it out. Unless…when I’d been at the coffee shop with Gerda.
“I’m going to be a walking advertisement for Curaçao at this rate,” I said, folding the shirts back up and setting them in front of me with a small smile.
“You’ll be the best one they ever had.”
I reached for another present under the tree. Lucas immediately leaned forward, a look of something crossing his face.
I picked it up. It seemed heavy…awfully heavy.
I gave him a confused expression as I settled it against my legs.
Definitely a heavy box wrapped in a fancy metallic Santa-patterned paper.
“What did you do, use paperweights? I know, you filled some bags with sand and tucked them inside here? I don’t think they’ll let us through customs with those.”
He shrugged a shoulder, a look of amusement on his face, that smile of his playing on his lips. “I think you’ll be okay with this one.”
“If you say so, but any issues and I’m referring them right over to you.”
I tore into the paper carefully, getting my nail under the edge of the tape and lifting, tearing it away.
A plain brown box.
So telling.
Lucas had moved closer with the cell phone in front of him, aimed squarely at me.
“You aren’t streaming this, are you?”
A moment of panic gripped me. I didn’t look presentable enough to stream, not even for just his mom. We were going to Skype her later, I knew that much, but I wasn’t ready for that right now. My messy hair, the barely any make-up look, and my T-shirt with a cartoon Santa on it. Heck, I was sure my lip gloss was long gone and on the rim of my coffee mug.
“Nope.”
“Good.”
I looked at the box in front of again. “So, brown box...”
“Open it...”
“Is this like one of those old wind-up things going to pop up and scare me to death? Because if that’s what your filming is for so you can make some viral video out of it, I’ll hurt you.”
“Abbie...”
“Okay, okay...”
I found where the box opened—the top would lift up. No tape, saved my nails from ripping. I found the edges and lifted.
My mouth opened, and I had no reaction. I wasn’t even sure I still had a heartbeat.
A top-of-the-line camera sat in front of me, all nestled nicely among bubble wrap.
