Page 49 of Blame It On the Lattes

She nodded her head and then looked at the pile of gifts we still had to wrap.

“It’s going to be a long night,” she said, grabbing her glass of wine from the coffee table and taking a sip.

“Yeah, but it’ll be fun.”

She rolled her eyes playfully, but there was nothing more I wanted to do right now than spend time with her—even if we were up to our elbows in gifts to wrap.

Twenty-Five

Avery

My body was sore bythe time Sam and I finished wrapping gifts. The pile looked endless when we first started, but thankfully, it went quickly, with both of us working on it together. A lot of it was for Kennedy, but we also tackled wrapping our gifts for the rest of his family.

I still had a pile of stuff hidden in my room that I needed to wrap for Sam, but that would have to wait until I was by myself so he didn’t see them. I could always have Kennedy help me this week while Sam was at work, as long as she promised not to tell him what we’d gotten him. She loved secrets and surprising people, but lately, she had been terrible at keeping them. It was as if she got too excited and couldn’t hold it in anymore.

The tree looked amazing, lit up with all of the presents tucked beneath it. It made my heart happy that I was able to pull things together to make sure Kennedy had a good Christmas. Aside from what felt like an endless amount of toys she was getting, I’d also spent a good chunk of money buying her new clothes for the winter since she’d gone through another growth spurt recently. The bonus check from Sam had been spent quickly, but it was so incredibly appreciated and needed.

When we left North Carolina, we didn’t take much with us. Kennedy had already outgrown the baby toys she had when she was little, and I hadn’t been able to afford to get her many age-appropriate toys due to trying to make ends meet the past few years. We’d brought the few toys she had, which she never complained about. That was why it made me so happy to be able to spoil her with so many new toys this year.

Even though I had no clue where we were going or what we were doing, it felt like a blessing that I was able to focus on her right now and not everything else that continuously stressed me. I had a job and thanks to Sam, a place to live without having to worry about paying rent—even though I’d offered to help out several times.

“You ready for bed?” he asked, coming up behind me and slipping a hand around my waist as he kissed my shoulder.

“Yeah. I’m exhausted. I can’t believe how many gifts there are under the tree.”

“I know. And just think, there will be even more because I haven’t wrapped yours yet.”

I turned my head to look at him over my shoulder.

“I told you that you didn’t need to get me anything, Sam.”

“And I told you I was going to. You can’t stop me from doing something I want to do, Avery.”

“Fine. I guess we’ll add yours under the tree along with mine that I still need to wrap for you.”

He spun me around so fast that I nearly lost my balance before he steadied me with his hand.

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