Page 65 of The Surprise

“Wait.”

“I thought my future stepson, who has no car of his own, might want it.”

Play it cool, Ethan. Don’t drool. “I mean, it’s a decent truck for someone in this area.”

“Nice,” Steve says. “Then do we have a deal?”

As if I was really going to reject the horse doc on my mom’s behalf. She can do the rejecting herself if she wants. And on that note. . . “Now, let’s talk about what happens if we strike this deal and mymomturns you down.”

Steve laughs. “You can keep the truck.”

“Are you for real?”

He nods slowly. “Yep. I’ll have bought a new one by then already anyway.”

“I don’t regret backing you,” I say. “I have to admit. Classy move.”

“Nice question, though. You may want to ranch instead of studying, but you are still your mother’s son.”

“Darn straight,” I say.

“Now, tell me the thing you’re upset about.”

I figure I have nothing to lose. I fill him in on the plan—friend zone to end zone.

He smiles like he’s proud. “I’m going to be swinging big soon, so as one man to another, don’t wait too long.”

We talk for another few minutes, and he helps me decide. If my mom says yes to Steve, if we’re sticking around, I’ll try and use all that holiday magic to make my move, too.

The next few days crawl by, as opposed to the usual pre-Christmas race. But finally, the big day does come, and I’m probably as nervous as Steve. After all, he’s not the only one who has something riding on this.

I try to pull Steve aside and ask him when he’s going to do it. But before I can, Amanda Saddler leaps out of her chair and starts for the tree. I swear, she moves with as much energy as Gabe. There’s no way she looks eighty-something.

She plucks a box out and thrusts it out to Mom.

Mom stammers, and she never does that. “Y-you—of all people, didn’t need to get us a single thing.”

“I beg to differ,” Amanda Saddler says. “In fact, from the day Amanda brought me those letters of Jed’s, I’ve been thinking. I loved Jed, but he and I screwed everything up royally. I figure that’s probably why he was like he was, all confused and stupid.”

Mom looks a little off-guard, unsure what to expect. I’m sure she’s wondering if she got Amanda a nice enough gift.

“Here.” Amanda Saddler basically drops the present on her lap.

“Well, you didn’t need to do anything at all,” Mom says, “but thank you.”

“It’s for all of you.” Amanda Saddler waves at Gabe, Izzy, Whitney, and then she winks at me. “The whole Abigail Brooks clan.”

Mom sucks at accepting gifts. It’s fine, because usually she doesn’t get much. I mean, our money comes from her, and Dad’s dead, so he’s not about to surprise her, but even when he was alive, she mostly picked out her own stuff.

When Mom finally opens it, she stares blankly at the box with the word ‘Macy’s’ written across it. I wonder whether that means something to Mom.

It’s for all of us, but I have no idea what Macy’s is. I think maybe it’s a store for old people? Did Amanda Saddler get us. . .dentures? Oh, no. What if it is some weird, old person thing?

But it’s a stack of paper in the box.

“What is this?” Mom looks almost frantic, her eyes searching Amanda Saddler’s face. “This isn’t—” She covers her mouth and shakes her head. “We can’t accept it.”

I’m done sitting and waiting for Mom to explain what our group gift is. I grab the box.

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