Page 54 of Collision of Winters
Holy crap, I definitely did.
I made a gimme motion. “Next gift, please. We gots to hurry!” I shoveled more food into my mouth too.
Daddy chuckled and handed over a flat package, and I tore the wrapping paper.
“Yaya helped you wrap these, didn’t she?” I asked knowingly. “Oh my God, yes! I love them!” Shit, I was gonna have to rewrite all my lists, because he’d given me these awesome metallic gel pens, and they were perfect for list-making. “I’ll pretty up all my lists later.” I reached up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.” He extended the third gift next, and yeah, he admitted that Yaya had helped him wrap the presents.
Totally knew it.
The next gift was a hand-sized box, and I lifted the lid. And cocked my head. What was… Ohhh! How did he know?—
“So, Chris told me this is something new you’re collecting,” Daddy said, maybe a little unsure. “You spruce up your old Chucks by replacing the shoelaces…?”
I nodded furiously and sifted through the ones he’d given me. There had to be over ten pairs here. All cool colors too.
“It’s much cheaper than buying new shoes all the time,” I said. “This is awesome, Daddy.”
“I’m glad you like them, but I hope you’ll let me take you shoe shopping if you need new shoes.” He extended the last gift.
I didn’t respond, because it was going to take a while before I didn’t feel weird accepting such things from him. I was alreadygonna need to borrow money from Dad to buy some gear before I started my training at Hillcroft.
This gift was heavier, and once I’d removed the wrapping paper, it looked suspiciously like a watch box. Wasn’t Hamilton a watch brand?
“Uh-oh…Daddy, what did you do?” I lifted the lid carefully, and sure enough… Sweet Jesus, it was an incredibly cool watch. Sleek and dressy, yet casual and subtly sporty. All black with silver details. Leather strap.
He smiled and took the watch to attach it around my wrist. “Everyone needs a good watch. Especially now that you’re going to work at Hillcroft. You won’t always have access to your phone.”
I had no words. The watch looked ridiculously good on my wrist, and it felt so extravagant.
“I love it, but it looks expensive.” I crawled up in his lap and hugged him tightly.
“Nonsense. I got it from a gumball machine.”
I laughed and shook my head.
He grinned and kissed the side of my head. “Let’s finish our food so we can—” He was interrupted by the phone ringing. “Unless Yaya’s security is calling to wish you a happy birthday, I’m going to guess it’s Quin.” He got off the couch and retrieved the phone from the kitchen counter. “Huh. Or it’s Chris.” He answered the call. “Everything all right, Coach?”
Oh, right. Chris was known as Coach at Hillcroft. And Daddy was Doc. I had to keep that in mind.
“That’s a relief,” he replied, returning to the couch. “Have a safe flight. Here he is.” He handed me the phone. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Yes, Sir.” I accepted the phone and placed it to my ear. “Hey, Coach!”
Chris chuckled. “Hey, baby brother. Happy birthday.”
“Thank you. Is everything okay?”
“Hell yeah,” he responded. “You think you can go someplace private? I’m about to piss off your bodyguard.”
I lifted my eyebrows. As in Wade?
“Sure thing.” I scrambled off the couch and gestured to Daddy that I was going into the bedroom.
It seemed to confuse him, but he nodded, nonetheless.
“I’m glad Doc filled you in, by the way,” Chris added. “Makes this a whole lot less complicated.”
