Page 126 of Eye of the Hurricane
Love, Audi.
A tear slips down my cheek and I can’t quite pinpoint what part of the note causes it. I think to some extent it’s all of it.
It’s the bittersweet knowledge of knowing she had thought that sense of safety and peace was gone forever but knowing I helped restore it. It’s the overwhelming sense that I really do have a family here with these people. It’s knowing Ares loves me so loudly that it’s beaming out of him in a way his friends can see.
“This so sweet, Audra. Thank you so much.” I stand from the couch and hug her. It’s short-lived though before she’s shooing me away and telling me to open the actual gift.
As I reach into the bag I feel a small box. I pull it out and inside of it is a dainty golden bracelet with a single charm, a hockey skate. I thank her a million more times before she moves on to Ares.
His gift is a good break from the heart-felt and tear-jerking one I got from Audra. She got him a pair of black boxers that say ‘this cock belongs to Katherine’ but instead of the word, it’s a rooster.
We all laugh and maybe if we were talking about a different man, he’d be embarrassed. It’s Ares though. So instead he’s loud and proud about how much he loves them.
“Sorry, Allison. Couldn’t help myself,” Audra says,directing her attention to Ares’ parents.
“I’ve heard worse out of you all,” she says with a lift of one shoulder.
All of a sudden the front door pushes open and there stands Luna in Christmas pajamas with a basket of gifts.
“You invited Luna?” I ask, smiling ear to ear.
“Of course we invited Luna,” Audra assures me.
“I left your gift at home, I didn’t know you were coming,” I tell her as she makes her way over to the couch to sit next to me.
“It’s okay, don’t sweat it.”
The process of gift opening goes on for quite some time. I know because once my stomach started growling I started checking the clock. We’re pushing 10:00 A.M which wouldn’t be bad except we started at eight.
Finally, all that’s left is my gift for Ares, and his gift for me. We purposely waited to be able to do ours together.
“You open first,” he insists, placing an envelope in my lap. It’s thin enough to be holding some kind of gift certificate. I swear to God if he got me a gift card for Christmas I’m going to kill him.
I’m not evil though, so I keep a smile on my face as I open the envelope. And immediately I feel bad for ever doubting him when there are two tickets to a three-day-long music festival in California in the spring.
“You told me you felt like you were living for the first time with me. I want you to keep feeling that way. So, I got us tickets to one of the biggest music festivals in the world.”
“I’m so excited. I’ve never even been to a concert,” I exclaim.
“I know.”
“What aboutwork?”
“I checked the schedule you put in the calendar to make sure I could get you there and back without missing any,” he assures me.
“You look at the calendar I make us? Are you talking dirty to me right now?”
“I don’t know is it working?” he asks, raising a brow. Ravyn gags loudly from the other end of the couch.
“Get a room,” she groans. Ares gives her the finger in response and his mom scolds him demanding he be nice.
“Your turn,” I say, dropping a larger box in his lap. It has some weight to it and he looks confused. He moves the box around in his hand a few times to try and get an idea of what it is.
“Quit trying to figure out what it is and just open it.”
“Okay okay,” he relents. Everyone laughs and he finally starts ripping away at the Christmas tree-covered paper.
When he finally peels back enough of the paper to see what it is, his eyes light up. There’s a visible excitement on his face.
