Page 55 of A Gift of Time
“Me too,” I said before giving a short laugh. “Do you want your clock back? There might be another person somewhere who needs a harsh smack of reality.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Nick looped his thumbs under his suspenders and stared at the clock. “It’s yours, Jack. Whenever you see it, you’ll remember what’s important in life.”
I quirked a brow. “Nick… are you Santa Claus?”
As the question left my mouth, I felt stupid, but I had to know.
He smiled, and his blue eyes did that twinkling thing again. “Enjoy your life, Jack. Love is the greatest gift of all. Now, you will never forget it. Merry Christmas.”
And then he was gone… as in fucking vanished.
“Babe?” Caden poked his head around the corner. “Everything okay?”
I met his stare and felt my chest swell with indescribable warmth, one that wound from my heart and down into my stomach.
“Yeah, I was just looking at your clock,” I said, motioning to it on the mantel. “Do you still want me to return it?”
Caden walked over and wrapped his arms around me from behind, nuzzling his face into my shoulder. “No. I want to keep it. I’m sorry I was ungrateful. We both said some mean things.”
I draped my arms over his and swayed a bit.
He smiled against my back and moved with me.
“What are you boys up to?”
We turned to see Caden’s mom in the entryway to the living room, smiling and holding a large mug of hot cocoa. Her blond hair was the same shade as Caden’s and it curled around her face.
When Caden let his hair grow out, it curled, too. It was evident in how the pieces around his ears sprung up in little curly Q’s when he hadn’t had a trim in a while.
“Well, what are you two waiting for?” she asked, going to sit on the cream and plum colored, high back Victorian chair. “Get the presents. We have some unwrapping to do.”
Caden smiled and went to the tree. He bent and grabbed a few boxes before standing back up and handing one to me and one to his mom.
Before I opened mine, I got one of his and handed to him, kissing him on the neck after he took it.
“I love you, Cay.”
He stared at me, and his eyes were full of love and wonder. “I love you, too, Jack.”
No gift under the tree was as wonderful as the one I already had with Caden.
Thank you, Nick,I thought to myself and hoped he could somehow hear me.
I’d gotten my Christmas wish after all; it was just one I hadn’t realized until now. He had given me my life back.
And I knew, without a doubt, I was right where I wanted to be.
