Page 54 of A Gift of Time
He scoffed. “I’ve always said that you’ll get the promotion eventually. You just need to prove it with your work, Jack. Your ideas are out of this world amazing, and once they see that, you’ll have that corner office in no time.”
“I see that now,” I said, smiling and squeezing his hand a little tighter. “Caden Bell, you are everything right in my life, and without you, I wouldn’t have anything. I wouldn’tbeanything but an empty shell of myself. You’ve never tried to change who I am. You’ve just taken the good parts of me and made me better.” My thumb smoothed over his engagement ring. “I want to marry you and spend each day of the rest of our lives showing you just how much I love you.”
His forehead creased.
“Are you sure you’re feeling all right?” he asked.
“I have you, Cay. I’ve never been better.”
Then, I kissed him, pushing him against the counter. He moaned into my mouth and gripped my sides, swirling his eager tongue against mine.
Fuck he tasted incredible. I couldn’t believe I was actually with him.
Relief coursed through me, and I kissed him deeper, tangling my fingers in his hair.
It might have only been a day since I’d had sex with him, but inthisreality—the real one—it had been over two weeks. Probably longer. Everything had been going wrong in our relationship: communication, bonding, and sex. For days, we’d hardly said two words to each other, and when we had, we’d bickered.
In my quest to get everything I wanted, I’d forgotten about the one thing that mattered most.
“Will you fuck me?” Caden asked in a pant as I kissed down his throat and pressed more against him.
“No,” I said, staring into his handsome face. “But I’ll make love to you.”
His answering smile made my heart soar.
***
A few hours later, Caden was in the dining room with his mom. He’d told her to come over to our house after all, and they were sitting at the table after Christmas dinner—that’d been more like a late lunch—visiting and catching up on each other’s lives.
I had snuck off, just to get a little time to myself to think.
Caden and I’d had one hell of an amazing morning. I’d carried him to the bedroom and made love to him like I never had before. And then, he’d made love to me. No other time had ever been so soul-shattering.
There hadn’t been a deadline hanging over my head, drama from ex-boyfriends, or any of the other shit the other reality had shown me. It had just been me and him; getting lost in each other and blocking out the rest of the world.
In the living room, I stared at the clock on the mantel, one that was no longer frozen or counting down the hours I had left.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a voice said from behind me.
Turning, I looked at Nick.
“I would say I’m surprised to see you, but I’m kind of used to it now,” I said, putting my hands in my hoodie pocket.
The old man smiled and approached the fireplace. He wore red pants, a white shirt, and red suspenders. A red knit hat was pulled over his head, and his white beard appeared a little longer than the last time I’d seen him.
“How am I here?” I asked once he was beside me.
“You made a wish,” he answered in a casual way.
“I recall making a crap load of wishes, Nick.” I looked at the clock again, studying the golden swirls. “Caden didn’t fall in love with me in time. And yet, I still woke up here.” I returned my gaze to him, hoping he had an explanation. “How?”
“On that balcony, you did something remarkable, Jack,” he said, lifting a hand to rub at his beard. “All this time, you’ve only thought of yourself. Your needs and wants. Sure, you realized you love Caden and wanted to be with him again, but you still centered it on yourself. To makeyourlife better.” His eyes flashed to me, observing me through his glasses. “But as you stood out there in the snow, you made a wish that was selfless, one where you put your needs aside and focused on Caden. His needs. You wished for his happiness, even if it meant your unhappiness. That, my boy, is love.”
I didn’t know how to respond as I absorbed his words.
“So, thiswasa Disney thing,” I finally said, smirking. “True love broke the spell. Just not in the way I thought it would.”
Nick chuckled, and it was a deep, jolly sound that shook his whole upper body. “If that helps you understand it, then yes. I’m overjoyed to see everything worked out as it should.”
