Page 121 of Unbreakable
You look it
Presents were stackedall around us, and wrapping paper littered the floor.
“You did it, J,” I said. “Another great Christmas.”
“We did it,” Jeanine said, catching my eye. “Thanks for all you did this time. It really does help. Means a lot.”
Her gaze stayed on me, softening. “And thank you for The Plan.”
“Except for the part where I got our son hospitalized,” I said.
She laughed. “I wasn’t going to bring that up, but yeah, except that part.”
“The Plan’s not over.”
She raised her eyebrows. “It’s not?”
“Now it’s time for the bigger plan.”
“Which is?”
I reached for her hand. “We do the hard part. We keep working on this. On us. We keep fighting for each other, against each other. Fighting for us.”
She snorted. “No one else I’d rather go through the swamps of hell with, Dylan.”
I leaned in to beg for a kiss. “I hope you think it’s worth it.”
She nodded. “It’s worth it. I want you, Dylan.” Her eyes misted. “I always want you.”
“Come here,” I said, pulling her so she could straddle my lap. We were both in our stinky all-day PJs, unshowered and blissfully dirty. “I’ll always want you too.”
“You don’t know that,” she sighed, sticking out her bottom lip and draping her arms over my shoulders.
“I do know.”
“What if my skin gets prune-y and my vagina dries up and my boobs are saggy?”
My hands scraped down her back, resting on her waist. “I’ll still want you.”
“What if I lose my memory and think you’re the devil and the only choice you have is to be my mean nurse?”
“I’ll still be there, wanting you.” I paused, a vague memory coming to me. “Wait, isn’t that the plot of one of your movies?”
“Shut up, it could happen,” she laughed, then tipped her head like she was thinking. “When I’m a corpse in a casket?”
The thought alone was enough to knock the air from my lungs. “That’s when I’d want you the most, Jeannie. I don’t want to think about saying goodbye to you. I hope I go first so I don’t have to live without you.”
She frowned, rounding her eyes at me. “I was just going to make a dead person fucking joke, but you had to go make it the saddest thing in the world.”
I rubbed my nose to hers. “What I’m saying is, no matter what happens, I’ll still want you. It’ll always be you for me, Jeannie. You and me against the world.”
She leaned forward to kiss me. “You and me.”
Jeannie fellasleep while we were snuggling on the couch, some Christmas movie droning in the background. J was curled up with her head on my chest, drooling away on me.
I held my phone in my hand, staring at the messages from my mom. Something about them wasn’t sitting right.
She didn’t ask to video chat with the kids. She saidhope you have a great day, nothing about the kids or Jeannie. Let’s face it: Christmas is most fun for kids. We, as their parents, get to enjoy the magic through them. And like I said, they were happy, so I was happy.
