Page 108 of Giddy Up, Daddy

He laughed and let her go. “Fine, but next time don’t start something you aren’t wanting to finish.”

That was fair. She had sat in his lap and that usually did stir things up. She scampered around to the other side of the table and dropped into a chair that was out of reach. “Maybe after I show you…”

Of course, it was going to depend on whether or not she was in trouble. She had fibbed, just a little. And aside from that… well, it was a pretty extravagant gift. She wasn’t sure how he’d deal with that.

She pushed that out of her head and focused on eating her breakfast as quickly as possible. One eye on his plate, wishing he’d eat faster. Once the food was gone, he justhadto make himself another cup of coffee and then take his time sipping it.

It almost seemed like he was dragging things out on purpose. Finally she snapped. “Sam! I swear…”

He laughed and put the cup down. “Fine, Miss Impatience. Man can’t even have a cup of coffee without being nagged.” Heshook his head in a slow dramatic way and that was when she realized hehadbeen doing it to tease her.

She sighed and slumped in her chair. “You want me to die.”

“I don’t either, brat.” He stood up. “Alright, let’s go get dressed and see what this big surprise is.”

Charlie was out of her chair and out of the room before he’d taken two steps. She was already wiggling into her jeans when he got to the bedroom, but he just shook his head and took his time.

It seemed like forever, but was probably less than ten minutes, before they were outside on the porch. Sam stopped and waited. “Lead the way, darlin.”

Charlie hurried down the steps, and almost landed on her ass when she hit an icy spot. Sam caught her and held on until she found her footing. “Whoops. It’s icy,” she blurted, as she clung to him.

“Tends to happen in winter. Just be careful.” But he held her arm down the steps, across the path, and didn’t let go until they’d reached the grass, which was more crunchy than slippery.

Once he let go of her arm, his hand slid down to take hers, and she had a happy whooshing sensation in her middle. Even though they’d been married for more than a year, it still made her giddy when he did little things like that. Fingers entwined, they trekked out to the garage.

She stopped him at the door. “Close your eyes and wait here.”

“Okay, but don’t take too long. I’m freezing.” He shivered for dramatic effect.

Charlie wasn’t exactly warm either, and the garage was unheated, but there was a fix for that. “I’ll plug in the space heater, just give me a second.” She made sure his eyes were closed, and then ducked inside to turn all the lights on.

The space heater was large and powerful. The second it kicked on, there was an immediate blast of heat, and she took a second to enjoy being able to feel her face again. She gave the bigsilver bow on the driver’s side door a tug, settling it into place, then took a deep breath and went to get Sam.

“You sure I can’t just open my eyes?” he asked, as she guided him over the threshold and across the concrete floor. “What have you got hidden out here anyway?”

“You’ll see in one second.” She positioned him where he’d have the best view. “Now, on the count of three you can look. Ready? One… two… three!”

Aside from the heater, there was complete and utter silence in the room. As it drew out, she started to get nervous. Was he upset? “Daddy?”

He didn’t answer. His eyes were wide and fixed on the truck and his mouth hung open slightly.

She shifted from one foot to the other. “D-daddy? Do you not… this is the kind you wanted, isn’t it?”

“Holy fuck.” The words stretched like a sigh. “Charlie, what did you do?”

There was a lump in her throat, and she swallowed it down hard. “I… you’ve been wanting a Li’l Red since we were kids. I knew you’d never get one for yourself because it wouldn’t be useful, so I decided… are you mad?”

“Am Imad?” He turned his head to stare at her. “Charlie, you literally bought me the truck of my dreams.”

Her shoulders slumped as a sense of relief trickled through her. She let out the breath she’d been holding, while fully aware she was holding it.

“Of course I’m mad!”

Oh. “But…”

“You must have spent a fortune on it! You said it wasn’t anything big or extravagant.”

And there it was, the part she’d been concerned about. “That was just a little fib, because I didn’t want you to worry.”

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