Page 69 of Take Me Home for Christmas

“Aunt Mia, let me see,” Emma said. I lifted her onto my lap.

“It’s two little girls holding hands,” she said, pointing inside. “And there’s a little dog. And a house.” I heard a click. Leave it to the four-year-old to find the on switch. “Oooh, the house has Christmas lights,” she exclaimed. “And there’s an angel.”

I looked around her shoulder. An angel?

Sure enough, there was a third figure, her hands on each child’s shoulders like she was guarding them, keeping them safe. I examined the globe from different angles. The figure didn’t have wings. But she definitely looked…protective.

I sensed exactly why Brax had given this to me. It was a bit bold. Maybe a bit brazen. But I got why he did it.

“I—I think it means how we watch over our kids in the hospital,” I said.

“Like a doctor guarding the health of patients,” Dina said, intuitively getting it. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s kind of like you watching over kids like you and Grace,” my mom said. She didn’t go so far as to say cancer patients. She knew my reaction too well to go there.

Maybe Brax chose it because it was so similar to that globe many years ago, a representation of me and Gracie together. Except I understood what Brax had intended for me to see. This time, I wasn’t one of the kids. He was trying to tell me I could be a guardian for kids like Gracie. Like Rylee. Kids with cancer.

Tears were streaming now. I couldn’t stop them.

Brax somehow knew what I couldn’t face, and yet he’d made me face it. In a gentle way, if that made any sense. It was like hewas trying to tell me not to be afraid. Maybe I should be angry, but I wasn’t. When I looked at the three figures, Iwantedto be the so-called angel. I’d always wanted to protect kids because I hadn’t been able to protect Gracie. And maybe that meant taking one further leap than I’d been willing to take.

“That doesn’t seem like the kind of gift someone gives you who’s just trying to knock you out of the running for a job,” Caleb said.

If Caleb could say something that charitable, it must mean something. Also, he was right.

Caleb collected the gift wrap to toss in the recycle container. “Hey, I’m thinking of heading back tomorrow after lunch.” He used the ball of paper to shoot a basket. “Want a ride?”

“Yeah, sure. Thanks,” I said.

Brax got me, more than anyone I’d met. He pushed me to examine myself, and sometimes understood me scarily more than I did myself.

I’d been quick to judge him. Quick to believe he’d betrayed me. And I hadn’t given him the benefit of the doubt.

Chapter Twenty-One

Brax

“What are you doing back so soon?” Gabe narrowed his eyes and asked me between inhaling bites of “spaghetti” in the cafeteria that night. “Spaghetti” in quotes because it looked—well, pale and clumpy, with a sauce that was more orange than red. And it sucked, just like my life right now.

That was also how I would’ve defined my mood at the moment—pale and clumpy. I felt cold and clammy. I felt paralyzed with nerves. If I didn’t get my attitude readjusted quickly, it was going to be a really long night.

“That looks…disgusting,” I couldn’t help saying.

I was downing my fourth cup of coffee since this morning. If I didn’t cut myself off soon, my shakes would have shakes.

Gabe, however, was inhaling the pasta. “Don’t judge me,” he said between hurried bites. “I got in at midnight last night, I’m on call tonight, and I’m starving because I have no food in my apartment. Tomorrow, when I get off, it’ll be Christmas Day, and all the grocery stores will be closed.” He checked his watch.“Plus, I’ve only got ten minutes before I have to be in the ER. And my holiday was great, thanks. How was yours?”

I didn’t even ask about Jason. “Sorry.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Did you say yes?”

He stopped eating long enough to grin widely. “I said yes.”

“Oh wow. Gabe, that’s—” I smiled back and clapped him on the back. “Wonderful. Congratulations, man.”

I was genuinely thrilled for him. He deserved happiness.

Gabe wiped his mouth with his napkin. “The wedding’s in July, as soon as this year of hell ends. In Charleston. Ever been?”

I cracked a little smile and did my best to sound enthused. “Not yet, but I can’t wait to go.”

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