Page 69 of Bounty
My immediate compliance restored her cheeriness.
The gift bag contained three beautifully wrapped presents. The first was a small photo album, containing pictures of me during the first day of every educational year from kindergarten to twelfth grade. It had been a tradition for Mom to drag Heath, Cassie, and me out of bed extra early, and snap photos of us before we went off to school to celebrate us starting another grade. To my surprise, flipping through the photos made me a bit teary-eyed. I blinked rapidly, not wanting to cry and ruin my makeup.
“This is so sweet, Mom,” I said with a sniffle.
“Aw, sweetie, don’t cry yet; you’ll make me cry!” she exclaimed, passing me a napkin.
“Let me see little you, baby,” Slice requested as I dabbed at my eyes.
That dried my tears quickly. I cringed at the thought of my boyfriend seeing my pimply middle school self or my high school emo phase.
“I’d rather—”
Cassie snatched the album from my hand and handed it to him. “Here you go, Slice.”
To his credit, he didn’t immediately open it, instead fixing her with a glare before refocusing on me, picking up on my demeanor. “I don’t have to look at them now, sweetheart.”
“No, it’s okay.” I threw Cassie a dirty look as he opened the book.
She just shrugged.
While Slice looked at my childhood pictures, I moved on to the next gift. Unwrapping the next present and revealing the state-of-the-art camera made me squeal. It put my basic digital camera to shame and included its own built-in Wi-Fi, 9-point autofocus system, and high-resolution megapixel CMOS sensor. Put simply, it was amazing. Within seconds, I set the camera down, jumped to my feet, and hugged my mom.
“Thank you, oh my gosh!”
She laughed and returned the hug, reaching over and pulling the bag closer. “You’re welcome, darling. One thing left.”
That last thing turned out to be a stunning jewelry set, consisting of a silver vine necklace with diamond flowers, and matching earrings.
“It’s gorgeous,” I breathed, lifting the jewelry closer to the light to admire them. “How much was this?”
“You know she won’t tell you, Effie,” Cassie said with a petulant pout. “Besides, you got more than me when I graduated high school, so why does it matter?”
“Only a car, poor you,” I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm as my temper started to rise.
“It was used.”
Heath shook his head. “Classic Cass,” he said, resembling Dad more by the day. “Never grateful for shit.”
Cassie tossed her red hair and sniffed. “You don’t understand, Heath. You got a new car—”
“That I fucking worked for,” Heath snapped. I maintained she and Mom drove Heath to move as far away as possible. “Mom and Dad matched what I saved. I had to take care of my monthly payment. You had zero expense. Not even insurance. They paid that, too.”
“On ausedcar,” Cassie reiterated.
I growled. “It was more than you had before, and in good condition, so stop bitchin’. Mom and Dad also paid for a year’s rent when you graduated community college, so—”
“Children, please!” Dad said, fixing us with a hard stare. “Cassie, stop ruining your sister’s day.” He pointed from Heath to me. “You two, stop adding fuel to the fire.”
That caught Slice’s attention, his gaze snapping from the photo album to my father. “Effie isn’t doing shit—”
The look I gave him silenced him, though he didn’t return to flipping through the pictures.
“Enough squabbling,” Mom ordered, before redirecting the conversation back to my jewelry. “I thought of you the moment I saw it, Effie. You can make them heirlooms and give them to your daughter when she graduates or wear them when you get married. You’ve always wanted a botanical garden wedding, so they’ll be perfect.”
I looked at Slice, trying to imagine what he’d look like in a tuxedo. Handsome, no doubt; I didn’t think he was capable of making anything look bad. An image of him standing by a wedding arch as Dad escorted me down the aisle popped into my head. Slice would look dapper and stare at me with hearts in his eyes.
Warmth filling me, I sighed dreamily.
