Page 92 of Tacos & Toboggans
“Before we eat those rolls, I say we open some Christmas presents.” He rubbed his hands together with glee, and I laughed, shaking my head. “I’ll start!”
He grabbed a package from under the tree and handed it to me before I ripped the paper off, surprised to see a new phone. “How did you get this so quickly?” I asked, flipping the box over to see that it was the newest version of my old phone.
“They had them in stock in Saginaw, so a little elf drove in to pick it up for me.”
“I swear, Ivy never sleeps. How does she have time for all of this?”
“It wasn’t Ivy.”
After running what he’d said through my head, I gasped. “Holly?” He nodded with a grin. “I’m shocked Mason allowed her to drive to Saginaw.”
“Oh, he went with her,” he said, laughing hysterically. “This entire town is filled with good people.”
“Amen to that,” I agreed, holding up the phone. “Thank you. This is the only way to stay in touch with work and book orders.”
“Speaking of,” he grabbed a bigger package and a smaller one and set them on my lap. “Little first.”
Curious, I tore the paper off only to gasp at the new iPad. “Major, no,” I said, shaking my head. “This is too much.”
“It’s not too much,” he insisted, his tone telling me not to argue with him. “Yours is so old it’s held together with tape and baling wire, and while it does the job, this one will do it faster and more efficiently, which is important when you have so many orders to fill. There’s a military grade case on the way, so you don’t have to worry about dropping it. Something tells me you’ll find it useful in your new position at Evergreen Acres as well.”
After reading the iPad's specifications, I had to laugh. “Major, I think this could land planes. It’s phenomenal. Thank you. Little Bird on the Moon will be much easier to run with this.”
“Speaking of,” he said, tapping the bottom box.
“Tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”
“If I told you that, it would ruin the surprise,” he said while I tore the paper off. I should have said something, but words wouldn’t come out. Only a tear fell. He swiped it away with his thumb. “You okay?”
“I haven’t had a computer in a year,” I whispered, running a hand across the box containing a MacBook.
“You mean you’ve always done everything from an iPad?” he asked with surprise.
“I set everything up for Little Bird on the Moon right before my laptop died. I always intended to get another one, but haven’t had the funds. I borrowed Ivy’s when I needed to do something online that was more tech-heavy, like my website, but ran everything else on my phone and iPad. It wasn’t ideal, but I couldn’t afford a lot of technology. This is so…” I made the mind-blown motion with my hands.
“When I noticed that you didn’t have a computer, I thought it was just temporary. Now I’m even happier that I went for it despite being afraid you’d refuse to talk to me for at least three days.”
I laughed, despite my tears, leaning my head on his shoulder. “You just made my life so much easier and faster. Forget the silent treatment. If I were capable, we’d already be in the bedroom.”
“I’ll take a rain check,” he whispered, kissing me gently on the lips. “Let me grab the rest of your gifts from under the tree.”
I sat up and gave him the look I reserved for all my problem customers. “There absolutely better not be more gifts.”
“Just a couple. Smaller, more personal things,” he said with a shrug. “I regret nothing.”
“You’re too much,” I said, laughter filling my cheeks. “You should open yours first. It’s the bag.”
He pulled it over, and I put my hand over his. “I had no idea what to get you. Since you don’t wear jewelry and you have all the latest tech, I was kind of at a loss.”
“I want for nothing in my life, Jaelyn. Not since you came into it. Being here with you on Christmas morning is the only gift I needed.”
“That’s what Ivy said,” I agreed with a lip tilt. “But to preface it, it’s more a gift from the heart than anything else.”
With a curious brow up, he peeled back the tissue paper and lifted out a collage picture frame. Inside each window, there was a different drawing I’d done of him since the day we met. “Jaelyn,” he whispered as he stared at it. “You drew these.”
“I did. Whenever I was anxious about the state of my life, I found myself drawing another image of you, and that calmed me and let me think about things logically.”
“The taco truck,” he said, laughing at the image of him standing by the truck in a suit and tie, and on the opposite side, him wearing The Bird’s Nest t-shirt. “These are phenomenal. I’ve never seen such detail in pencil drawings before. You even did some of the two of us!”
