Page 29 of His Christmas Gift

My eyes swept over the interior, glancing over the orange walls, wooden tables, festive tablecloths, and numerous paintings and pictures on the wall. It was a homey atmosphere like everyone was welcome here. It certainly felt different than the fancy places my parents would drive all the way out to eat at.

“This way,” the hostess said, leading us to a table with four chairs. “Here are some menus. Your waitress will be with you shortly.”

We thanked her and sat down across from each other. Every time our eyes locked, it was like an electric current passed through me, threatening to draw me in. I couldn’t escape him and his charm no matter how hard I tried to. I wondered if there was a point in trying to pull away.

“Jared was a waiter here when he was seventeen,” Dean chuckled as he looked around. “I worked at a snow cone stand.”

“Do you still remember how to make one?” I laughed softly.

“Of course,” Dean replied. “I make a mean snow cone.”

“My parents made me take piano lessons, language lessons… you name it. They wanted me to pick up a skill so badly and none of it stuck,” I said as I shook my head. “I loved going outside, though.”

“I’m guessing they bought you a bunch of fancy things that you didn’t care about,” Dean said.

I nodded as a sad smile crossed my lips.

“They showed love by buying me things that I didn’t care about. They didn’t take me on trips or really spend time with me. They thought the newest phone or the nicest shoes would fill my heart,” I told him.

Dean nodded his understanding.

“I promise to never give you a material gift,” he said, cracking a smile to try to cheer me up.

As usual, it worked. I laughed, shaking my head at him.

“You don’t have to give me any gifts,” I assured him. “You’ve done enough by doing all of this for me.”

Dean shrugged.

“Honestly, this has been a Christmas to remember. I don’t think I’ve had so much fun,” he admitted to me.

That warmed me. I was glad that I didn’t make his holiday miserable by dragging him into my mess. Truthfully, I was having more fun than usual because of him. He actually made this trip tolerable.

“Well, we still have the rest of the week to get through. Let’s cross our fingers and hope that everything doesn’t fall apart,” I told him, not wanting to lower our guard too much. We hadn’t even reached Christmas Eve yet, and my parents still had some events planned for us to attend. Hopefully, we made it through them in one piece.

Dean reached his hand across the table to take mine, giving it a comforting squeeze.

“I’m with you until the end,” he promised me.

I knew that he was just talking about our agreement, but his words still struck me hard. I was so used to people working against me, but he had done so much to help me. He promised to stick by my side, and he hadn’t broken that promise.

I couldn’t help but hope that he would stick with me past this week and a half, but that was a miracle that I wasn’t even sure the Christmas spirit could pull off.

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