Page 41 of His Christmas Gift

“You know, I’m kinda sad about this week ending,” I admitted to her. This week and a half back at home felt like a temporary escape from reality. I let go of a lot of my usual boundaries and tried something completely out of my comfort zone. At first, I treated it like a fun game, a joke. Now, it felt more real than anything else that I had ever experienced.

“Really?” Autumn asked, sounding amused. “I thought you’d get tired of this charade by now.”

I shrugged lightly, not wanting to disturb her head on my shoulder. It was a bit tense dealing with her parents, but every other part of this trip was fun in some way.

“You’re actually not that bad to hang out with,” I joked with her. Honestly, she was one of my favorite people to hang out with. We easily got along. We could joke with each other. We had similar interests and different ones. There was never a boring moment between us.

Autumn lifted her head, giving me a playful sneer.

“I guess you aren’t so bad either. You’re better than you used to be,” she said.

“Result of being a dumb kid with dumb friends,” I told her. “The only person who’s still my friend from back then is Ethan.”

Ethan was dumb and reckless back then too. We all were, not grasping the consequences of our actions. I was glad that most of us grew up as the years went on, but Oliver proved that not all of us changed much from the past. If he still thought messing around with the same girl he messed around with from high school was cool, that was a reflection of his bad character.

“At least he believed in you,” Autumn replied.

“I bet you thought I wouldn’t amount to anything since I was a jerk and all,” I told her, glancing over at her.

“Actually, I had a feeling you’d do something big with your life. I’ll admit that I wasn’t hoping for that, but I knew that it was a possibility,” Autumn replied honestly.

My face softened as I listened to her. At least she was honest with me. I wouldn’t want her to lie to me. I wanted to get to know her closely, even if that meant hearing how negatively she thought of me back in the past. I couldn’t blame her for that. I expected it.

“But I’m happy for you now. I feel like I actually know you now,” Autumn continued.

“Maybe things would’ve been different between us if I hadn’t treated you like that. We could’ve been friends or… something else,” I commented, my thumb brushing over her knuckles.

“Something else?” Autumn asked me, lifting an eyebrow at me in a curious manner.

I felt myself freeze, words burning my lips and trying to escape. I didn’t know why it was so hard for me to admit my own feelings. I didn’t expect to find myself in this predicament, and I didn’t really know what to say or how to say it. What if I messed up and lost her or embarrassed myself?

In a stroke of luck, my mom and dad came out of the house with the kids.

“Time to light this bad boy up!” my dad announced, coaxing everyone to pile up in front of the large tree. It had to be around ten feet tall with a thick base and full branches. String lights wrapped around its entire length, waiting to be turned on. Nestled around the lights were various green and red ornaments. Some of them were pictures of my family and others were handmade by us as kids.

“It’s so nice having everyone together for the holidays. This is my favorite time of the year. All of my kids are home together, and they have their kids and their wives or fiancée,” my mom said, smiling at me and Autumn.

I kept my hand joined with Autumn’s, feeling her squeeze gently. In this moment, everything felt right. I was with my family and the one woman who caught my heart. It was my favorite holiday of the year. The air felt nice and crisp, and our family tree was ready to be lit up.

“Let’s do this,” my dad said, sounding as excited as he did last year and the year before that. He grabbed the cord to the tree and then the end of the power extender hooked up to the house. He plugged in the tree, and it immediately glowed with golden lights.

“Looks even better than last year, Dad,” Jared said as our dad stared at the tree with pure pride on his face.

“Sure does,” my dad replied with a nod.

“It’s beautiful,” Autumn told me in an awed voice as she gazed up at the huge tree.

I glanced over at her with a smile, my chest nearly growing tight. For some reason, a surge of emotion struck me. The thought of not having her by my side after this week was over hurt me. I didn’t want to go back to normal. Things would feel… weird. Empty. Lonely.

“What’s wrong?” Autumn asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I blinked a few times and shook my head. I didn’t mean to zone out, but I couldn’t help but consider how I would feel when all of this was over. Because it would be over, and it would be over before I knew it.

“Nothing,” I said before looking back up at the tree. No matter how this ended, I would remember this week and a half for a very long time. If I came back here next year without her by my side, it just wouldn’t be the same. Part of me wanted her to know that, so I leaned close to her. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”

Autumn smiled and turned to look at me.

“I’m glad to be here too,” she said, her eyes searching mine for a moment. Before I knew it, she leaned forward to gently press her lips against mine.

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