your experiences have been different, but they have really been the best years of my life.”
“I legitimately do not recognize you right now,” Alistair quipped.
“That’s fair,” Nathan said. “Which is why I’m giving you your gift first.” He reached into the sack and pulled out a set of old-fashioned vinyl records. “I think you may have one of these, but I got you all of them anyway.”
Alistair’s jaw dropped. “Art Blakely vinyls.” He took them and looked down at them with true shock on his face. He looked over at Avery. “Did you tell him?”
Avery shook her head. “No.”
He looked back at Nathan. “I didn’t know that you knew I liked him.”
“Yeah, well, I noticed you would pick him every time we went to that one diner, so then I added a few to the stereo at home, and whenever he came on, you’d stop what you were doing and bop along. I assumed you must be a pretty big fan, and I know you have a record player, so it made sense.”
“Wow, Nathan,” Alistair said. “I’m astounded, really. This is one of the most amazing gifts I’ve ever gotten. Thank you.”
Nathan smiled. “You’re welcome. I’ll just go around the table from here.” He reached in and pulled out a hardcover book, then handed it over to Avery. “Avery. Merry Christmas.”
Avery reached out and took the book, and a similarly shocked look covered her face. “A hardcover copy of Invisible Man.”
“Yeah. I can’t take total credit for this one. Back when Cherri and I…” He side-glanced me quickly and then snickered. “Well, Cherri had been looking for a copy for you for a long time, but they were always in short supply or not with the original cover, so I just had one made.” He pointed toward the pages. “I can take credit for the pages, though.”
“The pages?” Avery flipped to about a sixth of the way through the book and gasped. “Whoa! My favorite pages are laminated!” She showed it to Alistair. “Look, baby. I won’t rip them anymore.” She looked back up at Nathan. “How did you know?”
He shrugged. “I’ve seen you reading those pages multiple times. I didn’t know the exact section, so I had that whole chapter laminated.”
“Thanks, Nathan.” She flashed a genuine smile that was rare for her as of late.
Kyle got a new set of rings, specially engraved with important dates like his father’s Purple Heart receipt date, his birthday, and his late grandmother’s birthday. Colette got a special notebook with an electronic pen that, when written in, would automatically convert all the notes to an electronic form that was automatically backed up to the cloud. It also had a dictation mode for whenever she wanted to dictate speeches or anything else, and it even had a photography mode for when she traveled.
Jaxon’s gift shocked everyone because he kept his personal tastes so close to the chest, but Nathan got him an art set with every kind of art supply imaginable. I knew Jaxon was into creating his own art, but he’d always kept that secret. Similar to Alistair and Avery, Jaxon looked at me, convinced I’d given Nathan a hint, but I knew better. Nathan admitted that he’d seen some of the doodles in Jaxon’s notebooks and in his car. Among the art supplies was a tattoo gun, and Nathan told Jaxon that he would love to get a tattoo as soon as Jaxon was ready to do it. The design was totally up to Jaxon. Jaxon was blown away, and for the fact that he was unemotional, he sat there looking at the art set like he’d just gotten a new car.
Then Nathan got to Brayden. He looked down at the junior with a furrowed brow. “I’ll admit, I struggled with you.” Everyone looked at Nathan with trepidation, and Brayden seemed to immediately take offense, but then Nathan laughed. “I wanted to buy you everything in the world. I realized while I was doing this that, out of everyone here, I probably know you the best.”
Brayden smiled. “It’s because I’m loud.”
“No,” Nathan said. “It’s because no matter how shitty I got, you stayed by me, always. I haven’t been fair to you. I always credit Nikki and Kyle with being my best friends, but there have been plenty of times when I looked up, and you were the only one there. I can’t repay you for that. Thanks, Brayden.”
Brayden recoiled a bit, and his lips pursed like he was fighting away emotions.