one point, Mac was on the ground with them, his arm wrapped around a giant Lab while a rottweiler sat in his lap.
“I always wanted a dog,” he said, and my mom proceeded to try to talk him into taking one … or three. “Thank you, Mrs. Jamison, but I don’t have the time. Baseball starts in a week,” he added, and my heart started racing.
This was what we’d been waiting for.
All of Mac’s hopes and dreams were riding on this upcoming season. And we wouldn’t even know if his hard work had paid off until the end of it. If anyone deserved a chance at happiness, it was Mac Davies. But if I’d learned anything at all this year, it was that people didn’t always get what they deserved. And that sometimes, life threw you a shit sandwich and expected you to be grateful for the meal.
Gifts & Goodies
Sunny
M
y parents were ridiculously cool and calm when it came to our sleeping arrangements. They had no issues with Mac sleeping in my room and in my bed, even though my dad did say, “No funny business under my roof.”
Mac was respectful, shook his hand, and reassured him that he would never do that. My mom winked at me, and I huffed out an annoyed breath.
“Take her away, please,” I said to my dad as I gave my mom a slight shove.
Once we were in my room, Mac looked around, taking in all the boy band posters that still lined my walls and pictures of me with friends. Why was it that our childhood rooms stayed that exact way we’d left them?
“Your room is so you,” he said as he leaned down to look at some old pictures of me from high school.
“I’m taking that as a compliment.” I moved to my bed and fluffed the pillows up against the wall, so I could lean up against them.
Mac reached into one of his duffel bags and struggled to pull something out.
“Is that my present?” I asked, noticing the familiar wrapping paper still firmly in place.
Mac and I had exchanged presents before he left for Arizona, and we weren’t allowed to open them until Christmas Day. No exceptions.
“You said we were going to open our presents together. Did you already open yours?”
I softly shook my head. We had promised to do it over video chat.
“It’s up there.” I pointed toward my dresser, where the small box waited, still tempting me. “I had to hide it.”
He smirked. “Why?”
“ ’Cause I wanted to open it so bad! I made my sister keep it until this morning. It’s been torture,” I admitted because the present was the size of a jewelry box, and I was coming out of my skin, waiting to see what was in it.
“Open it.” He gave a slight head nod toward the gift, and I jumped off the bed and grabbed it.
Carefully peeling open the wrapping paper, I sighed when I saw the familiar Tiffany blue box underneath. I’d never gotten anything from Tiffany’s before, but I still knew exactly what it was, based on the familiar teal-blue color alone.
My jaw dropped as I looked at Mac, who sat there, watching me with all of his attention. I tore through the main box, and there was another smaller one inside. Taking it out, I opened it to see a gorgeous necklace with a massive yellow stone and a tiny silver bee sitting on the edge of it. It was stunning.
“Mac,” I said because this had to be expensive, and neither one of us had a job.
“Do you like it?” he asked, clearly wanting my approval.
“It’s gorgeous, but it’s too much,” I said.
He shook his head. “It’s not enough.” He took the box from my hand, and I turned to face the mirror on my wall. Undoing the clasp, he wrapped the necklace around my neck and fastened it before stepping to the side.
My hand instinctively went to the gemstone, touching it as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. It was beautiful, and it did look really nice on me. “What is the stone? Do you know?”
“Yellow quartz. It’s from their Love Bugs collection. They had other colors, but I wanted to get you the yellow one. I know it’s obvious since your name is Sunny and all, but it suited you the most and it’s your favorite color,” he explained.
I loved hearing all the thought he’d put into buying me this gift. He hadn’t just walked into the store