Page 139 of Buy Back My Love

Right on cue, Hannah’s name lit up across the screen again.

I reached toward the dash, but Lee moved faster and hit the green button before I could stop her.

The ringing cut off, and I slowly turned my head toward her.

Lee pointed toward the screen like she had just done me some kind of favor.

I looked back toward the windshield, irritated as hell. “Man, what’s up?”

Nobody answered at first. All I could hear was somebody breathing through the speakers.

Then Hannah finally spoke.

“I’m in labor.”

Lee

Christmas had wore me out. By noon, most of the real excitement was over. Me and Mama had been up since early, Anika and Trevon had already come through, gifts had been opened, wrapping paper had been stuffed into trash bags, and we had eaten enough breakfast to hold us until dinner. Mama had done most of the cooking on Christmas Eve, so all she had left to do later was warm everything back up, which meant she finally gave me permission to go somewhere and sit down.

I went straight to my old room, kicked my shoes off, and crawled into bed. I must’ve fallen asleep almost immediately because the next thing I knew, my phone was ringing somewhere beside me. I frowned and reached around the bed until I found it. When I squinted at the screen, Van’s name was staring back at me.

I answered without opening my eyes all the way. “Hello?”

“Merry Christmas.”

I smiled before I meant to. “Merry Christmas.”

“You asleep?”

“You woke me up.”

“My bad.”

“It’s okay. I probably needed to get up anyway.”

Van laughed. “You at home?”

“Nah, I’m at Mama’s. Been here since yesterday.”

“Oh.”

That little oh made me open my eyes. I stretched under the blanket and sat up a little. “Why?”

“I got your Christmas gift.”

That woke me up.

“My what?”

“Your gift.”

I pushed myself upright against the headboard. “You got me a Christmas gift?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

There was a short pause before he answered. “Because it’s Christmas, Lee.”