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I pressed the button on the light above us and handed him his gift. My stomach fluttered with nerves because I’d wanted it to be special.
He pulled off the first package and unwrapped it before flipping through the pages of the small rectangular book. “A coupon book, huh?”
I climbed over the seat, moving onto his lap, as he held up the last two gifts so I could settle on his lap. I could never get close enough to this man. He wrapped his arms around me as he read each one to himself, laughing as he turned each page.
“Good for one life-changing blow job, huh?” He nipped at my ear.
“Of course, that’s the one you focus on. Not the day of teaching you how to play pickleball or reading a romance book to you aloud.”
“I love it,” he said, and he turned my face so he could kiss me. “Best gift I’ve ever received.”
“You’re too easy.” I chuckled and pushed the other package in front of him. He opened the white box with the red bow wrapped around it and pulled out the T-shirt that read:My girlfriend won the county pickleball championship, and all I got was this stupid T-shirt.
His head fell back in hysterical laughter.
Maddox Lancaster’s laugh was music to my ears.
“I love it, baby.” He kissed my cheek, and I took the T-shirt and the coupon book and placed them in the back seat, pushing the final package toward him.
He tore off the red-and-white polka-dot paper and then opened the lid to the box. I heard the inhale of his breath as he studied the photos in the large frame with two cutouts.
There was one picture of him and Wyle and their mom sitting on the back porch beneath the stars. The other picture was of me and Maddox, curled up on the outdoor couch in his backyard, with the stars twinkling above us.
“Georgia,” he whispered. “Where did you get this?”
“I asked Wyle if he had a good photo of the three of you, and he asked your grandmother. She said she had boxes of photos from your mom. So, that night, when you thought I was doing a girls’ night with Brinkley and Lila, I had actually gone out to the city and had dinner with your grandparents, and we went through a bunch of boxes of photos. When I saw this one, I knew it was what I was looking for.”
His eyes were wet with emotion, and I turned to face him so I was straddling him as his hands ran through my hair, tucking it behind my ear.
“That’s exactly how I felt when I found you.” He pulled me close and kissed me. “Thank you.”
“I mean, it’s not a pickleball court or a transformed ice-skating pond.” I smiled. “But I’m glad you like it. And I want you to know that I love everything you did, but if you did nothing, I’d be okay with that, too. Because the best gift I’ve ever received is you.”
“Right back at you, baby. Now, let’s get you out there so you can show me all your moves. I’ve got one more gift for you in the trunk. Let’s go.”
“There’s nothing left to give me,” I said, climbing off his lap when he pushed the door open. I started jogging down toward the ice.
“I’ve got skates for you!” he shouted after me, but I didn’t stop running.
I paused at the blanket that had flowers and a bakery box there. And when I turned around, I saw him walking my way, wearing his black ski coat and carrying our dinner and another box with a bow on it.
“I’ll give you a little preview without skates. And then I’ll put them on for the big finale. I can twirl barefoot if I want to,” I said over my laughter, as I moved onto the pond that looked like glass with the moon shining down on it. I held my hands out to the sides and spun around.
He set the food down on the blanket and shook his head. “All right, then. Let me see it.”
I moved to the middle of the ice and spun around as he watched me and held up his phone to take a picture.
“Okay, one more twirl, then we’ll eat.” I moved farther onto the ice and heard a crunching noise beneath my feet. My stomach twisted, knowing something was wrong, just as the ice beneath me opened up—and swallowed me whole.
thirty
Maddox
There aremoments in your life that you know are going to be life-changing the minute they happen.
I’d experienced it before.
I dropped the bag of food, dropped my phone, and started sprinting before I could truly process what was happening.
