The Best Christmas Present Ever

Posting bonuses is a lot like eating delicious junk food.  Once I do it a couple weeks in a row, I can't seem to stop myself.

We're about a week ahead of real time, so I guess that Christmas is coming early for Liv this year, just like Thanksgiving.  Oh well!  I might end up take a day off during the week of Christmas, but I will keep you posted.
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My last full week of work was proving to be busy.  I was staying late every night to make sure I had all my loose ends up tied up, plus fitting in my clients that I'd had to cancel from Monday.  My clients were bummed about me leaving, and I hated that part.  Consistency is a big deal in this field, and I hated being the person that left.  I saw my clients for the last time this week; I was reserving my couple days in the office next week for paperwork.

 On Wednesday I didn't get home until after 8pm and I wanted nothing more than to take a bath and go to bed.  I was even completely indifferent to eating dinner, because I was just so tired.  I considered getting up early to go to the gym in the morning, because it had been far too long since I had been there.  I could feel the effect it was having on me, physically and mentally.  Then I laughed at myself, because I'd be lucky if I got up with enough time to do my hair in the morning.

I was microwaving an incredibly unexciting frozen meal when someone knocked on my door.  I sighed, guessing it was Cassie.  I hadn't seen or talked to her since the night we were all out with James and Damien and I knew we needed to catch up, but I was so drained that being around people was not appealing.  I considered ignoring her knock at the door, but finally went and answered it.

"Liv, you look awful," Cassie proclaimed, slipping past me into my living room.

"Thanks," I muttered sarcastically.  "You, on the other hand, look just lovely."  She did, of course.  She beamed at me.

"You look great compared to most people," she amended, "but you do look exhausted."

"I am," I said, offering her a bottle of water.  She shook her head and wrinkled her nose at my frozen dinner when I pulled it out of the microwave.  "I can't manage anything else tonight," I snapped defensively.

"You are in a terrible mood," Cassie said.  "I thought getting a new job was supposed to make your life better."

"Sorry," I replied sheepishly.  "I really am in a terrible mood."  I explained the weekend--the fight with Brody, Lynn's accident, then last minute trip to Wisconsin, and my lack of sleep.

"Ahhh," she said, understanding on her face.  "That makes a lot of sense.  I'd be in a terrible mood too. Actually, I probably wouldn't have answered the door."

"I almost didn't," I said, with a wry smile.  "But now that you're here, you might as well stay for a bit and tell me how things are going for you!"

She filled me in on Ben, the guy she was currently interested in.  "We all went out this weekend and he was there.  We talked for about 45 minutes, but Liv, he is so boring.  He almost put me to sleep with his rambling on and on.  I don't care how hot you are, if I would rather stab myself in the eardrum than listen to you talk, I'm not interested."

I laughed.  "Well, I guess you don't have to worry about impressing him then, huh?"

"Nope," she agreed, shaking her head.  "Now his brother, on the other hand..."  I raised my eyebrows curiously.  "He brought his brother, and he is hot and interesting.  New target!"  I rolled my eyes and laughed.  Cassie left shortly after, and I took my bath and got into bed early.

I called Brody on Thursday at lunch to tell him I wasn't going to happy hour.  He asked if he could come over after work and even though I just wanted to go home and go to bed, I said yes.  After all the time we'd been spending together, not seeing him for an entire day and a half felt like a really long time, and I wanted to see him.

On my way home from work, my phone rang and I was excited to see that it was Lynn.  I had talked to her briefly a few times, but she was still doing a lot of sleeping and was on a lot of pain meds and she hadn't yet called me on her own.  I answered excitedly.  "Hi, Liv!" she said brightly.  She sounded good, and it was such a relief that I almost cried.

"Lynn, you sound so good!" I greeted her.

"I feel pretty good today," she replied.  "I mean, I still feel like I got hit by a truck, but relatively speaking, I feel good."  She chuckled a little at her own terrible joke and I knew she was starting to feel better.

We chatted for about 15 minutes.  She told me they were hoping to move her from the hospital to a rehab facility this weekend.  She was going crazy with having to stay in bed and she was looking forward to starting PT and OT and getting back on her feet, literally.  By the end of the 15 minutes, she sounded considerably less energetic than she had at the beginning of the conversation, and I gently suggested that she get some rest.  She didn't protest, and we hung up shortly after.


Brody showed up at about 8:30 with a bag of takeout in one hand and a brightly wrapped package about the size of a shoebox in the other.  I took the takeout and looked curiously at the package.  "What's that?" I asked, getting out plates and silverware.

He kissed me lightly.  "Your Christmas present," he replied, grinning at me.

"Um, Christmas is next Thursday," I pointed out, confused.  I hadn't even figured out what to get him yet.  I also didn't know what I would be doing over Christmas.  I wasn't able to get tickets back to Wisconsin again, because of the cost of the last minute ticket to see Lynn, and Brody hadn't mentioned anything about his family.  I know I had told him we weren't going to go back to Wisconsin, but maybe his family wasn't big on Christmas.  Or maybe they didn't want me after the Thanksgiving debacle. 

"Yes, I know, but there's a good reason for you to open it early, so after we eat, you should open it," he said.  I shrugged and we sat down to eat.  Brody was super cheerful through dinner, but now that I had been thinking about Christmas, I was quiet.  Christmas was always a huge deal in my family, and this would be my first Christmas ever away from them.  I was a lot sadder about it than I thought I'd be, and I had actually looked at ticket prices the night before and was seriously disappointed to see ridiculously high prices.  Stupid holiday travel.

"What's wrong?" Brody asked, as I silently stabbed a piece of chicken in my pad thai.

"Nothing," I mumbled, pushing my noodles around.  I stabbed at another piece of chicken, and it skittered off my plate.  Brody put his hand on mine to still it, then tipped my chin up, forcing me to make eye contact.

"Liar," he said gently.  "Tell me."

I sighed.  "I'm just really bummed about not going home for Christmas," I said.  "Between worrying about Lynn and not getting to see my family for Christmas, it just sucks."  I was baffled and a little irritated as Brody smiled happily at me.  "I'm glad you're amused," I muttered.

"I'm not," he said quickly.  "I just...well, here.  Open this."  He shoved the present at me.  I failed to see how an early Christmas gift would make that much difference in my mood, but I was definitely curious.  When I opened the top of the box, I gasped.  I stared at him, then quickly back to the contents of the box.

As I jumped up to hug him, I knocked the box off the table and the printed email confirmation of the purchase of two tickets from Denver to Madison, Wisconsin fluttered to the floor.  I threw my arms around him at a really awkward angle thanks to the table, and as soon as he hugged me back, I started to cry.

"Hey, don't do that," Brody said gently, pushing his chair away from the table and pulling me down into his lap.  He rubbed my back as I sniffled against his chest.  "Are they happy tears at least?" he asked.  I nodded.  "Good," he said.

When I collected myself and moved back to my own seat at the table, I said, "Thank you.  Seriously, this is the best gift anyone's ever given me, but I can't believe you spent so much."

He shrugged.  "It was worth it to see the look on your face when you opened it," he responded with a smile.  "When you told me you couldn't get a ticket, I wanted to offer to get them, but I knew you'd say no.  I bought them that night anyway and have been waiting very impatiently to give them to you since."

We finished our dinner and I quickly got the dishes in the dishwasher.  I slid my arms around Brody's waist and rested my head against his chest.  "Thank you," I said again, my eyes locked on the piece of the paper with the flight information.  "I love you."

"I love you too, Liv," he replied.  "I'm excited to spend Christmas with you and your family."

That made me chuckle.  "I wouldn't say that yet.  You haven't met my Grandma."  He laughed too.

"Hey, are you spending the night?" I asked.

"I planned on it, if that's okay."

"It's definitely okay.  I can show you just how much I appreciate your gift," I said, leaning back and raising an eyebrow at him.

"Now that sounds like an excellent plan," he said back, leaning down to kiss me.