The Pace (18 page)

He relaxed and released me. “Well in that case,” he said. “I’ll be here.”

I smiled and nestled myself up against him again. After a while, my blinks became slower and heavier. Before I let my eyelids win the battle, I thought I’d ask one more question.

“What do you want for Christmas?”

He gave me a gentle squeeze before whispering, “More time with you.”

I
 knew exactly what I was going to buy him for Christmas. The first thing would be inexpensive, but the second thing would require a little bit of savings. I couldn’t imagine what I would do if I didn’t have my own income. Asking my mom for money to shop for my boyfriend’s Christmas present was absolutely unappealing.

I’d worked at Healey’s for a few months, so I had acquired some savings that had virtually gone untouched. In the entire time we dated, Wes never let me pay for anything. And, I still owed him $500.00 for fixing my car, which he had yet to let me pay him back for. So I was more than willing to spend a good chunk of my savings on him. In fact, I welcomed Christmas with open arms. It was the first time I’d actually be able to spend money on him without him being able to refuse.

For the first present, I tricked Wes into visiting me at work one afternoon after I asked Dawn to “spontaneously” take our picture. It worked out perfectly. I met him in one of the aisles, and she acted as if she was taking pictures of the outside of the store while stumbling upon us on her way to the back. She casually suggested that we take a picture together. Wes was a great sport about it.

We were standing in front of shelves of books, and Wes put his arm around me, which led me to put my arms around his waist in return. He, to no surprise, took a great picture with the smile I love, and I was pretty pleased with the way I turned out. I looked happy and “in love,” as Dawn described it, and given the fact that we both had connections with bookstores, I thought the picture was perfect.

I ended up getting two copies of the photograph made—one for me, and one to go in a picture frame for him. I figured since his house was so void of pictures, I could start to liven it up with memories for him.

The second gift was going to be harder to find. I wanted to see what kind of advance technology watches were out there. The watch I’d seen him wear was an older-looking watch that had the time, date, and an alarm, but that was it. I thought that surely the 21st century would bring in better technology than that, and I was right. I searched online and found a Suunto Stealth Watch. It was all black, and sleek looking. I thought it would look nice with everything he wore, but more importantly, I bought it for the functionality. It had time, of course, but it also had three different alarm settings, altimeter readings, barometer readings, a compass, and most importantly, current air temperature readings and temperature predictions. What I found amusing about it was that it was scratchproof, waterproof, and had preprogrammed calendars up to the year 2089.

Since I’d already crashed into him via my Jeep, sent him diving into cold water to save a stranger, and since he would surely be around in 2089, it was perfect. And the best part about the whole thing was that it cost me almost what I owed him for fixing my car. I relished in that little detail. In fact, I smiled as I wrapped it.

I was so excited about giving him his present that I didn’t even want to wait until Christmas Day. I had to work on Christmas Eve, and afterward, I went straight to his house hoping to surprise him. I rang the bell when I got there, and from his expression when he opened the door, it had worked. I walked in studying his face.

“What’s going on?” I asked, as he shut the door behind me.

“Nothing, I just wasn’t expecting you.” He began punching in the code to the house alarm. I hadn’t seen him use that before, so it struck me as odd. “I thought you were going to call me when you got home?” he said. “I was supposed to come to you tonight.”

“I changed my mind. What’s with the alarm?”

He leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Nothing, I’m just being cautious.”

“Cautious about what?” I pressed.

“There was a break-in at one of the medical labs.”

“What for?”

We were in the living room now, and he sat down casually on the chair. I followed suit on the couch.

“Someone was looking for something. They broke into one of the research facilities and took some trial notes and samples.”

“So, why does that have you locking up your house?”

“Because they took some study results for some alligator plasma.”

I sat up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was going to once you called me when you got
home
,” he smirked.

“Well, I wanted to surprise you. Do you think you should worry?”

“No, I’m not tied to that particular lab by name. Funding is anonymous, so there is no paper trail, but similar things like this have happened in the past. If my uncle taught me nothing else, it was to err on the side of caution. It’s probably nothing.”

I relaxed a little and leaned back on the sofa. “Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes,” he answered, moving next to me. “But,” he added, touching my cheek with the back of his hand, “I
would
feel better if I knew where you were planning to be.”

His touch felt so good that it was almost instant relief. In fact, I would’ve felt instantly at ease had I not been completely aware that he was heightening his home security as well as his concern for my whereabouts. It made me uneasy.

“Now, why did you come by here?” he asked, changing the subject.

My thoughts shifted to the contents of my handbag. “Well, I wanted to give you your present.” He started to smile. “But, I don’t feel very jolly right now.”

“Why not?”

“Well, you have it like Fort Knox in here, and you’re worried about where I go, and now you want me to pretend like everything is great.”

He put his hand under my chin to hold my gaze to his. “Sophie, everything
is
great. It’s fine. I’m just taking precautions. If I thought something was really wrong, I would’ve come to you, right away, to tell you in person. Plus, I would’ve escorted you home. I wouldn’t have just waited for you to call me. I’m sorry to worry you. But everything is
fine.
And great,” he assured me.

He kissed me so softly after that, that I couldn’t detect one ounce of tension in his body. He was completely at ease and within a few moments, I was, too.

“Okay then,” I said, softening. “I suppose I could give you your gifts.”

“Gift
s
?” he asked, lingering on the
s
.

“Yes, and you can’t refuse the gift
s
, because it’s Christmas and that would be rude.”

“Actually, I can refuse them, because it’s not Christmas yet,” he reminded me.

The smile disappeared from my face. “You can’t be serious. I came all the way over here. I
want
you to open them.”

“Hmmm,” he said, as if he was pondering heavily.

“Fine, I’ll take it home.” I went to yank my bag up, and he grabbed my arm.

“I’m just kidding, Sophie. Calm down. I want your gifts. Please give them to me.”

I grinned in victory at the fact that he hadn’t called my bluff this time.

“Good,” I said, pulling the watch out first. For some reason, I thought that would be the easier gift of the two. I loved our picture together, but I didn’t want to seem too vain, so I saved that one for last.

I held out the small box and then tucked it back to my chest. “Now, I had no idea what I was going to get you,” I lied, trying to set him up to accept my gift without a fight. “So, I hope you like it.”

“Of course I’ll like whatever you give me.” He reached his hand out, taking the bait.

“Promise?”

“Promise.” He ran his finger over his heart in a crisscross fashion. I handed it over. He pulled back the paper slowly. I saw his eyes widen when he saw the name brand on the box. He looked up at me with narrow eyes.

“Open it,” I said, smiling.

He pulled back the lid and then closed it just as smoothly as he had opened it.

“Sophie. This is too much.”

“What? It’s just a watch,” I said innocently. “You said you would like it,” I reminded him.

“Of course I like it. I just don’t want you spending your money on me.”

I reached over and covered his mouth.

“I want to. Besides, it’s really for me anyway. I want you to have it so I can check it. You know, so I can make sure your surroundings are appropriate.” I poked out my bottom lip a little. “But if you don’t like it—”

He removed my hand. “No, I love it. I really do. Thank you,” he said, leaning over to kiss me on my cheek.

“You’re welcome,” I said, satisfied. “I have another one for you.” I pulled out the second gift. His expression hardened. “Relax, it didn’t cost much at all, so don’t freak out.”

I handed him the second gift and watched him, hesitantly, as he opened it. I wanted him to like this one the most. When he opened the gift, his stare disappeared into some place that was beyond the picture he was looking at. After a few moments of silence, he touched the picture through the framed glass and traced our smiles.

“I thought you could use some pictures in your house. I hope you like it.”

“I love it.” He reached around the back of my neck and gently pulled me toward him until our lips met. His kiss was different from what I was used to. It wasn’t urgent or soft. It was binding. I felt the necessity of it, and it made me feel closer to him than ever before.

“I love you,” he uttered.

I smiled warmly. “I love you, too.”

He put the picture on the fireplace mantel and then set out to leave the room.

“Where are you going?”

He looked back with a gentle smile. “To get your gift.”

I hadn’t even thought about a gift for myself. I was never one to look forward to presents. Maybe it was because it had always been me and my mom, and I felt bad thinking that she had to spend additional money on me.

He returned with a small, square box, which had clearly been professionally wrapped in silver and blue paper. I’m not sure if the bow was as complex to unwrap as I made it seem, or if it was my nervous fingers, but it took me longer than normal to unravel the gorgeous wrapping.

Once I was able to get my hands on the box itself, I wasted no time pulling off the top to reveal a stunning bracelet.

“Oh my gosh. It’s
beautiful
.” I lifted it and placed it in the palm of my hand. “It matches my necklace.” The bracelet was classic. “Is it antique?” I asked.

“Yes. I had the clasp updated, but the beads are early 1900s.”

The beads were in impeccable condition, but I could tell they were old. I put it on my wrist. It was lovely. The three larger stones were the exact same color as the stones in my necklace, and they were connected by alternating silver beads and blue stones, which were a perfect contrast.

“I love it.” I smiled. It was the best gift I had ever received. I probably would’ve said that about anything he bought me, but that was not the point. The bracelet truly was my favorite, because it fit me perfectly. Aside from the fact that it matched my only other accessory besides a purse, it fit my style. It was original and nice looking without the impression of being brand new. It was something I could show off without being flashy, because it wasn’t expensive looking. It was simply exquisite. I thanked him a few times over and gave him a gracious hug and kiss.

I wished I could’ve stayed the night, but unfortunately, my mother was expecting me, so I only got to stay for a few hours, which were fantastic. I was only reminded of the abnormal event preceding my arrival when I went to leave and he disabled the alarm.

“Are you going to be using this all the time now?”

“For a while,” he said. “Until I can be sure the incident is isolated. In the meantime…” he continued, taking hold of my hand as he walked me to my car. “The code is 1663.”

“Why are you telling it to me?” I wondered.

He smiled. “You never know when you’ll have me jumping off a pier again.”

“Very funny.” We were at my car by then. He opened my door for me, and I reached up to kiss him before climbing into my Jeep.

Once I got home, it was hard for me to sleep. I kept running through the following day in my mind. Wes had never fully sat down and had a conversation with my mom for longer than five minutes, and I hadn’t with my mom’s new friend either. Imagining all of us around a dinner table was odd. What kinds of things do we talk about?
Hi Tom, this is Wes, my boyfriend. He was born before you, but he got a shot from the fountain of youth so he’s still around.
No, I don’t think so.

I shook my head, trying to shake the abnormality of the whole situation, and insisted upon going about the day just like any other. Wes was normal to me, and as far as the rest of the world knew, he was normal to them also
.

The next day, my mom and I started cooking the turkey around noon, and dinner was set for 4:00. Wes arrived at 3:00, as I’d requested, but what I hadn’t requested was that he come with a gift in tow. That was all his idea. My mother was pleasantly surprised when I escorted him into the kitchen with it.

“Hello, Ms. Slone,” Wes said.

“You have to stop calling me that. Gayle, please,” she countered, reaching out to give him a hug.

“Gayle,” he obliged.

He handed her the beautifully wrapped box, and she paused to remove her apron. After setting the apron on the table, she took the gift and led us into the living room. We sat on each side of her, both watching as she unwrapped the paper. Since he hadn’t even told me he was planning on getting her a gift, I had no idea what it was. I was just as eager as she was to see what was inside.

She pulled the top off of the box, gently, and revealed tissue paper.
It must be fragile,
I thought. She lifted the wrapped object out of the box and unraveled the tissue paper. It was a delicate blue and white antique teacup.