Page 35 of A Mustang River Christmas

“Dad,” she said. “I don’t need presents.”

“No, but I wanted to give them to you. I know I sent presents, even when I wasn’t there at Christmas, but I feel like I have a lot of things to make up for.”

“Are these all for me?”

“All but one,” he said.

He bent down and picked up a large present from underneath the tree. And he handed it to Laney.

And hoped like hell she understood what he was trying to show her.

Chapter Eleven

She hadn’t been lying when she’d said she’d never woken up early for Christmas in her life. It had never been a factor. She just hadn’t cared about it. And now, she felt like this was the most beautiful day, with the most beautiful man, and she couldn’t even fully articulate it.

She sat down on the couch and began to tear open the paper.

And when she saw the purple box underneath, her eyes filled up with tears.

It wasn’t just an Easy-Bake Oven. It was literally the Easy-Bake Oven from her exact era of childhood. He’d probably had to search for this on some kind of auction site, and he’d probably had to pay so much money for it. It was so extra. And just so damn thoughtful.

“You really got me an Easy-Bake Oven?”

“Of course I did,” he said. “Because you deserve all the things that you ever wanted, Laney. I hope you know that. Everything.”

She wiped at a tear. And when she looked up, he was gone. She heard him bustling around in the kitchen, and a few minutes later could smell cinnamon.

“Oh, cinnamon rolls,” Chloe said. “You know, he used to make cinnamon rolls every Christmas, and they were absolutely the best.”

“I didn’t know. But that’s really beautiful.”

She sat there, and so did Pike, watching Chloe open all of her presents. She had brand-new knives, a chef’s coat with her name embroidered on it, gadgets for the new house that she hoped to move into soon.

He had really thought of everything. It was so thoughtful, so…overwhelming.

He went and sat down next to Chloe, started to explain some of the things that he’d gotten, and for some reason, she just couldn’t quite witness it. She got up and walked out of the room, and then walked out the back door onto the back deck.

She leaned against the railing and looked out at the snow. Her heart was pounding hard. Was this what being part of a family was like? She had almost had it once. Had almost let herself believe that maybe she could, but it still hadn’t felt like this. There had still been a barrier between that relationship and her dreams of what love could be.

Love.

The very idea of it terrified her. The idea of wanting it and not having it terrified her.

Maybe that was why she couldn’t sit in there and watch that anymore, because she just... She wanted it. She really did. But she had no idea if Pike would want to try that with her, if it was too quick.

The door opened behind her, and she turned.

There he was. So handsome and perfect, almost too perfect to believe.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, I am so good. This was so thoughtful of you. You really are just... Wonderful. I...But I don’t want to be teased,” she said.

“Do I seem like the kind of man that teases? I am deadly serious. I swear to God, Laney, I did not do any of this lightly. I decided to do this when I realized that... I want all my Christmases to be with you.”

“Pike,” she said, his name coming out in a rush. “You can’t promise that.”

“Yes. I can. I sure as hell can. Because I’m tired of having half. I want everything. And I can promise you that I will do everything in my power to always give you everything. You changed my life. You brought me into that next part of what I needed to heal. Do you have any idea how amazing that is? For ten years, I was sitting there stagnant. And it wasn’t a bad place to be. I had my relationship with Chloe back. I have my sobriety. They’re all good things. But... This is better. It’s more. I feel like I found all these other parts of myself again, like I’ve made peace with them. You make me laugh, you make me want. You let me have. You make me feel like I’m not alone.”