On a winter’s day in mid-December, Nicky drove down the driveway to his friend and bandmate Mark’s house. He came to a stop as soon as the tarmac turned to concrete paving stones. Keeping the engine running, he turned to his girlfriend whom had been sitting in the passenger seat next to him tapping away at her phone as she put into place some last minute details for the upcoming evening.
He glanced at the clock above the CD player built into the dashboard column between them. “Why are we here so early?” It had only just turned ten.
“Mark’s mum wants me to make some cakes for her Christmas party tomorrow. I’m getting them done today so that I don’t have to rush about tomorrow.”
“Couldn’t you have done this at mine?”
“I could’ve but she’s going to Mark’s later anyway so it just makes sense for it all to be here waiting for her.”
He nodded. It made perfect sense to him. “You know he probably won’t be up yet.”
held up a key that she had fished out from her pocket. “I have my spare.”
“Best text him to see if he’s even in.”
“Yes dad.” She mock saluted him as she took out her phone and sent Mark a quick message. Nicky just laughed.
They idly chatted as she waited for a reply. It wasn’t long until she got one.
She scrolled through the message, relaying it back to him. “He says he’s in but the door is locked so I’ve just to let myself in.”
Nicky lightly slapped his thighs with his palms. “Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”
rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t leave much.”
He shook his head with a chuckle.
She slipped out of the car and picked up her holdall from the back seat along with a pair of boots she had left in the foot well and a dress bag she had hung on the overhead handle before making her way around the car to his now rolled down window.
“Don’t forget to pick me up at four for Christmas shopping and then we have dinner at eight.”
He tilted his head to the side and gave her a deadpan look.
She held her still-full hands up, the shoulder strap of her bag sliding down slightly. “OK. OK.” She leaned in through the window to give him a quick kiss. The strap fell all the way down.
“I’ll be here at half three to pick you up.”
She nodded and kissed him again before pulling up the strap back up onto her shoulder. “See you later, love.”
“Love you.” He called after her as she walked up to Mark’s front door.
“Love you too.”
He watched after her as she put the key in the lock and opened the door, making sure she got in. Once he was satisfied that she was safely inside he took off down the driveway, heading back to the main road.

locked the door behind her and dropped her stuff at the bottom of stairs, hanging her dress bag and coat on the coat hooks she had held in place as Mark installed them a few years previously.
She called out to him as she ascended the stairs two at a time, “Just me.”
“In here.”
She giggled to herself. She didn’t need to think twice about where ‘here’ was. She knew he’d only be in one place; his bed. She pushed open his door to be welcomed by an almost pitch-black room. She could just make out his body bundled under his duvet. She flipped on the light only just hearing him groan from beneath the cover and launched herself onto the space beside him hoping that she’d come face to face with him and not the back of his, or worse; his arse. She grinned when she saw his eyes peeking out at her.
“Good morning.”
“Morning, lover.” He pulled the duvet down to uncover his face and his neck and released some of it from her to grab. pulled the duvet towards her, covering herself over and snuggled up to him. He planted a kiss on her cheek – something he had done to greet her since they had become adults.
“How’s going?”
“Can’t complain. You?”
“Same.”
“So what’s the plan for today?”
She pulled up a list that she had made on her phone the night before. “Well, I have all the food to cook and the cakes to make – hopefully we’ll be done by three so I can go get ready for dinner – then once we’ve left you’re going to Nicky’s where Kian will meet you to help put up the decorations and put out the food. I’ll keep him out at dinner for as long as I can and maybe take him window shopping to buy you some time before taking him home. Oh – and Gillian is picking up the cake. She’ll meet you at Nicky’s at about 5 then she’ll go home to sort the kids out so that Shane can give you and Kian a hand.” She grimaced when she thought of the lie she had told Nicky minutes before. The truth was that the party wasn’t for Marie – Mark’s mum – at all. It was for Nicky. Christmas had been a bit of a tricky time for him for the last couple of years since his dad had passed away and even though there were only ten days left until Christmas he still hadn’t put up any decorations or bought any presents. In fact, he didn’t seem to want to celebrate it at all and that was why and his friends were throwing him a surprise party. She knew his mood would change once he saw the effort everyone had gone to just to see him smile.
He nodded. “And he has no idea?”
She shook her head. “Not a Scooby.”
“Brilliant.”
“I just need you to get up now.”
He groaned, closing his eyes. “Give me a few minutes.”
“OK. But first…”
His eyes snapped open. He knew whatever was coming wouldn’t be good.
“Let me take a selfie.” She moved in closer and thrust her phone up to his face, the Snapchat app already open and waiting to filter their faces with some Christmas scene.

Lugging the holdall into the kitchen, placed it onto the island in the middle and began to take out all the ingredients she had brought with her along with some packets of frozen appetisers. Thankfully, Nicky had been busy the last couple of days so she had had time to prepare some of the sweet treats beforehand. There wasn’t much left to make but she had still wanted to be at Mark’s early to give her enough time to make sure everything was cooked in time and that she had time to remake anything should the decorations she had premade broken in transit. All of the things she had already made went straight into the fridge to keep them preserved until Mark took them to Nicky’s later. Looking at the backs of the packets in front of her she looked for the item that would take the longest to cook and pre-set the oven to the temperature required. She switched on the kettle knowing that the first thing Mark would reach for was a coffee to help him wake up.
He appeared in the kitchen a few minutes later dressed in joggers and hoodie. “Shall we get started then?”
She nodded as the switch on the kettle flicked upwards to indicate that the water had boiled. “You make the coffee and I’ll get these in the oven.” She indicated at the mini versions of pizza and quiches she had set out in front of her.
“Sorted.” He pulled out two mugs from the cupboard above the kettle and measured out the instant coffee granules that he kept in a canister next to them. He poured the water into the mugs, allowing it to brew for a second or two. “Milk?”
“Please.”
He moved across to the fridge and pulled out a pint of milk, taking it over to the counter. He tipped about a dash of it into the dark brown liquid, screwing the cap back on once he was done. The teaspoon clicked against the ceramic as he stirred the contents, making sure the granules had dissolved. He carried them over to the island where was now perched on a bar stool with her back to the door. He placed it in front of her and she smiled at him gratefully.
“So what do we have left to make?” he asked as he put the milk back into the fridge. “I can’t imagine you getting much more in there.”
“It’s really just a lot of decorating and baking. I can do the mini hamburgers and hotdogs when we get back to Nicky’s. They won’t take too long.”
“What time are the guests arriving?”
She combed her mind for the answer, “I’ve told everyone to be there for 7. I just need you to text me once everyone arrives and then I’ll tell him we need to go back to his so I can pick something up.”
Mark nodded, taking a sip of his drink. He immediately regretted doing so, the hot liquid burning his tongue, and put the mug back down on the marble surface with a soft thud, the coffee almost sloshing over the rim. “Guest list?”
“The usual suspects plus their kids, Nicky’s family and us plus some of his mates.”
“How are ye for booze?”
Her face paled. She knew she had forgotten something.
Mark laughed, “I’ll pick up a bunch of bottles on my way to yours and I’ll text everyone to tell them to bring their own.” He took out his phone from his jean pocket and typed up a mass text to their friends.
“You’re a lifesaver. I’ll text his family and tell them the same.” She took out her own phone and sent an almost identical message. They left their phones on the counter and got to work with preparing some cookie dough.
She caught him secretly trying to rip some of it off to eat. “Hey! You! Put that dough down.” In one swift move she knocked it out of his hand.
He drew his hand back, pretending to be hurt. “Oww.”
“Serves you right.” She playfully hit him with the tea towel. “Go make yourself useful and make us some toast otherwise I’ll have to ban you from your own kitchen and you can starve.”
By the time they were done the food in the oven was ready to come out and was soon replaced with a couple of trays of the cookie dough now cut out into Christmas themed shapes. They munched on the slices of toast that Mark had smothered in butter as they waited for the dough to turn a golden shade of brown. Mark cleared up and did the washing up as hunted around for a mixer to use for making cake batter. When she found it she handed him the bowl and whisks to wash and proceeded to measure out the next batch of ingredients.

As took the last batch of cakes out and turned off the oven, Mark took a note of the time.
“Three forty-three. Not bad, ,” he observed, his Irish accent causing him to say the word ‘three’ as ‘tree’. He tore open a packet of skittles – a packet she had had to ban him from opening several times over the course of the last couple of hours – and emptied the contents into mouth.
She lightly hit him again, aiming to gently stop him and not make him choke on the small pellets of chewy candy.
“I swear to God, Mark, if you keep eating everything there won’t be anything for the party tonight.”
“Sorry.” He grinned at her sheepishly but still shoved a now-cooled down cupcake into his mouth, the frosting smearing all over his mouth and the tip of his nose.
“That’s it. Out!” She pointed at the open door and pushed him towards it. As he towered over her five-foot-six frame at almost six foot tall she had to use all the strength in her to get him out of the room, to which he just laughed, his arms crossed as his sock-covered feet allowed her to practically glide across the floor.
She stopped as soon as they were clear of the threshold and walked around him so that she was in his line of sight. “I’m going upstairs to get showered and dressed. I trust you not to eat any of that food until after Nicky arrives at his house later.”
“But I’m starving.”
She retrieved the dress bag and her shoes, running up the stairs, singing; “Don’t care.”
Mark rolled his eyes.
stuck her head over the bannister once she’d reached the top. “Oh, Mark?”
“Hmm?”
“Your dinner’s in the fridge.” She disappeared over the top again, heading for the bathroom.
Mark did a happy dance of sorts. “Ye beauty!”

Part Two.

He arrived back at Mark’s at three thirty on the dot. He saw and Mark’s faces at the window, clearly waiting for him. That was one of the reasons why he loved her; she was always early for things which meant they never had to be late. He got out to head into the house to assist her with her bags but the pair had already appeared at the door by the time he got out so instead he leaned against the side of his car. His face lit up when he saw her in a black square neck midi dress and the black boots that she had taken from the back seat of his car just hours ago, a pink suede jacket hugging her tight to fight off the cold December air. She walked towards him, Mark carrying her holdall that she had stuffed her dress bag into. As she hugged him hello, Mark put the bag into the back of the car for her before doing a friendly handshake-turned-hugged with Nicky.
“How are ya, Nicky?”
“Good to see ye, Mark.” He looked at . “Ready to go?”
She nodded. She gave Mark a hug and made her way around the car to let herself in. Mark waited for them to set off, waving when they drove past him as he turned to go back inside and out of the cold.
Nicky put his hand on ’s knee and squeezed it. “Ye look fantastic.”
A blush crept over her cheeks. “T’anks, love. I do love that jacket on ye.” She was referring to the red-ish/tan leather one that seemed to be his go-to as of late. At one point it had been a staple in his Westlife wardrobe during some press release or other and, as he’d been allowed to keep it, it had remained part of his personal one since.
“So: where to?” He knew they were going shopping but he had no idea just where she wanted to go.
“How does the town center sound? If we can’t find what we want to get them we can just get them online and do next day delivery.”
He nodded. He knew that he should’ve been more prepared – there were only ten days left until the big day – but when he thought about buying presents it only reminded him that, just as it had for a couple of years, there was one less person he would be buying for. “Winter Wonderland” came on over the radio and he quickly shut it off. Even Christmas songs put a dampener on his mood these days. They just reminded him of the karaoke nights he used to have with his dad and all the family fun they used to have at their parties.
could sense that an uneasy feeling had overcome him and her heart went out to him. It had been a tough three years for him living without his dad and just as every birthday did, each Christmas just seemed to be getting harder and harder to deal with. She put her hand on his thigh, rubbing it comfortingly.
Nicky covered her hand with his briefly, stroking it with his thumb. Without saying a word she always knew how best to comfort him. He put his hand back on the wheel, steering the car in the direction of the closest car park to the city centre.

Shopping was a surprisingly laid back time. It had even made Nicky inwardly chuckle when he caught sight of them in a shop window looking like a pair of bookends, a cluster of bags in their only free hands as they held onto each other with the other. Hardly anyone had recognised him underneath the hat and scarf he had buried himself under and as bad as it made him feel, he was glad of it. He wasn’t in the best of moods for pretending to be happy. It was hard enough raising a smile around the love of his life and if she could see through his façade then his fans surely would. Though being with her gave him a new lease of life, he barely had enough energy left to give her a genuine smile. It wasn’t her fault; it was the continuous pit of sadness that, if he wasn’t careful, was going to swallow him whole. He held onto her hand with a tight grip as though letting go of her would break the seal he had created around his tears. He was also glad that they had managed to buy the bulk of the presents for his family with having bought her own family’s weeks before when he’d still been on a press tour for the group’s latest single. Even though they had been together for most of their adult lives and practically lived at his when he was home, they still hadn’t yet moved in with each other which had made it all the more easier for her to squirrel away his presents and hide them somewhere in her flat. Despite them living apart most of the year and her only being able to fly out to see him for a couple of days at a time he knew that he couldn’t see himself living without her. He knew that that was something he would have to remedy. A tugging on his hand made him stop walking.
“Ah, shoot.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve forgotten to get one of your presents.”
“I can wait here whilst you go get it, if you want?”
“Would you? I don’t like separating from you when we barely see each other as it is but I’ll only be about ten minutes tops.”
He nodded. “Sure.” He let go of her hand and held it out. “Give me your bags and I’ll go put them in the car.”
She gave him the bags and a quick kiss on the cheek, promising to meet him at the next shop on their list as she scurried off back in the direction they had come from. He set off on his own way, bracing himself for the cold as he exited the warm shopping center and headed down a side road towards the car park. As he came to a crossing, an estate agents’ window caught his eye, reminding him of his earlier pact. The thought of asking her to move in with him sparked a fire in his heart. When the traffic light started beeping to alert him and the other shoppers that the road was clear, he continued on his way to the other side.
grinned to herself as she practically ran towards the small kiosk that had piqued her interest. The stall owner may have only sold one thing but as far as was concerned it was the most precious of objects. She spent some time perusing the different variations of this one object but kept coming back to one design in particular. It was perfect. She took it off the stand on which it stood and handed it to the cashier who asked her if she would like it personalised. She nodded with a wide smile. She knew exactly what she wanted it to say. Nicky subconsciously tapped his foot along to the music that was playing over the center’s sound system. He hadn’t been standing there for long when he felt his phone vibrate.
He pulled it out of his jacket pocket. “Hello?”
“Hey love. I’m going to be longer than I thought I was. The thing I wanted to get you was missing a piece when I took it to the till so they’ve gone to see if they can find another for me.” It wasn’t exactly a lie; technically, without the word that the cashier was delicately painting on it, it had been missing a piece.
“Oh, OK. What do you want to do?”
She looked at the time on her phone screen. She realised that it wouldn’t be long until the shops started closing. A thought sprung to mind. “How about we have a wee drink tonight when we get back to yours after dinner?”
“Is that a hint for me to go hunting for some booze?” His voice had an air of mischief about it. She giggled down the line. “Only if you don’t mind.”
“Nah, of course not. I’ll get you at O’Leary’s across from the main exit when you’re done.”
“You are an absolute gem. I won’t be too much longer. I can see the lady heading towards me now. I’m just going to get it gift wrapped and then I’ll come get you.”
“OK. See you in a few.” He hung up, putting his phone back in his pocket. Maybe a night in drinking with his girlfriend was exactly what he needed.
The cashier grinned knowingly at . She had thought that the ’s choice of present was a rather sweet gesture when she had asked if there was another meaning to the gift other than it just being a gift for her boyfriend. She blew on the painted letters to help them dry a little bit quicker.
As waited for the paint to dry she quickly called Mark.
“I was wondering when you’d call.”
She rolled her eyes at his well-meaning but truthful sounding words. She was well aware that when planning surprises she could be a bit overbearing. “I’ll ignore that seeing as you’ve been such a great help.”
He chuckled into the receiver. “You know I love you.”
“I know. How’s it going your end?”
Mark surveyed the living room as Kian and his wife Jodi hung up the final decorations. “Everything is going as planned. Most of the guest list arrived within the last ten minutes. Nicky’s sister is on her way with her husband; she’s going to pick up their mum and Adam on the way. Your family are already here as are some of his friends. I’m just waiting on about ten more people along with Gill. She should be back soon with Shane and the kids. She said to tell you not to worry about doing anymore cooking when you get back; she’ll put the rest of the stuff in the oven once the party kicks off.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “You guys are the best. Tell everyone thank you from me; I’ll thank them in person when I see them. How does the cake look?”
“It’s hilarious and it looks amazing. You do know that it will probably inflate his ego even more, though, don’t ya?” He couldn’t stop laughing at it.
She snorted. “That’s what I was aiming for. I think he needs a bit of fun in his life right now and a reminder that everyone is there for him.”
“Well, I think you’re onto a winner here. He’s going to love it.”
“I hope so. I got him a present for later too.”
“Do I need to know about this?” He was alluding to her possibly having bought something sexy for her to wear.
“You’re a dirty man, Mr Feehily.” She went onto explain the object now being put into a box before her. She said her goodbyes as the last piece of tape was being put on the now gift-wrapped box. She paid for the gift, placing it into her handbag and thanking the cashier as she left to find Nicky.

The drive out of town took far longer than expected, the traffic heading to and from the center backing up and coming to a standstill for as far as they could see.
looked at the clock and then back at her phone. She had been staring at the various incoming messages from Mark telling her that everyone was already at Nicky’s and wanting to know their estimated time of arrival. She didn’t even know how she was going to get Nicky to go home first and it was cutting it close to seven already.
“Someone’s popular.”
She gave him a taunt smile. “I’m just wondering if we should cancel our reservations. There’s been no sign of us moving for the last couple of minutes and by the time we get there they’ll have given our table to someone else so we’ll be waiting even longer.”
He nodded. She had a point and if he was honest he didn’t particularly feel up to spending more time in traffic. The only reason he had gone along with it was to make their date night special. “I can’t see us being there any time before seven but it’s your call.”
She silently thanked his easy going nature. “I’ll call and cancel. Maybe if we order a takeaway it’ll get there the same time we do?”
“That’s a good idea. If you order it through that app you can prepay and tell them to leave it under the bench under the window if no one answers the door.”
“Good idea. Chinese?”
He felt his mouth salivate at the thought of hot food from his favourite takeaway. “Go for it.” made a quick call to the restaurant, apologising for having to cancel at such late notice. Somehow she had to get a text to Mark without Nicky figuring out that she wasn’t really ordering their dinner. An idea struck her and she opened up her web browser to log into the food app’s website and pretended to read a message off the screen. “It says here that there is a nation-wide issue. Apparently the website and the app are currently down so we’ve to order via the takeaway’s own site which is super helpful because ours only has a Facebook page and it doesn’t accept orders through it. Guess I’ll have to call them instead and pay by card. Thank goodness I have the number saved on my phone.” Again, she wasn’t quite lying. She did have their number stored on her sim card but she wasn’t going to use it.
“Oh, OK. Take my wallet out the glove compartment and use the Visa card in there.”
She opened up the small door and pulled out his wallet. She found the card he kept a small amount of cash on at a time for online purchases, never wanting to use his main cards in case someone stole it. “What do you want?”
He relayed his order to her and she pretended to write it down in the notepad section of her phone. Instead she was composing a message to Mark.

The message was soon replied to with a single question mark and she called his number. “Oh, hi, is that the ?”
“Err… I guess?” He made a couple of shushing noises so that the guests would quieten down enough for him to hear her.
Mark’s confused tone amused her. “I’d like to place a home delivery.”
He laughed when he figured out what she was up to. “Sure.”
She read out the order to him feeling foolish for having keep up the pretence.
“Got it. When will you be here?”
In the bid to keep the surprise a secret from Nicky, she hadn’t noticed that the traffic had started to pick up a little. If it stayed like this they would be home sooner than they thought. “Estimated time of delivery is half an hour you say? That’s perfect. What speedy service.”
From hearing only her half of the conversation, Nicky’s lips rolled inwards together as he made a “hmm” noise and nodded.
“Can I pay by card now?”
“I suppose?” He was thoroughly entertained by her charade.
“You need me to input it by keying it in? OK.”
“You’re far too good at this.”
She typed up a text to him as she pretended to punch in the numbers on the card that sat on her knee.
“What other numbers did you need?” She pushed a few more buttons and sent it to him.

As they turned into the cul-de-sac that Nicky lived on, prayed that no one had parked near his house and that all the lights were still off. Everyone had been under strict instruction to park as far away as they reasonably could and she breathed a sigh of relief when they passed cars that she recognised as belonging to their friends lining up the streets before they got to his house. She alerted Mark that they were pulling up and to make sure that no one was in the hallway upon their arrival. When they pulled into the empty driveway the house appeared to be in darkness. She was incredibly thankful for having such great friends and family who understood the importance of the surprise. They got out of the car, leaving her holdall in the back and walked up to the front door. practically ran to the door, feigning that she needed the toilet so that she could be the first to unlock the door in case Mark had forgotten to lock it. She silently thanked him – as she had done a lot of that today alone – for remembering to do so.
took out her key and put it in the door as Nicky checked for any signs of food being left under the bench. She almost felt bad when he reported that there was nothing there and for knowing that there would be no delivery. He joined her at the door in a few short strides. She pushed open the door. The hallway was clear. They took of their coats.
“Why don’t you go get comfy in front of the TV and I’ll nip to the loo.” She hovered for a second as Mark pushed open the door and flicked on the light switch.
“SURPRISE!”
“JAYSUS!” Mark jumped back in shock and couldn’t help but laugh nervously as she awaited his reaction. As the situation registered, he broke out in a smile. The tension that had built up in her stomach released. She had actually pulled it and he seemed to be taking well to it.
Nicky turned to , a confused grin plastered to his face. “What’s this for?”
“I decided that you need some fun in your life and to be reminded that even though times are tough your friends and family are here for you.” She turned to the sea of guests. “Let’s get this party started!”
He pulled her into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head. He was at a loss for words. She hugged him back before pushing him towards his guests. “Go say hi to your guests; your mam is waiting for her hug.”
As he greeted his mum and the rest of his family, approached his bandmates and their wives, hugging them all in turn and thanking them for everything they had done. When she hugged Shane she noticed that someone was missing. “Where’s Gill?”
“I t’ink she said she was going to the kitchen.”
She nodded, knowing that her friend was making good on her promise, and proceeded along the line until she reached Mark. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Ten out of ten would use this Chinese takeaway again.”
He let out a hearty laugh.
“Seriously, though; thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
They chatted briefly before she found herself being led away to dance by Nicky.
About halfway through the party, requested their party-goers to be quiet as she started off the speeches.
“Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for coming out tonight to show this one -” she pulled Nicky up beside her, “ – how loved he is. Special thanks to Kian, Jodi, Shane for helping to set everything u, to Gillian for getting the cake and helping with catering, and – now I’m sorry to confuse everyone – to Mark for giving the best Chinese delivery service.”
Nicky shook his head as he laughed. “So after all that I don’t get a takeaway?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Absolutely robbed.” This made the entire room laugh. He took over from her. “I just wanted t’ say t’ank you to you all too for coming – especially to those that helped set this all up and to my incredibly sneaky girlfriend for arranging this. It means the world to me to have you all here. It’s a shame that there is someone special missing but I know he’s here in spirit having the time of his life. Now who is up for some karaoke?”
This took by surprise. In amongst dancing with almost everyone in sight and mingling she hadn’t even noticed that he’d managed to set up the karaoke machine and hook it up to the speakers. It warmed her heart to see that at least for one night he genuinely seemed to be happy and ready to let the light in after spending so long in the dark. It would be a difficult road to travel, to try to recover from such a loss but she was prepared to help him through it.

Epilogue.

It was the early hours of the morning when the party eventually died down and the last guests were being bundled into taxis. Ever the one to get started on the next task – even in a slightly drunken state – had begun to tidy up. She was busy putting bottles into the recycling bin that she had dragged into the living room from the back hallway when Nicky reappeared, thanked the last wave of people one last time and locked the door. He pulled the bin away from her as she let go of a bottle and intercepted the space between her and it.
“Let’s get you to bed. We can do all of this in the morning.” He took her by the hand and led her up the stairs turning lights off as he went along. The door to his bedroom creaked as he pushed it open and took her into the room.
He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as he spoke. “Thank you for tonight.”
She grinned up at him, swaying on her bare feet. She had taken her shoes off not long after the party had started as there had been no point in keeping them on when she knew she would end up staying over. “You’re welcome. I just wanted to make you happy.”
“You did and you always do. You put so much work and effort into all of it. You really made me believe that you were ordering a takeaway.”
She giggled. “That was such a good idea, wasn’t it?”
“You didn’t really give him my card details, though. Did you?”
She shook her head. “I was actually just texting Mark to thank him. He’s such a great guy – all our friends are.”
“You’re great too. So great in fact that I want to ask you a question.”
“Go for it.”
“I know you practically live here anyway and I don’t have some big, grand gesture as you already have a key but would you like to officially move in with me?”
felt like she could burst. She didn’t have to think about what her answer would be. It was already written clear as day over her heart and now, as it seemed, on her face. Nicky smiled down at her. “I would love to.” She gave him a sweet kiss before pulling away from him. “I have something to give you.” She walked over to the corner of the room where she had put her bag not long after welcoming their guests. She opened it up and took out a thick, rectangular package that height-wise was just smaller than an A4 piece of paper. She handed it to him.
“It’s a bit early for Christmas presents, is it not?”
“Although it is for Christmas, it’s technically not a Christmas present.”
He furrowed his brow at her.
“Just open it.”
He started to undo one of the seals.
“As you know; this party was to remind you that we love you and that we are all still here for you.” She didn’t need to tell him why; it was obvious to him that she was talking about losing his dad.
He took off the paper and stared at the simple white box. He found an opening at the top of it and used his thumb to open it. He peeked into it but upon not being able to make out what it was he put his hand in ready to pull it out.
continued speaking as he did so. “I know you’ve been thinking about him a lot lately so I also wanted tonight to be in remembrance of your dad. I hope I’m not overstepping the mark with this gift but I saw it and thought you should have it.”
Nicky pulled out the object and felt the familiar pull of sorrow tugging at his heart when he realized what it was. In his hand was a part-enamel, part-glass tree topper in the shape of an angel in memory of his dad. Tears fell from his eyes as he read the inscription running along the bottom of it. Whoever had written it had flawlessly replicated one of the last handwritten messages he had received from his dad.
“I thought he could watch over us from the top of the tree and then when you’re feeling sad you can look up at him and know that he’s right there with us.”
He held it up to the light shining in from the streetlight outside the window, tears streaming down his face. The angel sparkled like nothing he had ever seen before. “It’s perfect.”

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