He snorted. “When has it not been awkward?”
“Point taken,” she said. “But it would be nice if we could dial the awkward down just a bit.” There had to be something they could do. She spotted a pack of cards Clint had left behind when they were doing homework. “Have you ever built a card house?”
“No.”
“Okay. Consider this a team building exercise.” She grabbed the deck of cards and set two cards up to start the base layer.
Jaxon looked at her like she was crazy. “Are we building the same house or are we each building our own?”
“Whatever you want,” Bryn said.
He grabbed two cards and copied what she’d done. Once he understood the process, he added more walls and a roof.
Bryn put the final card on her roof, and the entire thing collapsed. One of her cards slid over and tapped the back wall of Jaxon’s card house, causing his creation to fall apart.
“Sorry,” Bryn said, and then she laughed.
“Yes, I can tell you’re overcome with remorse.”
“Let’s build one together this time,” she suggested.
“On one condition.” Jaxon stood and went over to her bookshelf to retrieve a small wooden chest. “We use this to stabilize the base.”
“That’s cheating.”
“I prefer to think of it as an improvement in design.” Jaxon leaned the cards around the box. “The upper floors will still be tricky.”
They completed the first floor without incident. They managed to create walls for the second floor. “So far so good,” Bryn said.
He added cards for the roof one at a time. Bryn sat back and watched. Maybe the key to keeping him happy was letting him be in charge of things she didn’t care about. And wow, that sounded like something her grandmother would say.
When he added the last card for the roof and it didn’t collapse, he smiled at her.
“You look so proud,” she said.
“I am. The question is, do we start on a third floor or stop now while we’re in a good place?”
“I say, stop now,” Bryn said. “We can always try for more floors later.” After Jaxon left, Bryn wondered if the card house was representative of their relationship. They seemed to be headed back into the friend zone. Once they made it there, she’d be happy to stay at that level. There was no reason to go for anything more.
…
Whether it was due to the approaching holidays or the fact that there hadn’t been any recent attacks, the mood on campus seemed festive. Even Jaxon seemed more relaxed than normal.
“Do you think the dragon-pires have moved on to different hunting grounds?” Clint asked over pancakes Saturday morning in the Dining Hall.
“Maybe.” Bryn took another bite of her butter-and-syrup-drenched carbohydrate bliss. No matter how crazy her life became she could still find comfort in food. “It might be easier for dragon-pires to stake out some of the subdivisions for now, since all the students will be heading home for Christmas break soon.”
“Great,” Ivy said. “Now I can be paranoid about dragon-pires attacking at home, too.”
“I’ll never leave your side there, either,” Clint said. “So you won’t have anything to worry about.”
“My parents might have something to say about that,” Ivy said.
“That is the one downside to going home,” Clint said. “Being apart.”
“I thought your families spent Christmas together,” Bryn said.
“We do,” Ivy said. “But there are also Girls’ Days Out and entire days of baking cookies that are no-guys-allowed.”
That reminded Bryn of something. “I wonder if my mom and I could bake cookies at their cabin? Last year, I missed that.” She sighed. “Having my parents back this Christmas is the best present ever.”
“Speaking of presents,” Ivy said. “Have you figured out what you’re buying Jaxon?”
Ugh. “No. I mean what do you buy someone who has a freaking forest in their house?”
“A platinum-plated bug zapper?” Clint said.
Bryn laughed. “Funny, but I don’t think he’d appreciate it.”
“What would you buy him if he weren’t obscenely wealthy?” Ivy asked.
“Good question.” If she took away the money, what did Jaxon enjoy? “It’s not like he has any hobbies that I’m aware of, but I do know that he likes books, cars, and cookies.”
“Find out his favorite author and buy him a boxed set of books,” Ivy said.
“He is a Westgate,” Bryn said. “Maybe a first edition of a book, signed by the author would work.”
“That would be cool,” Clint said. “Where do you shop for something like that?”
“I have no idea, but I bet my grandmother would know,” Bryn said.
After hanging out with her friends, Bryn went back to her room and made a couple of calls. The first one was to her mom. She arranged to meet them the next afternoon for a cookie baking extravaganza. The second call was to her grandmother who pointed her in the right direction to purchase rare books. Now, Bryn just had to figure out what kind of books Jaxon preferred. She hadn’t paid attention to what he’d been reading. Maybe Miss Enid the librarian could help her out. She called the library.
“I’m not supposed to share patrons reading lists,” Miss Enid said. “But since it’s for a good cause, I can tell you that he reads a lot of thrillers.”
That didn’t narrow the field much. “Thanks.” Bryn hung up the phone.
There was one more person who could clue her in. She called Westgate Estate and asked the operator for Lillith.
“Hello, Bryn. Is everything all right?”
“Yes, I was hoping you could help me come up with a Christmas present for Jaxon.”
Lillith laughed. “Westgates are notoriously difficult to buy for, but I should be able to help you. What have you come up with so far?”
“I was thinking about a signed, first edition novel of one of his favorite books, but I’m not sure what that would be.”
“Oh…that is an interesting idea. I know he enjoyed those books about a wizard and a hobbit and something about a ring. We read those over and over again when he was younger. I think he even took a set of them to school.”
“Are you talking about the Tolkien books like The Lord of the Rings?”
“That’s right,” Lillith said.
“As a Westgate, do you think he’d like a nice leather-bound copy of the set or maybe a signed copy, if I can find one? Even if it doesn’t inspire jealousy and awe in his friends? Is that really important?”
“His father has taken care of the jealousy and awe gift,” Lillith said. “So you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Really? What is it?”
“Sorry.” Lillith laughed. “You’ll have to wait and see. I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”
“Fine. Well, I guess I’m off to shop for rare books,” Bryn said.
“Have fun and I’ll see you at the Christmas Ball.”
Armed with this new and amusing bit of information, Bryn called the rare book dealer her grandmother had suggested in Dragon’s Bluff. She didn’t want to come right out and say, what is the most expensive version of this book that you have, so she improvised, “I’m interested in rare Tolkien books. What do you have available?”