“Go show her who’s boss,” Jon laughed.
I flipped him off, grabbing her birthday present that I’d hid under the bed. She was turning twenty-four the next day, and I wanted it to be perfect. I put a lot of thought into my gift. I planned on spending the entire day with her, but that wouldn’t happen if I didn’t straighten this shit out now.
I knew why she was pissed.
Briggs was leaning against the railing, already lost in thought. Even though she had just stepped out there not even a minute ago. It was happening a lot more lately, which only meant I had to work extra hard to make her smile for me. She didn’t really acknowledge me when I walked out, shutting the double doors behind me.
I lit a cigarette, making my way over to her. Sliding her hair to the side to kiss the back of her neck like I knew she loved.
“Austin…”
“What, baby?” I rasped, turning her to face me.
“You said you weren’t going to get high today. Remember last night you said—”
“Was that before or after I made you come on my cock?” I asked, kissing along her neck.
“That’s not fair,” she replied, pushing me off.
I took a drag of my cigarette, blowing it out to the side. I caged her in with my arms, placing my hands on the railing. She still hadn’t noticed the gift in my hands, she was obviously too pissed off at me to care.
“Hey.” I kissed the tip of her nose. “I love you.” I kissed her cheeks and all over her face. “Where’s my girl? Hmm… where’s my Daisy?”
On her birthday last year, I tattooed a key over my heart with the name Daisy engraved on it. I surprised her with it later that night in bed when she was touching the scar near my heart like she did every night.
I kissed her lips, beckoning her to open them for me. When she finally did, I groaned into her mouth, and she smiled against mine. Her resolve was breaking. She could never stay mad at me.
We loved each other too much.
“I got you something, birthday girl.”
She smirked. “My birthday’s tomorrow. You trying to butter me up, Austin?”
“Depends. Is it working?”
I stepped back, taking another drag off my cigarette before snubbing it out in the ashtray. Then handing her the gift.
“I see you wrapped it yourself,” she teased, making fun of my shitty attempt.
She tore open the package. Her eyes widening once she pulled out the blanket.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, her eyes immediately filling with tears.
She took in every last square of the memory blanket that I’d had specially made for her. There was a picture of her mom, her dad, and her as a baby. A few family shots scattered around. There was a photo of us that was taken in Oak Island and daisies to fill in the spaces between. The rest were my sketches, her favorite pictures that I drew. She ran her fingers over all the pictures, tears falling down on them.
“It’s for when I work late and you’re alone. I know you hate it. I know you worry, even though you have nothing to be scared about. But now, you can wait for me wrapped up in this blanket and feel safe and secure until I come home to you.”
She peered up at me with her big, bright, blue eyes, tears falling down her beautiful face.
“How did you do this?”
“Believe it or not… Your uncle.”
<>Briggs<>
I jerked back, stunned. “What? My uncle helped you?”
“I told him that I wanted to give you a piece of your childhood for your birthday. He gave me an address and a key. He said everything I needed would be in there. It was a storage unit that didn’t have much, just some boxes. There were photo albums, clothes, and some jewelry. He told me to keep the key. In case you wanted—”
“My uncle? He’s kept all this. Why didn’t he ever tell—” I shook my head, wiping away my tears.
I gave up trying to understand Uncle Alejandro years ago. I took in every last picture, especially the one of my mom and dad. They were kissing. They looked so happy, so in love. I couldn’t believe Austin did this. It was the most thoughtful thing anyone could have given me.
A piece of my happiness before the darkness set in.
“You look like her. But you have your dad’s blue eyes,” he chimed in, pointing to my dad in the picture.
I smiled, more tears spilled over. “My dad used to travel a lot. My mom would let me sleep with her in their bed when he was gone. She’d tell me that she didn’t miss him as much when I was lying next to her. That all she had to do was look into my eyes and she would see my dad’s staring back at her.”
Austin grabbed my chin, making me look at him. Wiping away my tears with his thumb. The smell of cigarettes along with his touch comforting me the way it always did.
“I didn’t have this made to make you cry, baby.”
“They’re happy tears,” I reassured him.
“Anytime you want to talk about your parents. I’m here to listen. I wish I could have met them, so I could tell them how amazing their daughter is and how much I’m in love with her.”