31. Presents

Chapter Thirty-One: Presents

Mika

I sat on the edge of the bed, playing with the envelope in my hands that seemed to weigh a thousands pounds. Sam was sitting next to me, happily banging his stuffed bear into the mattress, because apparently that was fun.

I could still hear Allen's and Sarah's voices from downstairs, although I couldn't make out any words. I had I feeling I knew what he was saying though, and I didn't really want to be around to see her reaction.

It's bad enough that I had to figure out how to tell Allen about this. It came in the mail last week and I still hadn't decided whether or not to even tell him. It's going to ruin everything, but maybe this is the only option for us right now.

"Mika?" Allen called up after a little while. "She's gone."

"I'm upstairs," I called back.

Moments later, Allen was in the room, taking a seat next to me and pulling Sam into his lap.

"It's not too bad," I said softly when Allen started looking at the bruises on Sam's cheeks. "She wasn't holding too tight. They'll start fading by tomorrow, probably."

"Yeah, I can't help but worry, though." Then he looked over at me and noticed the envelope in my hands. "What's that?"

I turned it over in my hands one more time. "Something I need to talk to you about." I sighed. "You know how I applied to the cooking school here in town?"

"Yeah. Did you get in?"

I shook my head slowly. "No, I didn't. But it wasn't the only cooking school I applied to. This one-" I held up the envelope. "This one I did get into. Except it's on the other side of the state." I paused, trying to figure out my next words. "This is my dream, Allen. I finally got a chance at it. I need to go. I know you have your job and your parents just moved here because of you. So I can get a small apartment over there or something. I have enough money saved up, plus all that money you've been sneaking into my-"

"How do you know I've-"

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice an extra thousand dollars? Seriously, Allen, that's way too much and you're getting some of it back."

He shook his head, chuckling. "We'll discuss that some other time. But Mika, about you going to this school-"

"No. Please, just let me finish, okay?" He nodded. "I know you probably don't want to hear this right now, but I could take Sam with me. Just for a little bit, until this whole Sarah thing blows over. She won't be able to find him there. He'll be safe. I'll bring him home to you, every weekend."

"I love you."

It was all he said, which left me very confused. Why was he telling me this now? I was hoping for some sort of reaction about the bomb I just dropped on him, not him telling me that he loves me.

But then he grabbed the envelope out of my hands and looked it over and pulled out the acceptance letter inside and read that. Finally, he looked at me. "This is in the same city of the new branch I was planning on opening up."

"What? Since when were you opening a new branch?"

He smiled. "Since right now."

Well that would explain why I didn't know. But he can't just do that. He can't just decide to go to a completely different city just because I was going. I would be fine on my own. I have been for years.

"Mika, you're right. Getting Sammy out of here is the best idea right now. But you're not going alone. It has nothing to do with me not trusting you or anything - believe me, I trust you completely. It's me worrying about our son's safety and needing to protect him; needing to constantly see that he's safe. We'll find a nice house together. If we end up keeping both houses, we keep both. It's not a problem, financially. All I have to do is make sure there's office space available - which I'm sure there will be. I was expanding anyway, I just hadn't decided on a location yet. Okay?"

I nodded. It made sense, what he was saying, but I didn't see why he needed to buy a whole new house there and keep this one.

"Hey," he said after I hadn't said anything. "We'll figure all the details out later. Let's just enjoy the rest of the day, alright? It's still Christmas, after all."

I smirked. "You and your Christmas."

Allen didn't reply. Instead, he stood up from the bed, with Sammy still in his arms, and motioned me to follow him. I did, following him back down the stairs and into the living room.

I sat on the couch, next to where Allen placed Sam before he walked over to the other side of the room where the tree was. Under the tree were three boxes, all neatly wrapped in Christmas paper. He grabbed the smallest of the three and placed it on top of the largest before bringing both over to me.

He put them both at my feet and sat down, then took off the small one and hid it behind his back. "This one," he said, pointing to the big one, "is Sammy's. Want to help him open it?"

I laughed, gaining the toddler's attention. Then I showed him how to rip the paper off, which he seemed to enjoy doing. When we finally unwrapped the box, I looked at it, trying to figure out what it was. It was this seat thing with toys all around it. And it was on wheels.

Allen explained before I could ask. "It's to help him learn to walk, and to keep him entertained."

"You really want him moving around the house, don't you?"

Allen laughed. "Why don't we put it together? Have him try it out?"

So we spent the next ten or so minutes getting it set up and putting Sam in it. He definitely seemed to like it, although he hadn't figured out the moving around bit yet, which was probably a good thing.

"Alright," Allen said when we were done. "Your turn." He pulled out that small box he had on the couch and handed it to me. "Merry Christmas."

"You didn't have to get me anything, really," I said, trying to figure out what could be inside. It was too light. It honestly didn't feel like anything.

"It's Christmas and you're my boyfriend. Of course I'm getting you something."

I rolled my eyes. That didn't mean I needed anything. But I opened the gift anyway, finding only a couple pieces of paper inside. That would explain the weight, but I still didn't know what was so great about them.

Again, Allen explained before I could ask. "How does Hawaii sound? We'll take a nice vacation, just you and me - my parents already agreed to watch Sammy for whichever week we decide. I didn't buy the plane tickets or book a hotel or anything yet, I wasn't sure about your school schedule. But now we can start planning something. What do you think?"

I've never been on a vacation before. It was such a weird concept to me, but, for some reason, I was excited to be able to go to a place like Hawaii, which is like some fairy tale land as far I was concerned. And to be able to go with Allen - I couldn't imagine anything better.

So I told him all that - or at least, I hope he got the message through the kiss I gave him. It was the intense I-never-want-to-let-you-go kind of kiss. He better have gotten the message.

"You're welcome," he chuckled once I finally broke the kiss.

"I have something for you, too," I said, getting to my feet. "But it's not that great compared to that."

"I'm sure I'm going to love it because it came from you." He then glanced over at the tree, where there was only one present left - one that he wrapped. "Did you not bring it out here?"

I shook my head. "It's a little different from most gifts, I think. I have to go get it. Be right back."

I suddenly felt very nervous as I walked towards the kitchen. Allen was practically impossible to shop for, considering he could just buy anything he wants. So I ended up making him homemade ice cream - mint chocolate chip because it's his favorite - but it seems so small compared to his gift. What if he doesn't like it? What if it doesn't taste good? What if-

The thought flew out of my head when I saw the box that Sarah had brought with her still sitting on the table. I didn't know what exactly was inside, only that it scared Allen and was probably dangerous.

So I looked, and was a gun.

"Allen?" I called out. "Come here."

He came in and I watched the smile fall off his face when he realized the box was still on the table. "Crap. I forgot about that."

"She brought a gun and you didn't call the cops on her?"

His face paled. "I, uh, I don't know. I wasn't thinking about it. And - and why are you suggesting it? Aren't you against the police considering..."

"They can't do anything to me, Allen. They said I stole some shit? Yeah, I did, but that was only to keep myself alive another day. It was so long ago and I have no idea how they even know it was me. What's the worst they can do to me? So no, I ain't worried, not when there's more important issues for them to deal with with here. It's that stupid soft spot you have for her. That's what this is."

"I did tell her I'd call them next time she tried to see him."

"Next time? Allen, do you want there to be a next time?" I shook my head in disbelief. "She knows about that soft spot that you still have for her. She'll come back and what'll you do? Not call the cops, probably. That's why we need to get Sammy out of here. I know how people like her think."

"Fine. I'll-" He sighed. "I'll call them now."

I shook my head, placing the lid back onto the box. "Don't. There's no way to prove it's her's or that she was here. And if she got this gun illegally, which is quite possible, the cops will blame us for it. I can get rid of it tomorrow. I know a guy." At least, I hope I still knew where to find him - if he was even still alive.

I could tell Allen wanted to argue some more, but he held back whatever he wanted to say. After a moment, he let out a sigh and nodded. "Okay. Just be careful."

"Yup." I made sure that was the end of the conversation by going to the freezer, where I was originally headed. Neither of us said anything while I pulled it open and dug down to the bottom to pull out the container with Allen's ice cream in it.

"This is my gift to you," I said, handing him the freezing cold container. "Homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream. I didn't know what a good gift for you would be, so I hope that's okay."

He smiled widely. "It's absolutely perfect. Thank you."

At that moment, I suddenly knew why everyone loved giving presents to each other. It was that look of pure happiness in his eyes that told me that no matter what other shit might be going on, I gave him something that could make him forget about it for a while. It was a really good feeling.