“Your turn.”
Her finger slipped under the taped fold of the wrapping and she slid the box out of the paper. Like earlier, the hinges of the larger rectangle box screeched as she flipped the lid. She was surprised to find a pair of matching snowflake earrings resting in such a large box, but then the flap of an envelope caught her eye.
“These are beautiful, Deckard.” January wanted to make sure he knew how much she loved the gift. He understood the significance of the snowflake to her now more than ever.
January lifted the envelope and pulled the slip of paper from the unsealed flap. In her hand, she held a round trip first-class ticket to Atlanta available to redeem on any date she desired. He wanted her to come visit him.
Her eyes flew up to meet his. “Deckard. . .”
“Before you decide that Atlanta isn’t for you, I would love if you’d give me a shot to show you that we could make it work. I make a lot of money, January. We can fly back and forth whenever we want.”
But it’s going to hurt so much when it all comes to an end, she thought.
January didn’t want to be ungrateful, because she was far from it. He gave her the greatest gift of all – himself. If only she were willing to accept it. But this wasn’t a fairytale. Long-distance relationships rarely ever worked out, at least the ones January knew of. They’d make it a few months, maybe a year, but they would start to tire of the travel and resent each other. She was jaded, and she knew it, but she couldn’t turn it off.
“Just promise me that you’ll try. I’m not ready to say goodbye to you yet,” Deckard pleaded, and regardless of her reservations, she nodded with a watery smile. In his joy he sealed her mouth with his, reminding her how explosive they were together with the simplest of touches.
Their tongues dueled, sliding past each other as they explored. January felt Deckard’s hands land on her waist, then suddenly she was lifted in the air and settled on his lap, but he never broke their connection.
“January,” he whispered, pulling away from the kiss and resting his forehead against hers. She watched his chest rise and fall as he took heavy breaths, the buttons on his shirt almost busting loose with each intake. But then Deckard spoke and all of her attention fell back on him. “I wish that I could give you everything that you love. When I came here, I wasn’t prepared to find you, and leaving tomorrow is going to be one of the hardest things I’ll ever do.
My grandma used to tell us to make a wish on the first star we found in the sky. And you don’t know how many days since meeting you that I wished that I could give you everything that you love. Almost every day for the last ten days.”
“You really did that for me?”
“Every day. You’re worth every wish I could possibly have granted.”
He softly kissed her again as he stood, gently placing her back on her feet. This was their last night together and the weight of that knowledge was crushing on January’s breaking heart. She knew he had to leave early in the morning, far earlier than she normally woke, but he wanted to spend the night with her instead of his own family.
“Go get ready for bed. I’ll be there in a minute,” he suggested.
She washed her face ignoring the shade of red lining her eyes caused by holding back the tears that threatened to spill over. Her dress came off her body in a swoosh and January laid it on the chair in the corner. She considered wearing something sexy and seductive for Deckard’s last night, but she remembered that he loved when she wore oversized T-shirts. She collected a few of his, at her request, and donned her favorite one for the night. A blue, worn-in shirt with a baseball team logo emblazoned on the front.
He sauntered in just as she was working her way under the covers and stripped himself free of his clothes, only leaving his boxers on as he joined her in bed.
“What took you so long,” she joked.
Pulling her against him, Deckard explained, “I turned off the fireplace and found the perfect spot for that ornament that had fallen.”
“Dead center of the tree?”
“Of course. There was no better place.”
He skimmed his hand down her back, slowly moving it under the hem of her shirt as the silence lengthened between them. January didn’t want to break the moment, too afraid that if she spoke she would erupt in tears. But Deckard seemed to be just as pensive.
The moonlight slipped through the curtains of her bedroom, leaving a glowing strip of light across the bed. It was enough to help their eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. January thought how similar her relationship with Deckard was to the light – just a tiny sliver of hope remaining.
“What can I do to make this better, sweetheart?”
January thought of a million answers: stay, turn back time, elope. Tons of crazy ideas that wouldn’t work.
Instead, she said, “Make love to me, Deckard.”
He eased between her legs effortlessly and made love to her until both of their bodies were well sated and used. January watched as her small clock changed to midnight. She was afraid that she wouldn’t fall asleep, too scared to lose one more second with Deckard. But as his breathing evened out, her own body began to settle against him, and her eyes closed.
Before she was fully encompassed in the darkness, January whispered, “I love you, Deckard.”
And just as January succumbed to sleep, Deckard whispered in return, “I love you too.”