Him & I

The Gift

All I want is to hold you forever
All I need is you more every day
You saved my heart
From being broken apart
You gave your love away
And I'm thankful every day
For the gift
——The Gift, Jim Brickman

December 9, 2018

Grayson was in San Antonio to play the Spurs, which was a damn sight warmer than Utah right now, so he didn't mind it too much. The travel was becoming more routine, but that actually made it more tiring. The excitement had worn off.

He felt like he was learning how to deal with it, slowly but surely. Fortunately, he was an introvert, who didn't mind sitting in a quiet hotel room alone every now and then. A quiet room, a book and kicking his feet up with a cup of tea was pretty cool.

But his quiet Sunday morning of meditation was interrupted by his phone. He glanced at the screen and sighed. Luke was always interrupting something or other. But Grayson answered.

"S'up superstar?" he mumbled.

"Gee, Luke, nice to hear from you. Glad your shoulder is better and you're back on the court. Miss you, brotha," Luke snarked.

"All of that," Grayson laughed. "It was all implied in my greeting."

Luke shook his head. "I suppose I've always known that you're a man of few words," he huffed. "But I wanted to talk to you and I've got an early game. What are you getting Cait for Christmas?"

"Shit, I dunno," Grayson shrugged. "Haven't really thought about it yet. I've got a couple of weeks."

"What if we send the girls on a couple of spa trips together?" Luke suggested. "Rae's losing her goddamn mind stressing about the holidays. Olivia's visiting, my family's gonna be around. And she's turning into a damn fruitcake."

"No worse than Cait is," Grayson told him. "She actually started eating Pop-Tarts again, for chrissake. What is it about women and holidays that makes them lose their shit?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Luke sighed.

"I'm in," Grayson told him. "Let's come up with a plan."

*****

Cait was starting to panic. She still had absolutely no idea what to get Grayson for Christmas and it was two weeks away.

She'd shopped online. She'd shopped in stores. And she still had nothing. No clue. Not even the ghost of an idea.

Not that she hadn't gotten him anything. Some books.  A new winter coat and boots. Some flannels, now that he lived in a place that actually experienced a real winter. But she wanted to get him something special.

Since she was clueless, she'd put that aside and managed to buy all of the decorations for their home.  She was anxious to actually decorate, but they'd planned to do it together, so she'd have to wait for Grayson.  And he was insistent that he wanted a real Christmas tree.  Growing up in Florida had generally not been conducive to a real tree.  And he was determined. 

Cait had argued that they were messy.  And that you were killing a perfectly good tree.  But he wasn't having it.  Eventually, she'd given in, but put him in charge of actually getting the tree.