The Bet

Chapter 74

Riley's POV

I woke up the next morning, suddenly remembering it's Christmas morning. A small smile forms on my face. I put on a house coat and walk down the stairs to start up breakfast. Dad comes down, says good morning, and sits down at the table to wait.

"Merry Christmas." I say, placing his breakfast in front of him.

"Thanks sweetheart." He replies. We eat our breakfast in silence, clear it away when we finished, and than head to the living room to open our gifts.

"Here." He says, handing me a gift bag. He was never one for wrapping.

"Thank you." I reply. I remove the red and green tissue paper, and take out a box. I open the box and take out a necklace, and also a twenty dollar bill poked in with it.

"To buy something for yourself." Dad explains.

"Thanks, but you didn't have too." I mumble. I tuck the necklace and the money neatly in the box again and put it under the tree again.

"And here's yours." I say, handing my father his gift.

"Thanks." He says, opening the gift. He opens up a new shirt and a watch that I managed to find on sale.

"Thanks sweetheart." He says, kissing my head and laying it under the tree again. We open Emily's gift to us, my dad a shirt, and myself a set of earrings.

"So are you going to stay home now, or go to James's or something?" Dad asks. I shrug.

"James said that he would like me to come over for turkey supper at his house, but also said that I didn't have to." I tell him.

"Go over if you want to." He replies.

"But I don't want to leave you here all alone." I reply sadly.

"I'm fine. I wouldn't mind being alone for a bit. And I think that James would like to see you." He says with a slight smile.

"Alright, I guess I should let James know." I sigh, taking out my phone and quickly text him.

"Did James get you anything?" He asks. I nod.

"Yeah, but he told me last night that if I decide to come over for supper, than I would have to wait to open my gift until I come over there so we can open them together." I tell him.

"I see." He replies. "Well, I'm going to go get a shower and get dressed."

"Alright." I sigh, standing up. I go to my room to get ready.

~~~~~

James's POV

"James wake up!" Jacob screams at the top of his lungs.

"What?!" I cry out, rubbing my eyes.

"It's Christmas morning! Come on!" He squeals.

You see, mom has this rule that we can't open our gifts until everyone's up.

"Okay, I'm coming." I sigh. I get out of bed, grab my phone and follow Jacob down the stairs. Mom, dad and Jessica were already down there.

"Merry Christmas." I mutter, flopping down in the chair. We watch Jacob open his gifts first because he's the youngest, and than we open our open.

"Is that it?" Jacob whines, looking through the debris of wrapping paper by the mountain of his already opened gifts.

"I think that's all dear." Mom says.

"Wait, did you open the one from Riley?" I ask, joining my brother in leafing through the paper.

"Oh, here it is!" Jacob says excitedly. I notice that it was moved from the place that Jacob put it last night, to poked to the very back of the tree. I also notice mom roll her eyes and let out a displeased huff, and I instantly know that it was her doings.

"Oh cool!" Jacob cries, looking at the t shirt from one of his favourite shows, and a couple other little things poked in.

"You like it?" I ask.

"Yeah! Is Riley coming over? I want to thank her." He says.

"Yeah she's coming over. You can thank her than." I tell him. My mother glares.

"Okay everyone! Time to open our gifts." Dad says. The four of us dig in, picking out the gifts with our name written on the tag and tear open the paper.

I find Riley's and lay it aside, remembering the promise we made last night. I would have to wait until later to open it.

~~~~~

Riley's POV

I apply the last bit of makeup and than put on the outfit I chose to wear for today. A plain red dress and black flats, the same ones I wore on my first date with James. I found a plain, thin black belt to wear with the dress so it didn't look so plain. I also decided to wear the necklace and earrings I got for christmas.

I text James to let him know I'm ready. Than I go downstairs and retrieve James's gift for me.

"Are you leaving now?" Dad asks. I look down at my outfit for one last check and than look back at him nodding.

"Yeah, I think so." I reply.

"Alright." He sighs. I give him a hug.

"If you don't want to go, I won't." I tell him.

"No, no. That's fine. James probably wants to see you, and it would be the first turkey supper you had on Christmas for years." He says. It was true. We stopped cooking big Christmas suppers when mom died, and than when Emily left, it came even smaller. Now with just me and dad, we just eat a turkey sandwich or something.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I sigh.

"You'll be fine. I was going to visit a man I worked with too, so I'm fine." He tells me.

"Okay, if you say so." I say warily. I hear James's car horn from the driveway.

"I assume that's James." Dad says with a small smile. I smile back.

"Yeah it is." I say with a little giggle. I give dad one last hug and than I'm off.