Falling In Between (Falling Novels #1)

Chapter Fourteen

I had to admit, I loved coming to Sophie's for Christmas each year. Her family had a large estate on fifty acres in rural Pennsylvania and it was absolutely idyllic. The air smelled like Christmas trees, the grounds were always covered in snow and the wildlife wasn't afraid to come up to the window in the sunroom, where I loved to sit and read.

Unfortunately, since I was still a ward of state, her parents always had to send in a letter requesting them to allow me to stay with them for an extended period of time, but they were always happy to do it for me. It's nice to know there are some decent, loving parents out there. Her mom even fussed over the hospital visit and kept apologizing over how she couldn't come when it happened, since they were on the west coast for Labor Day weekend. And apparently, Sophie didn't tell them until after I was awake and out of ICU anyways.

Heh heh. That got Sophie a scowl and a gentle smack on the back of the head from her mom.

I was curled up on the sofa with a cotton blanket over my lap, gazing through the thickness of falling snowflakes when Sophie came in. I tossed my dirty paperback aside and accepted the mug of tea with honey she brought me.

"So what'cha doing?" she asked, tucking her legs underneath her in the armchair.

"Nothing. You?"

"I've got a secret, and you know how bad I am at those."

Yep. Ohhhh, so bad. But on the bright side, she never really kept anything from me.

"It's only been a week and I'm about to bust. I can't do this another week."

"Spill, my fellow little beater."

Her eyes sparkled upon hearing that 'cause Sophie never took 'beater' as an insult. "Well, Robert gave me your Christmas present."

My eyes perked. Partly because the tea was so freakin' hot it singed my tongue, but mostly 'cause I'd been dying to find out what I'd get. I gave him his present before he left – a ski cap with built in headphones for his mp3 player. I know, not too exciting. But hell, he could afford anything he really wanted and this was something he could actually use on his trip. He said he hadn't gotten my present yet and that he was gonna pick me up something in Europe. I figured he was just trying to pull one over on me by buying something in a currency I wasn't familiar with, just so he could slip in a more expensive gift.

That tricky little liar.

"Re-ea-lly?" I sang connivingly. "And where exactly would this little present be?"

I was actually kinda excited. Presents were rare for me and usually only ever came from Sophie.

"It might be upstairs, but you don't really want it already do you? He was very specific about waiting until Christmas."

I laughed. That's 'cause he knew she'd never pull it off. He already got his, so I wanted mine too. "Gimme gimme gimme!"

She skipped off merrily and returned a minute later with a small wrapped package.

"Sneaky," I said. "He knew if he stuck it in a bag, you'd be all over it." I slid off the elaborate gold silk ribbon and ripped the glittery gold paper (awesome choice).

Sophie chortled as she twirled the ribbon on her finger. "I think he may have spent the entire fifty bucks on the wrapping alone."

"Well, I didn't specify if it included wrapping so I'm sure he didn't count it towards his limit." I paused once I had the box completely unwrapped. Sophie burst out in giggles. "Son of a..."