Page 131 of Fall Into Me

“Hmm?”

Cass laughed lightly and cleared his throat. “I missed getting to talk to you.”

“We’re talking now,” Ash countered with a grin.

“Yeah, but it’s technically no longer Christmas.”

“It still is in Hawaii.”

“Mmm, Hawaii.” Cass hummed. “Have you been?”

The meandering conversation was like so many others they’d had, and Ash loved it. He lifted his free arm up behind his head and settled more into the couch. “No,” he said, “but it’s on my bucket list. You?”

There was another soft laugh. “I’ve barely traveled beyond the West Coast. I went to New York once on a high school trip, but only because we all ran this huge fundraiser and one of the small businesses here sponsored it. Mr. Parsons from the hotel, actually. Do you remember him?”

“I do, yeah.”

“He’s a good man.” Cass yawned. “Anyway, yeah, no, never been to Hawaii.”

“We should go someday.”

“Should we?”

“Yeah. I could teach you to surf,” Ash said with much more confidence than he actually had.

“You surf?”

“No,” he admitted. “But I could learn and then teach you.”

Cass snorted a laugh. “In Hawaii?”

“Yup.”

“Alright. I’m game,” Cass said, still laughing. “I should figure out how to be comfortable in the water first, though.”

“Probably.”

The conversation continued on for a few more minutes, mostly about this imaginary future trip to Hawaii, until Cass yawned again, which made Ash yawn. He pulled the phone away from his ear to check the time and sucked in a breath. 2:06 a.m.

“Ugh, it’s so late. We’re going to regret this in the morning,” he said, putting the phone back up to his ear.

“Nah. We’ll be exhausted, but that . . . builds character or something. Right?”

Ash rolled his eyes, but he was grinning. “Sure, sure. Except you’re not the one who’s at the mercy of a one-year-old. Bri will be wide awake at six. Or possibly five. Maybe I should call you and make you talk to her then, so I can go back to sleep.”

“Do it,” Cass said. Then he chuckled. “I’d love that. Bri’s so fun to talk to on the phone.”

With a groan, Ash pushed himself up. “You say that now, but if I did call you at five in the morning, you might have a different opinion.” His eyes drifted to the coffee table, where the gift from Cass still sat. “Ah, I didn’t open the present you sent yet. I was waiting until we were on the phone together.”

“Oh, that’s right.” There was some rustling and a quiet grunt as though Cass was also sitting up. “I have yours, too.”

“Mmm, you go first then,” Ash said quickly, scooting closer to the edge of the couch.

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”