Page 132 of Fall Into Me

“’Cause I said so. Just do it.”

Cass sighed with obvious sarcasm. “Alright, if you insist. Hang on one minute.” There was a click and then silence for a few long seconds before Cass returned. “Okay. Here we go.”

“Wait. Take a guess first,” Ash cut in, though he almost immediately regretted it.

“Take a guess?” Cass repeated.

“Ah, yeah. It was . . . it was something my sister and I used to do when we were old enough to start getting each other gifts. But never mind, you don’t have to. It was always just something silly. I mean—” He sighed and tried not to get sad as memory after memory played in his mind. He closed his eyes. “It was silly, like a game. Like, uh, we’d come up with the most off-the-wall things.”

“Like me guessing that what’s in this box is an inflatable surfboard for me to use on our trip to Hawaii?”

Ash couldn’t help but laugh, sadness mixing with warmth and joy. He nodded. “Exactly.”

“Well, that’s not actually my guess,” Cass said, a clear tease in his voice, “because the box weighs much too little for that. Hmm . . .” There was a sound like maybe he shook the box and then another thoughtful hum. “I’m going to go with chocolates.”

Ash’s eyebrows arched. “Chocolates?”

“Not just any chocolates. Chocolate-covered grasshoppers. High in protein, you know. Healthy and filling.”

Ash burst out laughing and promptly covered his mouth to muffle the sound. “Healthy and filling,” he echoed. “Jesus.”

Cass chuckled. “It wasn’t that funny.”

“It’s 2:00 a.m. It was that funny!” Ash argued.

“Hah. Okay, fair, fair. So, can I open it now?”

Ash bit his lip. “Yeah. Go ahead and open your chocolate-covered grasshoppers.”

There was a light laugh, which only deepened the pleasant warmth spreading through Ash’s chest, and then he listened to the telltale sound of paper ripping.

“You know, I would have taken you for someone who would unwrap your presents slowly, be careful not to tear the paper or something,” Ash teased.

“Hmm, well . . .” Cass huffed another quiet laugh, and Ash could almost picture his smirk as he said, “I think you’re the one who likes to unwrap things slowly.”

Ash groaned—both with the memory of their phone call the night before and at the pure silliness of the response—and they both laughed again. It was silly. And he loved it.

“Ohhhh, wow, Ash . . . I can’t believe you remembered. I think I only mentioned this book once.”

“You did, just after Thanksgiving,” he said quietly. “Now you don’t have to keep waiting for the library copy to come available, and you can annotate it if you want.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cass said, and then he paused and blew out a breath. “Ah, I love this. Thank you so much. I will not stay up even later tonight to get started reading. But I might read most of tomorrow, and so it’s your fault if I’m too busy for much else.”

Ash pursed his lips, still smiling. He’d been worried; the gift really wasn’t much, but they’d agreed not to go overboard anyway since money was tight for both of them, and he’d thought the book would be the perfect gift. He was glad to know he’d been right. His eyes landed on his gift again, and he sat up a little straighter and reached forward.

“My turn now?” Ash said, the words catching in his throat.

“Yes, definitely.” Cass’s answer was immediate, and Ash could hear the smile in his voice as he asked, “What’s your guess?”

“Hmm . . .” Ash balanced the phone between his shoulder and ear and picked up the package. It had weight to it, and he could feel something shifting around inside when he moved it. “It’s gotta be . . .” He paused, trying to think of the most outrageous thing he could. “It’s gotta be a giant potato carved into the shape of an otter.”

“A . . . a what?”

He heard Cass laughing softly, and he repeated, “A giant potato, which accounts for how heavy it is.”

“Carved into the shape of an otter.”

“Of course. Because you know how much Bri would love that.”