Come Back for You

“How...” My eyes shoot to mama. “Mama, I can’t. This means so much to you.”

“‘Course it does, sugar. But I don’t need it. Not anymore, and your daddy would have wanted you to have it.” Wesley slides his arm around her shoulders and pulls her close. Dean drags my attention back to him by running his hand behind my neck and pulling me in for a long, slow kiss.

“I can’t wait to be your husband,” he whispers against my lips.

Whitley

“Whit! Can you come down here?” Dean hollers up the stairs at me, where I’ve been tucked away most of the day, wrapping Christmas presents. We’re about halfway through December and there’s still so much left to do. I’m almost done wrapping all the kids’ gifts and I’m completely done wrapping Deans. All that’

s left is mama and Darla, and I can do those later. The girls and I also have a cookie exchange set up on Saturday. We’re going to bake and drink until we can’t stand up any longer.

I finish the gift I’m wrapping and close the bedroom door, so Ranger stays out. I made the mistake of leaving some gifts out the other day and he ate the wrapping paper off a few of them. I bound down the stairs just as Dean comes out of the restroom that’s tucked away under the steps.

“Get it all wrapped, babe?” He asks, tugging me to him and stealing my lips in a kiss.

“Mmmm, almost. Just mama and your mom left and then I’ll be all done,” I say, trying to deepen the kiss but he pulls away. I stick my bottom lip out in a pout and he chuckles.

“That lip thing doesn’t work on me and you know it,” he says, and I huff out a breath. I do know it but doesn’t mean I won’t still try. “Come here, there’s something I want to show you.”

He tugs me to the front door, a giddy smile spread across his face.

“Okay, what’s goin’ on?” I prop my hands on my hips and arch an eyebrow. He moves behind me and puts his hands over my eyes.

“I want it to be a surprise,” he says, guiding me closer to the front door. I hear the door open and he walks me out to the porch, his hands still over my eyes. “Now, I know it’s not Christmas, but I wanted you to have your gift early.”

He removes his hands from my eyes, and I blink a few times, shocked at what’s in front of me. It’s the Chevy Tahoe we looked at when we were at the dealership.

“I don’t understand,” I say, my eyes volleying between the SUV and Dean. “You bought this for me?” He grins and nods his head.

“I know how much you loved it, but I also know much you deserved it. Whitley, you’re the most selfless person I know. You’d go weeks, hell even months, without something you needed or wanted, knowing there’s someone else out there who has less than you. I mean, fuck. Just last week you volunteered at the soup kitchen just because you wanted to.”

I shrug my shoulders.

“They needed extra hands,” I say, and he tugs me into a hug.

“You’re incredible and you deserve this and so much more. Merry Christmas, baby.” He presses a kiss to my temple and spins me back to face the car, slapping my ass before gently pushing me down the stairs and to the beautiful SUV in front of me. I’m still in shock. I see the truck in the driveway, but the mustang is gone.

“Dean...” I start but he cuts me off.

“Now before you get all up in arms, I did sell the mustang.”

“Dean!” I snap, upset because I know how much it meant to him since it was Jim’s.

“But I didn’t use that money to pay for your Tahoe.” Confusion mars my face, but he keeps talkin’, his cheeks turning red. “I thought to myself, what would Whitley do? So, I sold the ‘stang and used the money from that to pay Avery’s rent for the year.”

I gasp, tears springing to my eyes and my hands automatically going to my mouth. This fucking man. But he’s not done talking.

“That still didn’t even make a dent in what I got for the car, so I went to the bank and deposited the rest of the money in Avery’s account.” I burst into tears. He must have heard her and I talking at Friendsgiving, she was going into detail about how stressed she was trying to make ends meet and how she wasn’t even sure she’d be able to afford groceries this month let alone Christmas for Genevieve and Blake. I had already delivered groceries to her front door one night last week, leaving before she saw me, and I planned on buying presents for the kids, too. I launch myself at Dean, wrapping my legs around his waist when he catches me and peppering kisses all over his face.

“You’re the most incredible man I know,” I say, sobbing and pressing my lips to his. He grips my ass and walks me towards my new SUV.

“Glad you think so, now let’s break in your new car,” he says, opening the door and depositing me in the backseat before climbing in on top of me. And we do break in my new car. Twice.

****

“Let’s get this party started, bitcheees!” Clarissa hollers as she makes her way into Dean’s kitchen, her arms loaded with bags of stuff from the store. I take a few bags and start sorting through them. There’s cookie dough, beer, and liquor. I shake my head.

“Do you plan on helping at all? Or are you just plannin’ on drinkin’ until you pass out?” I ask her and she grins at me.