My godson tears at the wrapping paper with more speed than a superhero, revealing his gift. He squeals before jumping into my arms. “You’re the best tío ever!”
Dahlia plucks the Formula 1 VIP paddock passes from the floor. “Nice choice.”
“You could have been the best madrina ever,” I tease.
When I mentioned going fifty-fifty on Nico’s gift this year, Dahlia scoffed and told me there was no way she would go cheap on her godson.
We may be dating now, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up our competition anytime soon, she said.
I should have expected a response like that from her after spending eight years trying to one-up each other with our presents, but I was still surprised.
She nudges me with her hip. “Don’t count me out of the competition yet.”
I don’t know how she will top my gift. After spending a month hearing Nico talk about his favorite Mexican driver, Elías Cruz, I knew I had to get him a VIP behind-thescenes pass for Christmas. Although he is a relatively new fan of Formula 1 thanks to his nanny, Ellie, who watches races religiously, he has quickly become a superfan.
“Good luck topping that.” I kiss the top of Dahlia’s head before taking a seat on the couch.
“I got one for you and Ellie too.” I toss Rafa the gift I kept hidden behind the couch until Nico opened his.
“One for Ellie? Why?” Rafa scowls.
“Um…because Nico said she’s going on the summer trip with you?”
The vein in my cousin’s neck looks ready to burst as he stares at his son. “Is that right?”
“You said I could do whatever I wanted.” Nico places the VIP lanyard around his neck.
“I said you could do whatever you wanted. Not invite whoever you wanted.”
“I want to do cool stuff with Ellie, so she has to come. Duh!” Nico poses beside me while my mom snaps a photo of us.
Lily laughs. “He got you there.”
Rafa’s eye twitches as he pulls out two more paddock passes from the gift bag and grumbles a quick thanks. Everyone knows he will go along with whatever Nico wants so long as it makes his son happy, including taking his nanny on a summerlong trip around the world, even if he hates every second of it.
“You’re welcome for the tickets. Be sure to send us photos and videos of Nico and Ellie freaking out.” I wink.
He brushes his eyebrow with his middle finger.
“Please. No fighting on Christmas Eve.” My mom tsks.
“Sorry, Ma,” Rafa and I say at the same time.
“My turn,” Dahlia announces as she passes Nico a small, wrapped box. “Here you go.”
“Thank you!” He rips at the red-and-white striped paper with glee before screaming.
“What is it?” Rafa leans forward to check out the tickets Nico keeps clutched in his iron grip.
My godson throws his arms around Dahlia’s neck and squeezes her until she is about to turn purple from lack of oxygen.
“Easy there.” I pull him away. “What did she get you?”
“Tickets to see Duke Brass in concert!”
“What?” my mom gasps.
“Whoa.” Lily gapes. “Way to make us all look bad.”
Shit. Those tickets are impossible to find. I tried to score a pair for Nico myself without any success.
Rafa’s eyes remain permanently wide. “How did you get those?”
Dahlia shrugs. “I know a guy.”
“What organ did you sell?”
“A nonvital one.”
I whisper in Dahlia’s ear, “You better be fucking joking.”
She doesn’t bat an eyelash. “We were born with two kidneys for a reason, Julian.”
“Dahlia.”
Her shoulders hike.
I glare at her.
She nudges me. “A light guy who worked on my show before is now part of the production crew for the tour, so I contacted him and begged for a pair.”
“Best gift ever!” Nico jumps around and waves his arms in the air.
Dahlia bats her lashes at me. “Aw. You could have been the best padrino ever, but no. I didn’t need your help.”
I press my lips against her ear and whisper, “Keep talking like that and I’ll make your ass match the wrapping paper you chose.”
Her face turns beet red, catching my mom’s attention as she snaps a photo of us.
“For the photo album!” My mom grins.
Padrino: Godfather.
Everyone continues to open their presents. Each time I pass one of mine out, Dahlia perks up, only to deflate with poorly concealed disappointment as I hand it to someone else.
It’s not until most of the gifts have been opened that she reaches under the tree and grabs a box with my name written on the tag. “Here. This one’s from me.”
“You got me something?”
Her cheeks turn pink. “Yes.”
I carefully undo the wrapping paper, taking my sweet time solely because I love Dahlia’s rare display of shyness.
“It’s not much,” she rambles when I fold the wrapping paper into a perfect recyclable square.
“Can you hurry up already? Some of us want to get to bed before Santa gets here,” Lily announces.
“Yeah!” Nico high-fives her. “What she said!”
“All right.” I laugh as I flip the lid of the box open and reach inside. “What did you get…” My voice drifts off as I pull out her gift.
I spot two main differences between the Second Best trophy Dahlia gave me as a graduation gift and this one. The first is that this trophy is far larger, and the second is that the plaque has a different inscription.
First Choice.
Dahlia peeks over at me. “Do you like it?”
I fight the tightness in my throat as I say, “I love it.”
“I know it’s probably silly, but since you kept the last one…” Her voice trails off.
“It’s perfect.” I wrap my arm around her and kiss her, earning a retching noise from Nico, a round of oohs and ahs from our mothers, a sigh from Lily, and Rafa grumbling something to himself.
She breaks the kiss first. “How long do you think it will take before they stop doing that every time we kiss?”
“They have nearly a decade to make up for, so I give it at least a few years before they settle down.”
Dahlia groans. “God help us.”
“This again?” She grabs the black eye mask from me.
I press my foot against the gas pedal and take off toward the Historic District. “I’d hate to ruin your Christmas surprise.”
Her knee shakes as she places the mask over her eyes. I carefully navigate the icy roads leading toward the Founder’s house with the truck, being mindful of the sharp turns and slick pavement.
Dahlia doesn’t speak up until the next song finishes. “I should have known you had something else planned after I was left empty-handed.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t have gotten you something?”
“I don’t know, but I wasn’t about to complain after the whole DreamStream thing. That’s worth like ten presents in one.”
I park outside the Founder’s house and turn the car off. “I already told you. The DreamStream deal was all because of you and your talent, not me.”