A Prayer for Every Year
December
12th
Sue was surprised when Jack did not show her or mention to her what the picture
had been on the calendar and even more surprised when he presented her with a
box. There was no card, no explanation as to why he was giving it to her. Just
a serene, content smile. His only instruction:
"Don't open it here."
She puzzled about it all morning until Lucy and Tara mentioned lunch and
invited Sue along. She agreed wholeheartedly, hungry and curious as to what the
box held. After all, he'd told her she couldn't open it in the bullpen, he said
nothing about lunch with her friends.
Both women pounced on her when they entered the café and were seated.
"What was the box about?" Lucy asked, only leaving enough time for the maitre
d' to leave before pelting her colleague with questions of their leader's
suspicious actions. Sue pulled the box out of her purse.
"He told me I couldn't open it at the office," she told them as she lifted the
lid. She gasped at the small pendant. A green Christmas tree stared back at
her, little red dots as the balls of decoration and silver lines for garlands.
It took her a minute to relate it and she smiled. It wasn't meant as a pendant
but as a charm to add to her bracelet from one of Jack's earlier gifts. Lucy
squealed in delight.
"Girl, this has been a long time coming!" she exclaimed, grabbing Tara's arm in
excitement. Tara laughed at Lucy's childish antics and the focused on Sue.
"This is new. Usually we have a policy that no presents are bought for the team
at Christmas," she said. Sue blushed and Lucy rolled her eyes.
"Of course, every year, Bobby, Tara, Jack and I have disregarded that rule."
That made Sue laugh and she carefully replaced the box in her purse, vowing to
get the charm attached to her bracelet as soon as she could.
"So Sue, tell me about this new development with Jack."
"It starts with the flowers…"