Page 64 of Pride High 2: Orange

“Lover Boy?” Charles said with a twinkle in his eye. “Yes. He’ll be disappointed that you didn’t stay longer. He does love to sneak away for a quiet moment with his books.”

“Please thank him for letting me interrupt your evening.”

“I certainly will.” Charles stood and walked to the front door, waiting next to it as Cameron brought the nightstand near. “Set that down a moment,” he said suddenly. “I’ve just had an idea.”

He disappeared down the hall, returning a few minutes later with a stack of square metal plates with cut-out shapes. He handed these to Cameron, who began to shuffle through them. Each plate was a stencil, most of them animal motifs.

“I recently came across those again,” Charles explained. “We’ve had them for ages. I’ve never known what to use them for, but I thought… You mentioned wanting to add a personal touch.”

Cameron’s eyes widened. He set one of the stencils on the surface of the nightstand where he’d sanded so much. “And it would help hide the damage.”

“Exactly. You could use a darker stain, or even carve the pattern into the wood, if you find one that suits you.”

“You’re a genius!” Cameron enthused.

He picked up the nightstand again. Together they loaded it into the station wagon. Charles was already shivering when Cameron shut the tailgate and turned around. That was an easy fix. He pulled the older man into a hug, recognizing just how fortunate he was to have someone like Charles in his life.

CHAPTER 15

December 20th, 1992

While waiting for Omar to answer the door, Silvia went down a mental checklist of Christmas presents she still needed to buy. She had worked Friday night and again on Saturday, her desperation mirrored in the eyes of each customer who asked for gift ideas. When she had gotten off work and gone to Mindy’s house for a sleepover, her anxiety increased when she learned her best friend had already finished her holiday shopping. Instead of insisting they hit some overcrowded stores together, Silvia had been happy to fall into their usual routine of goofing off in her room while pretending the rest of the world didn’t exist. Besides, her boyfriend had promised to go shopping with her.

The front door finally swung open. Omar had white foam around his lips and a toothbrush tucked in one cheek. “Hey, babe,” he said from around this. “Running late. Come on in.”

Silvia was eager to get out of the cold, rubbing her hands together to warm them after she entered the house.

“Just a sec,” Omar said before heading to the guest bathroom. She listened to him spit and rinse while she glanced around at his ridiculously huge house. Only five people lived here, while back at her place, her family of four was squeezed into the trailer like pickles in a jar. Which was fine. All she really wanted was her own bedroom. Couldn’t they airlift one from Omar’s house and set it next to the trailer? Maybe she should ask her rich boyfriend to give herthatfor Christmas.

“Why do you look like you’re casing the joint?” Omar said when he returned.

“Because it’s easier than shopping.” Silvia grabbed a decorative paperweight from a nearby table covered in mail and pretended to pocket it.

“Good idea!” Omar said. “You go shopping at my place, I’ll go shopping at yours. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll start visiting our friends’ houses until we get everything we need.”

“Instead of Secret Santas we’ll be Stealing Santas,” she said with a nod of approval. “My dad would love the big TV in your living room. You can have ours. Just make sure to retape the antenna when it falls off.”

“Then again,” Omar said after blanching, “it would be a pain in the butt to giftwrap things already out of the box. We better do this the old-fashioned way. Ready to go?”

“Yes.”

Omar opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, they were joined by Mamani, who rolled into the entryway in a wheelchair. Silvia was used to seeing her with a cane.

“Hello, sweetie,” the old woman said to her. “I wasn’t sure if Omar answered the door. He usually makes me do it.”

“I ran all the way from the upstairs bathroom!” Omar shot back.

“Then it’s good you remembered to pull your pants up along the way,” Mamani replied mischievously. “What are your plans?”

“Last-minute Christmas shopping,” Silvia explained. “‘‘Tis the season for stressing out.”

“I have a simple solution,” Mamani replied. “Convert to Islam. The only people who are calm at this time of year are atheists and Muslims.”

Silvia laughed. “You might be on to something.”

Omar looked concerned. “But youalwaysget me a Christmas gift,” he said to his grandma. “Don’t you need to go shopping too?”

“You haven’t outgrown such things?” Mamani asked.