Page 94 of Pride High 2: Orange

“Did you find this under the paint?” Anthony asked, tracing the shape with a finger.

“No,” Cameron said. “I made it using a technique called pyrography. Which is new to me, but basically you burn a design directly into the wood with a—”

“I love it.” Anthony had tears in his eyes when he looked up at him. “It’s beautiful.”

“Just like you,” Cameron replied after exhaling in relief.

Anthony shook his head. “I wish I could give you something this creative.”

“You made me a mixtape!” Cameron said. “I listen to it all the time.”

“That’s nice,” Anthony said with a smile. “But this is something truly special. Thank you.”

“Merry Christmas,” Cameron said.

“Merry Christmas,” Anthony echoed as he stood. “Idohave a present. I just can’t give it to you right now.”

“But you found a place?” Cameron asked in excitement.

Anthony nodded. “Yeah. I’m spending the night at Omar’s house tomorrow night, wink wink. Can you tell your parents that you’re staying with me? Will they let you?”

“I’ll tell them I’m staying with Ricky,” Cameron said. “My parents met him after the play.”

“I remain heartbroken that you didn’t want me to go.”

He felt guilty about that. Cameron’s dad had been there, which had made him nervous enough. The thought of introducing them afterwards was simply too much to handle. “Considering how one of my sets fell to pieces on stage, I’m really glad you didn’t.”

“Diego Gomez,” Anthony said in a told-you-so tone. “I still would have liked to have been there. In support. Literally, if need be. I would have crawled on stage and used my back to hold up the broken table.”

Cameron laughed. “Next time, I promise.”

Anthony was eyeing the nightstand again while shaking his head in disbelief. “This is amazing. And more than I deserve. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“Tomorrow night?” Cameron asked.

Anthony matched his grin. “Yeah. Tomorrow night.”

CHAPTER 21

December 25th, 1992

Silvia’s heart fluttered in anticipation as she searched for signs of Keisha’s farm. Her father was driving them south of Pride and seemed confident of the way.

“You still know how to get there?”Silvia asked in Spanish.

“Oh yes,”Miguel replied.“I remember that Christmas well. We were sure it would end in tears.”He glanced over at her with warmth.“You were always so grateful for anything we gave you, but we wanted it to be a good holiday. Especially after such a rough year.”

“What happened?”Silvia asked.“I don’t remember anything bad.”

“Of course not. You were thrilled that I was home so much. To spend extra time with my little princess, I told you, when in truth I was between jobs. Your mother was cleaning houses, but the man she worked for always paid her late, or not at all.”Miguel’s forehead creased with the memory.“That was an ugly situation. Although your mom still says I was at my handsomest then. Mostly because we had to tighten our belts.”He patted his potbelly before chuckling.

“You did a good job of shielding me from it all,”Silvia said.“I remember it being one of the best Christmases ever.”

“Thanks to the farm. A friend of ours told us about it. We thought for sure they would turn us away. It sounded too good to be true. I don’t know what we would have done without them.”

They probably would have made Silvia feel loved, like they always did. And really, that was all she’d ever needed.

Miguel laughed suddenly.“I remember eating so much at there that I fell asleep on the hayride. So it was a nice day for me as well.”The truck slowed at a stop sign.“They’re good people. Please thank them for me.”