Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
He pulled on a coat and stepped into his boots.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Hi! I’m sorry,” the woman who’d taken the picture said, smiling. “I saw your picture on Instagram and I wanted to see the lights you and your little girl hung. It’s such a sweet story. Guess it was silly to come during the day.”
She looked sheepish.
Adam could imagine what Wes would say if he were here. He’d mutter, “Well, certainly don’t come prowling around my house at night.”
But Adam wasn’t Wes, and the idea that a real-life person had been moved by Gus’ wish for the most lights in the world filled him with warmth.
“That’s okay. Hi, I’m Adam.”
“I’m Naomi,” the woman said. “That’s my brother, Jordan.” She pointed to the guy getting something out of their car. “We brought you these.”
Jordan gave a self-conscious wave as he turned around. He was holding two coils of lights.
“Hey,” he said. “Thought maybe you all could use some more.”
He held out the lights and Adam swallowed a lump in his throat.
“Wow,” he breathed.
“We know it’s a little weird that we came here,” Naomi said. “It’s just, um. Our parents used to get really into Christmas. Tons of lights and decorations and all. Our mom died a few years ago and last year our dad had a heart attack. He can’t really be climbing on ladders to hang lights anymore. When I saw your post it just reminded me so much of when we were kids.”
Naomi gave a sad smile and Jordan squeezed her hand.
“It’s really cool, you doing this for your daughter,” he said.
Adam was desperately holding back tears, not wanting to make these kind strangers uncomfortable.
“Thank you,” he choked out. “That’s really so kind of you. And I’m sorry about your parents. I wish—”
He broke off, tears too close to the surface.
“Ignore me,” he said, waving a hand in front of his face as if that might disappear the tears.
“Daddy!” Gus came running up behind him and wrapped her skinny arms around his waist the way she often did when he was having feelings. “What’d you do to him?” she accused Jordan and Naomi.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Adam managed. “They didn’t do anything.”
“Did he get emotional?” she asked knowingly.
“I suppose so,” Jordan said.
Gus nodded sagely.
“You like my lights?” she asked brightly, accusations forgotten.
“They’re great,” the siblings chorused.
“They brought us some more,” Adam said, holding them out to Gus.
“Thank you!” Gus said. She pointed to the house. “Wanna see them on?”
Adam watched Naomi’s face turn hopeful for a split second, then politeness overtook hope.
“Oh, that’s okay. We didn’t want to intrude. Just snap a quick picture and drop these off.”
“That’s okay, right, Daddy?”
Adam smiled.
“Yeah, it’s fine. You gonna do it?”
She grinned and ran for the side of the house. She’d become quite an expert at toggling the various power strips on over the last few weeks.
The house lit up and Naomi gasped. Adam hoped it was a happy gasp, although in his opinion the house was looking very overburdened: more light than structure.
“Wow,” she said, and Jordan nodded. “It’s beautiful.”
Gus came skipping back to them, seemingly impervious to the cold.
“It’s not the most lights ever,” she said. “I looked it up. There’s a family called the Gay family. Like you, Daddy. Anyway, they have way more, but theirs is a whole huge thing. But it’s pretty good!”
Adam clamped his lips together and nodded.
“It looks amazing, honey,” Naomi said. Then to Adam, “Do you mind if I take a picture?”
“Go for it. If you post it anywhere, though, will you not put our address? When I originally put out the call, I didn’t think more than a few people would see it.”
“Of course,” she said. She took a few pictures, slid her phone in her pocket, and said, “I’ll tag you.” She was clearly stalling. Finally she turned to Gus and said, “You’ve got a great dad, you know?”
Gus grinned and nodded. “I know.”
Adam saw Naomi’s eyes fill with tears before she turned away. She and Jordan waved from the car as they drove off down Knockbridge Lane.
* * *
True to her word, a few hours later Naomi posted the picture with their address blurred out and tagged Adam. She wrote, Nothing is as important as family. So lucky to see this labor of love by a father to make his daughter’s dreams come true. #LitByLove.
By the time he left work that day, Naomi’s post had been shared enough times that Adam was getting follows and tags every few minutes. He couldn’t wait to show Gus, who’d talked excitedly about Naomi and Jordan’s visit the whole drive to school that morning.
When he turned onto Knockbridge Lane, something felt different. It looked brighter. For a moment, Adam thought it was all the lights on their house gleaming up the darkness. But as he rounded the bend, he saw the cars. Six or seven cars lined the street between their house and Wes’, and people stood on the sidewalk, looking at the house, lights ablaze.