A Love Like Ours

17. Eight Years

Hailey was woken by the soft nudge to her shoulder. She hummed to tell him she was awake before rolling her head over her pillow. She blinked her eyes open and met her husband's smirk as she turned herself over completely. Before she could fully sit up, Jay had reached behind him and was holding out a small wrapped box. Hailey narrows her eyes at the present and before she could question the choice of the 'happy birthday' wrapping paper, Jay speaks up.

"It was the only one I could find, and I didn't want to take any from your Christmas stash because you would probably kill me," he says, earning a slow nod from her in return. He then extends his arm forward even further, adding extra emphasis on the gift in hand. "Happy anniversary." He adds with a smirk.

Hailey sits herself up against the headboard before taking the present. As she rips open the paper, Jay talks again, folding his arms over his chest.

"I know we said we were going with the modern gift ideas but apart from getting you a lace tablecloth I had no idea what to get you, so I went traditional for this year."

Hailey scrunched up the paper and placed it on her lap, turning over the picture frame to see the image inside. The frame border was painted with a bronze texture and she felt a grin grow on her face at the choice of picture he had put inside. It was one he had taken in the truck about six months prior.

Hailey remembered the events leading up to that picture perfectly. He had sent the picture over to his brother in a response to Will's slightly impatient text asking where they were and he pulled a face for the photo, sticking his tongue out slightly. At the second Jay snapped the picture, Hailey had spotted his face in the reflection on the screen and it made her laugh, in turn making the grin on her face even wider.

She looked up from the frame and she bobbed her head. "Thank you, I love it," she says before leaning forward slightly, pressing her lips against his. She pulls away as quick as she moved forward and darted her gaze down briefly before meeting his gaze again. "And, uh, you'll have to wait until later for your gift."

A smirk pulls up on the corner of his lips. "You forget to buy it?" He jokes.

Hailey shakes her head slowly, her fingers run over the corner of the frame. "No.. I just did the modern gift ideas."

"Oh," he mumbles and it takes a second before the realization comes over him, making his eyes grow wide a little. "Oh." He repeats.

Hailey lets out a laugh but she gets cut off from saying anything when Jay hooks his eyebrow up.

"Are you sure we have to wait until later?" He asks.

She bobs her head. "Unfortunately, we're gonna be jumped on soon and you know it," she says before dropping her voice down subtly. "But how about I make you a deal?-"

"Done." He quickly cut in, answering her question before she had a real chance to ask it.

She tries to hide the smile growing on her face. "You didn't even hear it."

He shakes his head quickly. "Don't need to, already made my mind up."

xxx

The rest of the day is spent finishing up a case they had been working on the last few days and completing the paperwork for it, and for Hailey it's also pestering her husband to find out what he had planned for that evening to no avail.

He had been talking about his plan for almost a week and at this point it was starting to annoy her that she couldn't figure out what he had in mind. She had tried many different tactics in an attempt of getting him to say what he was planning - some of which she was convinced would work - but he had kept his lips sealed the entire time.