“Hi, Ma.” He dips to kiss her cheek as we enter. “Ma, this is Tori. Tori, this is my mother, Crystal.”

I extend my hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“I’ve heard so much about you, Tori. It’s good to put a face to the name.” She turns to Rafe. “She’s lovely, son.”

He loops an arm around my neck and pulls me against him. “Absolutely.”

Crystal gestures to the rear of the house. “There are drinks in the kitchen.”

We enter a living room with a big fireplace taking up a good portion of the front wall. The room leads to a dining room with French doors. Through the glass, I spot a flagstone patio and built in planter-boxes overflowing with late blooming flowers. The dining room is decorated with streamers and balloons and a big cake sits in the middle of the table. It’s three tiers. The bottom two tiers look like ocean waves, and the top tier looks like a sandy beach with flip-flops and a surfboard stuck upright,Suttonwritten across it.

“Oh, how adorable,” I say.

Rafe leads me to the kitchen, where everyone is already gathered.

I barely get a chance to say hello before Crystal dashes in.

“They’re here. Hush, everyone. Get down.” She flips the lights off, and Rafe pulls me back out of sight behind the wall.

I glance around at everyone, all trying not to make a sound, and all looking at each other with grins.

We hear the creak of a screen door, then a key jangles in the lock and the front door open. There’s some shuffling.

“We didn’t have to stop at the house. I could have gone to the movie theater dressed like this,” a woman says.

A second later, we hear a switch flick, and the lights in the dining room come on.

“What’s this?” she asks. “Baby, did you do all this for me?”

Then Crystal flips the lights on in the kitchen, and everyone jumps up.

“Surprise!”

Sutton covers her mouth with her hand, and her eyes get glassy. “You guys.”

She wears a tank top with a sweater over it, a pair of shorts, and Uggs. With her tanned skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes, shelooks exactly like a surfer girl, and the cake totally makes sense. The other night at the clubhouse, I didn’t really pay her much attention, but now I study everything about her.

Kyle drags her against his side and kisses the top of her head. “Happy birthday, baby.”

Everyone starts talking at once and wishing her a happy birthday. Rafe tugs me to the ice chest filled with beer and gets us each one.

“You’re coming to family dinner, Tuesday, aren’t you, Rafe?”

We turn to see his mother.

“Sure, Ma. If I don’t have to work.”

“You’ve missed the last two,” she reminds him.

“I know. I’m sorry. They’ve kept me late at work. I’ll try to make this one.”

“And Tori, you must come as well,” she says, turning to me.

“Oh. Of course. I’d love to. Should I bring anything?”

“Just yourselves.”

“What are we having this week?” Rafe asks.