Page 71 of Let It Be Me
I nod wordlessly in agreement before Kamryn moves around the room being the gracious hostess.
“You’re tough to surprise, you know that?” Emily asks when she comes over with Dylan on her back.
“It’s because I hate surprises,” I tell her and stick my tongue out at her.
“Why do you hate surprises, Ms. Sarah?” Dylan asks with his chin popped on her shoulder.
“Because sometimes they’re scary. Do I not get a hug? It is my birthday after all.” I ask, popping my fist on my hip.
Emily shuffles around and Dylan slides into my waiting arms. I know he’s a bit too old to carry, but he is on the shorter side for his age. Plus he still somehow has the baby smell. I dramatically squeeze him tighter and blow raspberries on his neck before setting him down.
“Emily, can I have cake?”
Her hand falls firmly on top of his chestnut brown head and gently shakes. Emily looks at me to make sure it’s okay that he gets cake before me and I nod my head. “Sure. But only one slice.”
He runs off and she turns to me. “You look happy, Little Bird,” I tell her.
“I am. I could say the same for you,” she observes.
Her and Adam finally got back together a couple of months ago after we had a small intervention. Watching him run out of his restaurant to kiss her for their reunion was like watching a romantic comedy.
“God, I feel like you and Kamryn,” I tell her unabashedly.
“And how’s that?”
“Nauseatingly happy.”
Emily snorts into her fresh glass of champagne. “Coming from Ms. Doom and Gloom, I take that as a compliment that you’re actually a girl underneath all that snark.”
“Thank goodness for that.” I jump a little when Riley comes up and wraps his arms around my waist. He places a kiss on my cheek that has Emily smiling at us in herI know a secretlook.
“I’m going to go find my boyfriend.” Emily says and leaves us as fast as she can.
I lean my head back against Riley’s shoulder and then move out of his arms as I turn to face him. “How did you keep this from me?”
“Do you know how easy it is to plan things during road games?” Riley wraps his arms back around my waist and holds me to him. “Also, we’re going to have a little talk about you not telling me when your birthday was.”
I wince. “It just wasn’t something that came up. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. But do you know what this means?”
“No.” I say skeptically and a little nervous.
“That we’re both fire signs. Which now makes sense as our sex life burns hotter than the fucking sun,” he finishes with a smile that has me leaning forward and laughing into his chest. “Happy birthday, baby.”
I tilt my head back and look up into the eyes that have become my favorite to look into these past couple of months. “Thank you.”
What I thought would be a day of going through and helping Kam and Mason plan their wedding, turned out to be one of the best days of my life. The man I love has effortlessly woven his way into my world. The man I love has made me fall deeper and deeper in love with him than I ever thought possible.
Is the happiness I once thought to be an illusion something tangible? What Riley’s parents gave him, an everyday adventure in the form of love and living in the moment, he’s somehow given me. Something I never had when I was growing up. Something I wish to never lose.
And as I blow the candles out on the second cake thatKamryn had provided for me, I look straight into the eyes of the one my heart sings for and wish on every candle, eyelash, and shooting star that he’s in my life for as long as possible.
26
RILEY
Iplace kisses up Sarah’s sleeping body. It’s Christmas Eve Eve and I’m excited to have off for the next few days. But we need to get in a light skate before I know the majority of us don’t leave our couches–or beds for that time. She throws her arms around me and tries with all her might to drag me back to bed.
