The next night, they were at the restaurant of Riley’s choice having her birthday dinner. Because that was what she wanted and that was what he was going to give her. He’d give her anything, but he would never tell her that. No use being too accommodating.

“Thanks, Trevor.”

“My pleasure,” he said.

It was always pleasurable to see her all dressed up. The fitted short black dress looked designed for her body. So did the black heels. Her hair was pulled back in some twist that she’d spent an hour having done today. Her skin was glistening, a nice rosy glow. A few hours at the spa before getting her hair done seemed to have done wonders for her. He owed Kennedy big time for squeezing Riley in.

“I feel like a whole new person today.”

“It was meant for that. I wanted you to feel refreshed and pampered.”

“That is exactly how I feel. And when we get home tonight, you’re going to get a gargantuan thank you.”

“Gargantuan, huh?”

“It was the biggest word I could think of,” she said, smiling at him, her hand reaching over and lying on top of his. The purple necklace he’d given her over a month ago winked back at him. She’d done nothing more than take it off for bed each night, then put it on the minute she was out of the shower each day.

“It might end up being a present for me,” he said. When she put her mind to something, she always went all in. It could be one hell of a night for both of them.

“It might be, but really it’s all about me tonight. Haven’t you figured that out yet? It’s my day,” she said, a sensual laugh escaping from her lips. Her eyes, a lustful stimulation to his body at the moment. Not that he needed one. He never did with her.

“I’ve figured out a lot about you in the past several months.”

“Good or bad?” she said, her eyes fluttering at him. He’d never seen this side of her before, and found he was enchanted. Sucked in more than he thought he’d be.

“Both.”

“You’re honest.”

“Always,” he said.

“So tell me the good. I know the bad.”

“What’s the bad?” he asked first. Then he’d know what might be acceptable to slip if it ever happened.

“You think you’re being so clever getting me to spell it out, but it won’t work.”

It was worth a shot. “We all have bad things in our life. It’s not a weakness or a flaw, but rather something that molds us for more goodness. Greatness, even.”

“I’ve got greatness?” she asked, all excited. “Do tell.”

He laughed. He’d been missing this the past month without even realizing it. “Yesterday,” he said. “You find crying a weakness. You find it a flaw. But you let it out, and look at you today. Don’t you feel better?”

Adorably, she pursed her lips. “You weren’t supposed to notice how horrible I looked yesterday.”

“You asked for greatness. I’m seeing it now. But like I said, sometimes you need to hit the bottom to get to the peak.”

“That’s because your sister worked me over this morning.”

“No, Riley. It’s what has always been inside of you. What comes out when the going gets tough. People crack and bleed, then don’t get up. You not only get up, but you force your way through. You just needed a nudge yesterday.”

“Speaking of greatness,” she said, looking at him. “I don’t think you’ve got a lot of flaws or weaknesses, but you sure the hell have great traits.”

“Listen to us lavish each other with words of praise. It’s kind of nauseating.” He had plenty of flaws, but she never seemed to notice them.

“It really is, isn’t it?” she said. “No more complimenting each other. We know how awesome we are.”

He laughed and picked up his beer, held it up to her and said, “Happy thirtieth, Riley.”

 

***

 

Today was probably the happiest she’d felt in over a year. Even last year, when she made her goals and plans, she didn’t know how much she really wanted them to come true.

Her whole life, she’d felt she had to do that. Plan and set goals. That was how she’d stayed ahead in life. That was how she didn’t get left behind.

So she made those goals and plans in her head, and kept them there. But this year, when things looked like they weren’t going to work the way she wanted, it didn’t even bother her. She’d actually forgotten what she’d wished for on her twenty-ninth birthday.

Until the past week. When everything started to eat at her, tear her down. Then she remembered and she got ticked off. She’d always achieved at least one thing, and this year it was pretty much nothing.

Sure, she was living with Trevor, but that didn’t really count. Not like she’d thought it would in her mind.

And yeah, he was right, all those “failures” from the past year turned out to be positive in the end for her.

Too bad it had to come in the form of a weirdo terrorizing her mental state. Someone that she was starting to wonder might just be playing with her more than anything else.

Tonight was for her, though. She’d push it all out of her head. When Trevor told her the day he’d had planned for her, she had no choice but to give herself over to it.

He was wiser than she ever gave him credit for. She’d wanted him to get mad and upset like her, but then realized he was right all along. By him being stronger, by him being contained within himself, he was able to bring her right there with him.

She was realizing that it wasn’t such a bad thing to show she was upset. It wasn’t such a bad thing to let him see how she was feeling, what she was really thinking.

That’s what she was going to do moving forward. She wasn’t going to keep anything bottled up again. She wasn’t going to keep anything from him ever.

She was going to make her plans for next year, and they were going to include him.

And she was going to tell him.

“So I was looking at ideas for your kitchen this morning while I was being worked on at the spa.”

“Do I want to know?” he asked.

“You said I could,” she reminded him. “I was showing some of the ideas to Kennedy.”

He froze in the process of bringing his beer to his lips. “What did she say?”

“She said she’d love to help. That the house needed an overhaul.”

“You told her you were redoing my kitchen?” he asked.

“No, I told her you asked me to move in with you, officially. Not because of what was going on, but because it’s the next step for us.”

He smiled at her, one that reached his eyes and flowed over. The one where she knew if he wasn’t controlling himself so much, they’d get a little misty, too.

“And? What did she say to that?”

“She said it was about time.”

He laughed. She followed suit.

Then her phone rang. “Sorry. I know the ringtone. It’s the on-call service. It’s probably nothing major.”

She answered and listened to the person on the other line explaining the situation while the caller was on hold; they didn’t want to hang up. “Sure, patch them through.”

Riley waited a second, then the service said she was connecting them and hung up. “This is Dr. Hamilton. You knocked your two front teeth out?” There was only silence on the other line and a little bit of static. “Hello, can you hear me?” There was some rustling sounds, but nothing else. She put her hand over the phone and told Trevor, “Might be bad service on their end.”

More silence and static. “I think we have a bad connection,” Riley said. “Maybe you should hang up and try calling back.”

“Happy Birthday,” she heard suddenly.

All that calm she’d felt earlier was gone. All those happy thoughts vanished. “Who is this?”

She couldn’t tell much at all. The call was muffled, the voice unclear…but clear enough, and she knew. She knew in her heart this was it. This was what they’d been waiting for.

“Happy Birthday,” she heard again, and then silence. The call went dead.