He looks down at his perfectly aligned fork and knife, then back at me with a sheepish smile. “Okay, maybe a little anxious.”
“Why?”
“Because I want tonight to be perfect.” He reaches across the table and takes my hand. “It’s your birthday. You deserve perfect.”
My throat goes tight. “It’s already perfect. I’m here with you.”
“Yeah, but I have something planned and I’m worried you won’t like it.”
“Romeo.” I squeeze his hand. “I’m going to love whatever it is because it’s from you.”
“You say that now.”
We eat dinner and he tells me about practice, about the playoff push, about how the team is gelling at exactly the right time. I tell him about my plans for the summer before grad school starts. Maybe picking up more teaching hours at the rink, maybe finally taking that anatomy refresher course Marnie keeps recommending.
He listens like every word is important, like my plans for the future matter as much to him as they do to me.
After dessert he hands me the wrapped box that I pretended notto see him carry in. It’s long and flat, wrapped in silver paper with a bow that looks professionally done.
“Happy birthday, JuJu.”
I take the box with hands that are suddenly shaking.
“Should I open it now or wait until?—”
“Now. Definitely now. I’ve been sitting on this secret for two weeks and if you make me wait any longer I’m going to combust.”
I laugh and carefully peel back the paper. Inside is a black box embossed with gold lettering I don’t recognize. I lift the lid and my breath catches.
Skate blades. Custom skate blades in rose gold with my initials engraved near the heel. But not just any blades. These are exact replicas of my old competition blades, the ones that were discontinued years ago.
“Romeo.” His name comes out as barely a whisper.
“The blade guy I found said they’re better than the originals,” he says quickly, words tumbling out nervous and fast. “Same design but with modern materials. Lighter but stronger. And the rose gold was my idea because I thought, I don’t know, I thought you’d like it better than plain silver. But if you don’t like the color we can change it, he said he could redo them in whatever?—”
“Romeo.” I look up at him and there are tears on my face. “How did you, when did you?—”
“You mentioned them once. Back in January, I think? You were complaining about your current blades. Said they didn’t have the same edge control as your old ones.” He’s watching me carefully, trying to read my reaction. “I tracked down the specifications and found this guy through one of the Olympic coaches. He’s apparently the best in the country for custom figure skating blades.”
“These must have cost?—”
“Don’t worry about that.” He reaches across the table and wipes a tear from my cheek. “You gave up competitive skating. You gave up your dream. The least I can do is give you back a piece of it.”
More tears fall and I don’t even try to stop them. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you like them.”
“I love them.” I run my fingers over the engraving, over the perfect curve of the blade. “I love them so much. I love—” I look up at him. “Thank you. This is the most thoughtful gift anyone’s ever given me.”
His smile could power the entire city. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I stand up and walk around the table, not caring that we’re in a fancy restaurant, not caring that people are probably staring. I lean down and kiss him putting everything I can’t quite say into it.
When I pull back, he’s looking at me like I hung the moon.
“Best birthday ever?” he asks hopefully.
“Best birthday ever.”
