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I rip the wrapping and tip the contents onto my hand. A leather friendship bracelet falls into my palm. It’s a blend of black and brown leather, but dotted onto the cord are turquoise and citrine stones. Dani watches me admire it. “I made it. These are our birthstones put together so wherever we are next year, you always remember me."
Big, fat tears start to roll down my cheeks. “Dani, I’m always going to remember you anyway, but thank you.” I snatch her up into a bear hug and that is how Freddy walks in to find us.
“Excellent, glad to see there will be no more dramas.” He smirks like he’s just been offered the Nobel Peace Prizeand picks up the t-shirt. “Now, this you can definitely wear out tonight.” He holds it up admiringly and sends me a suggestive look.
“How did you get past Mum and Dad? I thought you were banned.”
“Oh, judging by the look your mother gave me, I’m pretty sure I still am, but I’ve been allowed special dispensation to visit because it’s your birthday.”
Dani looks between us. “What did he do to get banned?”
‘He’s taking me away for a couple of days after Christmas,” I explain.
Her face is a total picture. “Oh my god! You’re going on a dirty weekend, and you told your parents.”
I flush beetroot. “It’s not dirty!” I protest.
Freddy looks at me in surprise. “I don’t know what break you’re going on, but the one I’m planning is definitely dirty.” Holy smoke! “Now come on girls, I’m taking you out for dinner. Shake a leg so we can get going.”
Dinner’s perfect, but that could be the countless vodkas Dani and I have consumed. By the time Freddy manages to wrestle us to his truck and gets us strapped in, I’m in love with just about the whole world, which I tell everyone I meet.
I crank the window open on the way to drop Dani off, desperate to try to sober up so I don’t ruin the end of my night with Freddy. I’m not going to see him for two days, and I’m sure those days are going to sting. Dani falls out of the car when we get to hers. “It’s the ice,” she assures us as she waves us off and giggles her way to the front door.
Back in the car, I lean over to Freddy and plant a slightly slobbery kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”
“What for?”
“For getting Dani to come over, for tonight, and for just turning up and making my life perfect.” I should probably stop talking now but the vodka is egging me on. Go on, Amber, tell him a bit more. Tell him how you really feel.
“Well, your birthday isn’t over yet. If you can handle it, I’ve got one more thing planned.”
“I can handle anything,” I assure him, but a hiccough seriously undermines my assurance.
I hiccough the whole way to our next destination, but then stare in confusion as I spy the outline to the Bale and Son’s garage. “Man, you’re not taking me to work with you again, are you?”
“Amber, it’s half eleven.”
“Oh.” Then I have a thought. “It’s nearly Christmas.”
“It’s not the end of your birthday yet.” Freddy leans over and catches my face in his hands, and as always, the rough texture of his skin makes me flutter. “Come on, let’s go inside.”
I tell him off the whole way into the building about bringing me to work on my birthday, but I quickly shut up when we get inside and I see the garage has been decorated with hundreds of fairy light strings. The place is dazzling like the stars have fallen to earth, illuminating our grey and drab world. “Oh my god, it’s beautiful,” I gasp.
“Like you.” His lips trace the edge of my ear as he whispers his words.
I giggle a little. “I’m not but thank you for thinking so.”
Freddy tugs me by my hands, bringing me tight into his body. “You are more than beautiful, you’re heavenly.”
“You think I’m heavenly?” I sway a little on the spot as I consider this prospect.
‘Yes.”
“I think you’re magic.” I’m grinning a ridiculous smile as he circles his hands around my waist.
“Dance?” he asks, moving his body against mine. My desire, fuelled by the vodka, wants to do more than dance, but I allow him to twirl me into the middle of the garage, swaying me in time with a tune he is singing. After a few lines I notice he is humming an old song my dad used to play, “Have I Told You Lately.”
My eyes tingle with happy tears as I nestle my head against his chest and breathe in the smell of him, his arms cradling me close.
