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“Really,just friends? Interesting.” She bats her eyes and looks at me like she wants to devour me.
“Well, I gotta go so I can get home. It was nice seeing you. Bye, Anthony.” I smile sheepishly at the two of them, then take off.
I feel her eyes on me until I walk out of the aisle and wish I hadn’t given her my number. Hopefully, I can create some boundaries, so she doesn’t assume I’m interested.
Once I’m home, I spend the afternoon marinating the steaks and tidying up. I offered to pick Katie up, but she’s dropping Owen off at her mother’s, and it’s on the way.
Just as I’m grabbing two wineglasses from the cabinet, I hear a knock on the front door. I quickly set them down and rush toward it.
“Wow.” My eyes light up when I see Katie. “You look stunning.” She’s wearing a sparkly dark blue mid-thigh dress with a shawl around her shoulders.
“Thank you,” she says as her cheeks tint. “You look quite handsome yourself.”
I take her hand and escort her inside, then shut the door behind us. Bringing her knuckles to my lips, I place a soft kiss on them. “Happy Birthday, Katie.”
Her eyes zero in on my mouth. “You really didn’t have to go through all this trouble,” she mutters as we walk hand in hand through the living room, and I love that she squeezes mine in return. “But dinner smells amazing.”
Pulling out her chair, she takes a seat. “Are your dad and Belinda here?”
Her noticing we have the house to ourselves makes me smirk. “They went on a romantic weekend away in Mobile.”
“Oh,” she says, and I think I see a twinkle in her eye.
“I was just about to pour the wine. Want some?” I ask as she settles in.
“Yes, please.”
Once I fill our glasses, I raise mine. “To my best friend who captured my heart over fifteen years ago.”
I clink my glass with hers as Katie sucks in her lower lip, then she takes a sip. Right now, I wish I knew what she was thinking.
Once I’ve set the food out, we dig in.
“Do you remember all the birthdays we’ve spent together?”
She nods with a smile. “I remember the year Everleigh thought it was a brilliant idea to sneak into the old firehouse. Then as we ran from the sheriff, I tripped, and you literally picked me up and carried me.”
Chuckling, I nod. “Oh yeah, and you twisted your ankle and had to ice it for a week.”
“Of course then I had to tell my mom the truth because she wasn’t buying that I slipped down the stairs.”
“And your mom told my dad, which got Gemma and me grounded for a month,” I add.
“Yeah, but it was still the best day ever hanging out with my best friends,” she confirms, then takes another bite of her food. “My God, this is so good.” Katie moans.
“I can’t even tell you how long it’s been since I’ve had a good steak,” I respond.
We continue talking about all the trouble we used to get into. Katie laughs so hard she nearly chokes, which causes her to laugh even harder. By the time I bring out the dessert, she’s wiping tears off her cheeks.
“You gonna make it?”
“I-I think so.” She swallows down the rest of her wine, then clears her throat.
I can’t stop admiring her beauty and how good time has been to her. The woman sitting in front of me is the same girl I fell in love with, and there’s no doubt she’s the only one I want.
“Before we have the Tiramisu, I wanna give you your birthday gift.”
“Noah…you didn’t have to get me anything.”
