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“You know that I won’t stand for you sitting in your dark apartment, crying into a tub of Ben and Jerry’s, right? We are going to do something special to celebrate, Katie.” She knew that Bea wasn’t going to give this up. Maybe she could compromise a little and still spend the evening avoiding everything having to do with Valentine’s Day.
“How about I let you take me to lunch?” Katie hopefully asked. “You can fulfill your need to celebrate me, and I can still have my quiet evening at home avoiding all things having to do with that God-awful holiday.”
Bea sat back in Katie’s chair and crossed her arms over her chest. Katie was sure that her best friend was going to deny her request until she sighed and gave a curt nod. “Fine,” Bea agreed. “But for the record, I want to go out dancing for my big 3-0.”
“Of course,” Katie agreed. Bea’s birthday was in June and that seemed like a perfect month to turn thirty. It would be warm and there wasn’t a crazy holiday where women seemed to lose their minds if they were all alone for one night.
“Fine, we’ll go out to lunch on your birthday then,” Bea agreed. “Although, I’m agreeing to this under protest.”
“Got it,” Katie sassed. “Now, if that’s all for this interrogation, I need to get to work.”
Bea stood with a smug smile on her face and rounded Katie’s desk. “That’s all—for now. We’ll revisit this later.”
“Bea,” Katie shouted after her friend as she left the office. “We will not be revisiting this later.” Her best friend’s cackle filled the hallway and Katie knew that she had lost this battle. She still had a week to win the war though, and that was all that mattered.
* * *
Katie woke up on her birthday, happy to find that it felt just like any other day. No balloons filled her bedroom, as they had in years past, from Bea sneaking into her apartment with the spare key that she’d been given, to deliver them. No, this morning was eerily quiet and that had her worried. It wasn’t like Bea to just give in and not celebrate her birthday, but she wasn’t going to question her good fortune.
She pulled her cell phone from the night table and found that she had a ton of birthday messages and missed phone calls—mostly from her mother and Bea. She’d call them back later because now, she had to get ready for work. Katie was sticking to the whole, “It’s just another day” theme to celebrate her thirtieth and that included work since the fourteenth fell on a Tuesday this year. She was going to get on with her normal, nothing special day and pray that it would stay that way.
Katie got dressed, drove to work, and got into her office with five minutes to spare. All in all, she felt as if she was winning at this normal birthday thing. She didn’t even mind the over-the-top Valentine’s Day decorations that adorned the entire department store and even the executive offices. Everything had been splashed in red hearts except her office. The inside of her office couldn’t be touched, and that worked for her.
Bea softly knocked on her door, smiling in at her. “Am I at least allowed to wish you a happy birthday?” she asked. Surprisingly, she hadn’t given Katie too much of a fight about not wanting to celebrate her birthday—which made her suspicious. Katie knew that Bea wouldn’t just give up the good fight—not when she still had about fifteen hours left of Katie’s birthday to squeeze in a celebration.
“Sure,” Katie said.
“Happy birthday,” Bea said, holding out a small box wrapped in some shiny gold paper. “I’m sure that you won’t begrudge me giving you a little gift too,” she insisted.
Katie smiled and crossed the office to take it from her. “No,” she said. “You know I love presents. Thank you.”
“You can’t thank me before you open it, Katie,” Bea insisted.
“Shouldn’t I wait for our lunch?” she asked.
“Nope,” Bea said. “Open it now. I’ve been waiting all month to give it to you.” Katie ripped the paper from the small box and opened it to reveal an antique emerald ring that she had hinted at since Christmas. She found it in one of the little vintage shops that she and Bea loved going to, just after the new year.
“It’s the ring that I wanted,” Katie breathed. “Bea—you shouldn’t have spent so much money,” she insisted.
“Well, I figured, you weren’t going to let me take you out tonight or throw you a proper party, so why not splurge on something to make your day special? Do you like it?” Bea asked.
“Like it?” Katie questioned. “I love it. Thank you.” She pulled Bea in for a quick hug.
“Let’s see how it looks on you,” Bea insisted. Katie put the ring on her finger and admired it in the fluorescent overhead lighting.
“It’s gorgeous,” she gushed. “Thanks, Bea.”
“I’m glad that you like it. You’re going to need an extra half hour for lunch today because I’ve booked us at Cotton Row. I’ve cleared it with your boss, so all you have to do is be ready at noon.” Katie had wanted to go to that place for ages now. It was one of the swankiest restaurants in Huntsville and very hard to get reservations into.
“Will do,” Katie promised. Maybe she had been all wrong about Bea pushing her to have a splashy party and huge celebration. Maybe, for once, she was going to have her way and celebrate both her birthday and Valentine’s Day quietly at home, just the way she wanted.
Daryl
Daryl Lipscomb was going all out for his latest gig. He knew that someday, he’d be able to quit his God-awful job, but today was not that day. Today, all he had to do was deliver a singing graham to the right person and collect his paycheck before heading into his club. At least, that was what he was hoping. For now, he was just going to put his best foot forward and sing his heart out. If the guys in the Royal Bastards knew what he did for a living, they’d never let him live it down. Hell, he hadn’t even told them about being a college student still. If he admitted that he dressed up in crazy costumes and sang to people to pay his rent, they’d really give him some shit.
So, he was dressed as Cupid, but that’s what people were paying for in February. They hired him to dress in a diaper and go out to tell their loved ones how special they were as if they were incapable of doing so themselves. Whatever happened to the good, old-fashioned Valentine’s Day card, or a box of chocolates, and some flowers? Things had changed, but he wasn’t complaining, since singing telegrams paid his rent. For now, that was enough for him.
He had one more year of college and then, he’d graduate with a business marketing degree. He felt like the eternal college student and at thirty-five, he was one of the oldest students on campus. That worked for him though, because he knew that once he graduated, he’d be on the right track for the first time in his adult life. That was his plan and if he could just keep it all a secret from his MC brothers until he graduated, that would save him a whole lot of razing. He’d make a good living, but it wasn’t his dream. His dream was to open his own bike shop, but he just didn’t have the capital to do something like that.
