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He nods. “Sounds like a good idea.”
“All right.”
I let my eyes drift over the fake gold crown fixed atop his dark hair, which has rather lost its style in these stormy breezes. It makes me smile.
Since Rae had to invite all of Mrs. Rutledge’s second-grade class to her party, we decided to make it prince-and-princess themed. As party favors, we bought the wands and swords and decorated special nametags for each prince and princess. Birthday Princess Rae got a fake tiara and a particularly cute wand, and Landon and I were appointed king and queen. It hasn’t been all that expensive with both of us paying for things, especially since we baked her cake ourselves, and everyone has had a lot of fun even with the sky looking so gloomy. The worst part for me is the fact that little Mandi didn’t get to come.
Landon saunters up to me, and I realize he’s checking me out, too.
I tell him, “You’re handsome.”
“You’re beautiful.” He reaches out and pats my crown, which matches his but is a little more feminine, and then he winks at me. “How’s about I whisk you off to somewhere more romantic so we can make some magic?”
We bust out laughing. We’ve been making sexy jokes over the last week or so; not all of them have made waiting for this upcoming Monday easier, but goofy ones like this definitely lighten things up a little.
A low roll of thunder cuts our amusement short.
“Aw, man,” I complain before I sputter windblown hair out of my mouth.
“Yeah, hey, I’ll finish with the pizza trash if you go tell people our plan for the cake.”
I hurry over to Rae and quickly explain things to her. She’s too excited to get into her gifts to care about having to double up on activities.
I get everyone else’s attention by saying loudly, “Okay, princes and princesses and parents!Maybewe won’t get rained on, but it’s likely we will, so we’re going to go ahead and cut the birthday cake and let everyone eat a piece while Rae opens her presents!”
Everyone thinks this is a good idea, so we all gather around the picnic table we’ve got the cake and gifts on. Landon meets us there and uncovers the cake, and Rae squeals happily just as she did when we showed it to her at home. It’s a vanilla cake with pink and purple swirled icing, a cute little princess topper, and‘HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY, RAE!’meticulously written on it. I think it looks good as hell and I’m glad she likes it, too.
I light the candles so we can all sing the birthday song. We clap and cheer as she huffs and puffs the flames out. She’s blushing from all the attention, but she’s giggling and clapping, too. Her typical shyness hasn’t stopped her from having a fantastic time.
I supervise her gift-opening while Landon and Bill Kinley handle passing cake around. Three boxes in, raindrops start sprinkling down on us, so Landon says, “Fast-forward, Rae!”
It cracks her up, as well as the other kids, and encourages her to rush through opening the rest of her stuff while he rushes through cake distribution. I’m ready to help her if her fingers can’t move quickly enough, but she manages just fine on her own.
In fewer than five minutes, she’s gotten everything opened, I’ve taken care of the trash before the wind has, and everyone except us and Landon has a piece of cake. We really will have to eat ours at home because the rain is picking up.
“Okay, babe,” I say to her, “I’m so sorry, but we can’t keep partying with this weather. Everyone needs to get home now. We had fun while it lasted, though, didn’t we?”
It’s at times like this that I’m super grateful she doesn’t throw many fits. She just says, “Yeah! It was the best birthday ever, ever, ever!”
The kids agree that it was great and the parents chuckle. “Well, I know you thanked everybody for what they got you, so let’s thank them for coming, too, and say our goodbyes so we can get out of the rain!”
Leave it to Rae to extend thanks and a goodbye to each of her classmates individually. It’s too cute to interrupt, so Landon and I just grin at each other and gather up our stuff. We call out our own words of sincere, happy gratitude as people peel away, and in no time, only the three of us are left. He and I have everything from presents to leftover party plates packed up, so we’re ready to go.
“Hold on to your tiara, Princess Rae!” he says.
Her giggles are shrieky and adorable as we all run for the car, and he and I can’t help but laugh, too. Good thing none of her gifts will be ruined by the rain, because it’s really coming down now—even theFrozenwatch we got her is safe in a little plastic case.
Landon gets everything into the backseat while I buckle Rae in, so he and I are especially soaked by the time we’re up front.
I don’t hear what he says to Rae as he grins and turns his attention to her, because all I can think about is how utterly mouthwatering he looks with his drenched hair and clothes and rain-slicked skin.
I have to shift in my seat and cross my legs when he turns that grin on me.
He catches on almost instantly, and the look he glides along me goes from innocent to smoldering.
We’re all a little shaky from being wet on a cool day, but the shiver that goes through me now is only because of him.
I know he knows it.
