“See how excited she is?” Caden whispered behind me. “Stop being an old grump and loosen up.”
“Yeah, you have enough lines already.” Sabrina pointed at my face.
“Have you heard from Emily?”
“Yeah, I think this morning. She’s busy.”
She shot a weird look to Caden as she twisted a streamer across the frames on the wall.
“What was that look for?”
“I didn’t look at anything. I’m focused on decorations.” Sabrina didn’t look back at me as she spent entirely too much time attaching crepe paper to my wall.
Caden and Sabrina were up to something, but while I had my suspicions, I didn’t have the energy to ask.
I turned to head back into the kitchen when my doorbell rang.
“Ah, that must be the cake,” Caden said. “Could you get that? I have to help Sabrina.”
“There are four people at this party. I don’t think you need to put so much effort into streamers on a wall.”
“Whatever is worth doing is worth doing right, Jesse,” Sabrina said, glowering at me from my couch. “Wow, your uncle Jesse is really in his grumpy old man era this birthday.”
I rolled my eyes and headed for the door, not in the mood for whatever silly cake Caden and Sabrina had ordered to pull me out of this funk. Underneath my nasty mood, I appreciated what they were trying to do and I knew they meant well, but I couldn’t find it in me to fake having even a little fun.
If Emily and I had stayed together after high school, I probably would have spent four years clutching my phone, awaiting the next call or text, wondering what she was doing. I’d broken up with her to avoid becoming that pathetic and needy, but here I was all the same.
I peeked through my side window and couldn’t tell who was there behind the bundle of balloons. My party planners were exhausting me with all this forced joy.
“Again, you do know that this party is just the four of us.” I glanced back as I opened the door.
“Actually, there’re five.”
My jaw dropped when Emily pulled the balloons to the side and peeked her head through.
“Thank God,” Caden said behind me. “I almost told you when it looked like you were about to cry into the glitter.”
“Hold on a minute.” I stepped outside and closed the door behind me, stalking toward Emily.My God, she was gorgeous.Wrapped up in a bubble coat and furry boots, a smile lifting her rosy cheeks, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
“I thought I’d get a happier reaction than this after two months.” She propped her hands on her hips, backing up as I stepped closer until her back was to the railing.
I snaked an arm around her waist and yanked her closer, reaching under her coat to graze my hand over her glorious legging-covered ass and pinched her.
“Ouch, what was that for?”
“To make sure I wasn’t dreaming.” I let a smirk curl my lips as I sifted my hand into her hair.
“You’re supposed to pinchyourself.” She glared at me, her eyes dancing as they bored into mine.
“I’ll remember that for next time.” I leaned over to grab the balloons and set them in front of the window to block our view. “Now, give me that fucking mouth.”
I crashed my lips against hers and kissed her, deep and wet and far too obscene for my front porch. Hopefully Caden and Sabrina would get the hint and distract Maddie from looking out the window, but despite the free show I was giving the neighbors, I wasn’t ready to let Emily out of my arms yet.
Or ever again.
“Now that’s better.” She smiled, panting out white puffs of air as she chased her breath. “Happy early birthday.”
“So, the three of you were in on this?”
