Fifty-Three
Jo
“Sounds good,” I saidas I pulled my jacket on and pulled my hair over my shoulder.“I’ll be in at regular time on Monday, unless you need me before then.”
“Thank you, Jo.I appreciate you coming in to help today.Have a great rest of your weekend.”
I smiled and waved at Dr.Foster while Dom waited patiently for me in the waiting area.
“You ready?”he asked as he looked through the peephole and then opened the front door of the clinic.
“Yep.”
I stepped outside and started walking to his truck when I noticed he wasn’t headed that way.
“Where are you going?”I asked.
“I thought we could head over and grab dinner at the bar before going home.We haven’t been out in a while, and date night sounded nice.”He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets.
I narrowed my eyes and studied him.All day, I had this nagging feeling that he was up to something, especially when he dropped me off at the clinic and then lied about needing to go home to take care of Opal.Granted, the cameras he recently installed did show him going home when he said he was, they also showed him leaving an hour ago, yet he didn’t get to the clinic until now.Given that I lived only 10 minutes from the clinic, that left a lot of time unaccounted for.I didn’t want to be one of those paranoid girlfriends, but it was also unlike Dom to keep something from me.
“What are you up to?”I asked, standing in front of the door as he gripped the handle.
“What makes you think I’m up to something?”
He tried to grin, but the smirk lingering underneath it gave him away.
I rolled my eyes and then cocked my head to the side and pinned him with a look.
“You’re a terrible liar,” I said, pursing my lips together.
“What’s so wrong with me wanting to take my girl out to dinner?”he pressed, licking his lips.
I shivered as a gust of wind blew past us.Thankfully, it had stopped snowing an hour ago, but the temperature was dropping quickly now that the sun had gone down.
“Let’s just go inside and get it over with,” I mumbled, pressing my lips together to try to keep my teeth from chattering.
“Get ourdate nightover with?”Dom clutched a hand to his chest and pretended to be hurt.“You wound me, Jo.Here I am, planning some beautiful, wonderful date night, and you—”
“I know about the party,” I blurted out, lifting an eyebrow.“You should know by now that no one can keep a secret in a small town.”
“Well, thankfully, we don’t have to keep it a secret any longer.Besides, it wouldn’t have to be a secret ifsomeonehad agreed to let me throw them a party.”
“I didn’t want all the hassle.”I shrugged.“It’s just another day.We don’t have to make it a big deal.”
“Every day is a big deal when it comes to you.However, this isn’t just any day—this is your thirtieth birthday, and we’re going to celebrate it.Now fix your face and act surprised so we don’t hurt everyone’s feelings.It’s fucking cold out here.”
I let out a laugh and felt my mood lighten as Dom opened the door.I stepped inside, expecting people to yellsurpriseand throw confetti at me—something I deep down couldn’t stand the thought of.But instead, my friends all gathered around the bar and softly sangHappy Birthdayto me.
I grinned and covered my mouth with my hands as I took everything in.
Dom didn’t just throw me a surprise party.Dom went all out with a celebration filled with all my favorite things.There weren’t cheesy decorations, and I wasn’t overwhelmed with a room full of people that I didn’t like.I was surrounded by people that I loved who had prepared trays full of my favorite foods.
I looked around, taking in the tables draped with red linens—my favorite color.In the center of each table was a bowl filled with red roses, with tealight candles placed around the outside.The soft light from the candles created an ambiance that immediately made me feel relaxed.
