Page 68 of Let Me Show You

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?”

“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.”

“I technically didn’t.” I wink, then grab the box from the coffee table. “I made it.”

I hand it to her and hold my breath as she opens it.

She releases a small gasp, then looks at me. “Is this the scrapbook I made you for graduation?”

“Yep, except I added some pages of my own.”

She grins as she opens the cover and the first page makes her burst out laughing. “We look like babies.”

“We were.”

She gazes over her senior prom picture. Gabe was supposed to take her, but he got drunk on a fishing trip and slept off the buzz in his truck, so I took her. When Gemma texted and told me, I refused to let Katie go alone, so I went to dinner with them. It was one of the best nights of my life. I was so damn close to confessing my feelings to her that night, but then Gabe showed up, and I lost the courage.

“We had so much fun,” she says, meeting my eyes.

“I’m glad you did.”