Page 113 of The Rules of Dating

Lara’s mouth fell open slightly, and I loved it.

“Where did you get that idea?” I asked Saylor.

“Daddy told me.”

Wow. While Colby had definitely become more affectionate with me in front of her, I hadn’t realized he’d told her he loved me. “When did he tell you that?”

“We were watching Aladdin. He told me he loves you like Aladdin loves Princess Jasmine.”

“Well, isn’t that lovely?” Lara chimed in.

I hadn’t even remembered Lara was standing there. The way she’d said lovely made me think she was taunting me, though. I squinted. “You serious?”

She blinked in confusion.

While I couldn’t help calling her out, I left it at that, reminding myself that Saylor was next to me. But I wanted to tell that fake-ass bitch where she could put her lovely.

Once everyone sat down to do the face painting, I assumed that Saylor would want an animal on her face like last time. Instead, she had a different request.

“I wanna paint my arm like yours, Billie.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

Gosh, that was sweet.

So I gave Saylor her very own sleeve, painting lots of colorful animals and other designs on her arm. The paint didn’t exactly look like ink, but her arm was covered just the same. The best part, though? All the dirty looks these women gave me for trying to make her more like me. I’m sure they all thought that was a terrible mistake.

But she wanted to be like me. And I considered that a huge compliment, so they could all go fuck themselves.

***

The entire way home, I couldn’t wait to tell Colby all about my experience with the Momsters. I’d probably keep what Saylor admitted to me about Aladdin to myself, though. That was a private moment between them, even if it had involved me. So I’d just keep it close to my heart.

Saylor and I went back to the apartment, and when I knocked on the door, I almost wondered if Colby wasn’t home since it took a bit longer than usual for him to answer.

When the door finally opened, it wasn’t Colby in front of me. It was…everyone. Literally everyone—well, everyone who meant anything to us. Deek and his boyfriend, Martin. Justine and her husband. And of course, Holden, Brayden, and Owen.

“Surprise!” they all yelled.

Then I turned to my left and saw my beautiful man handing me a gigantic black balloon with gold speckles.

“Happy birthday, beautiful.”

“Yay! A party!” Saylor squealed.

“What the…” My hands shook. “My birthday isn’t until Monday.”

“I know. But I wanted to surprise you on the weekend when everyone could make it.”

When he wrapped his arms around me, I felt enveloped by love. “I can’t believe you managed to surprise me. This was the entire reason you wanted me to take Saylor to Mommy class?”

“Guilty.”

Saylor jumped up and down. “Happy birthday, Billie!”

“Thank you, sweetie. Did you know about this?”