Page 114 of The Rules of Dating

She shook her head no.

“I kept Saylor in the dark,” he said. “I don’t think she would’ve been able to hold it in. She would’ve been too excited.”

Saylor held out her arm. “Daddy, look!”

“She requested that specifically,” I felt compelled to say.

“That’s awesome, honey. You look just like Billie now.”

“I know!”

I handed her my balloon so she could play with it and made my way around the room to hug everyone. After, I looked around at all their smiling faces. “This was an awesome surprise. Thank you all for being here.”

“Are you kidding? We wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Justine gushed.

Colby had ordered a huge array of my favorite sushi. It was all laid out on the table in a gigantic wooden boat. We all sat down to an amazing lunch. After the meal, Holden insisted we do tequila shots, with each person toasting in honor of me first.

He began as he lifted his glass. “To Billie, the best tattoo artist in the land.”

Then Brayden spoke. “To Billie, the woman who makes my best bud here happy.”

“To Billie, for indirectly getting me to leave work early two times now.” Owen smiled.

Deek was next. “To Billie, the person I can truly count on. You make my world a better place.”

“To Billie, for putting up with Deek’s shit half the time, so I don’t have to,” Martin teased.

Justine then lifted her glass and said, “To Billie, someone who will always tell it like it is.”

“What about you, Saylor?” Colby said, handing his daughter a plastic cup of lemonade. “Can you say something nice about Billie?”

She turned a little red, looking bashful, then finally said, “Billie is my best friend.”

Everyone collectively awwed.

I walked over to give her a big hug. “Thank you, sweetie. That means so much to me.”

“Your turn, Colby.” Deek smiled.

Colby lifted his tequila. “To Billie…” After a pause, he looked into my eyes and said, “The love of my life.”

Short.

Sweet.

Everything.

We kissed, and I’d never felt more cherished.

A few minutes later, when I blew the candles out on my cake, Justine told me to make a wish. I had only one wish this year—to be rid of Maya. I’d somehow managed not to think about her the entire day, until now. When I looked up, Colby’s expression fell a little. It was as though he’d guessed my deepest wish. It was likely the same one he had.

After I finished my slice of cake, I went to throw out my paper plate, and Deek followed me into the kitchen. “Hey, I just wanted to see how you’re doing,” he said.

“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“You seemed a little sad after you blew out the candles.”

“It was that obvious, huh? I think Colby noticed, too.”