Page 47 of Unexpected You

“I’m not sharing,” I told her.

“Didn’t ask you to,” she said. “And I’m not sharing either.”

Chapter Fourteen

Eloise

It was remarkable how much sauce she’d managed to get on herself. Even with the help of the wipes, she was going to have to change.

She hadn’t threatened to mention my birthday again or sung or done anything else to embarrass me. In fact, she hadn’t talked about it at all. She’d told me about a book she was reading which had led to a podcast which had led to a bunch of articles. In between getting covered in sauce and eating, she kept speaking and I just let her, enjoying her enthusiasm and the tone of her voice.

I liked hearing her. I liked hearing what she had to say. I really did.

The slices of cake arrived with two forks and zero candles.

“You should at least make a wish, even if you’re not going to blow out a candle,” she said. “Make a wish with your first bite.”

What a ridiculous thing to do. I wasn’t going to do that.

But then I met her eyes and looked at her freckles and I couldn’t say no.

I cut a bite with my fork and raised it to my mouth, tasting it as I made a wish and then swallowed.

“There. Happy?” I asked.

“I know you said I could only say it the once but,” she said in a low voice and leaned in, “happy birthday.” Her voice was barely above a whisper and there was no one nearby to hear her. Even still, I looked around to make sure.

“Does Dom know?” Cadence said, and there was an edge in her voice that I didn’t understand.

“She probably doesn’t remember. Only a handful of people even know and I’ve sworn them to secrecy.” Finding my date of birth online shouldn’t have been difficult, but I’d managed to have it mostly scrubbed.

“Are you? Going to swear me to secrecy? This wasn’t covered in the NDA.” She ate her cake slowly, as if savoring every bite.

“Yes, I’m going to swear you to secrecy. I paid a lot of money for that information not to get out. It’s a privacy concern.” Her eyes went wide as that realization hit her. We didn’t have the same security issues.

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. You have my word.”

Feeling giddy, maybe from the cake, I stuck out my pinky and her eyes lit up as she beamed, and we did that silly little swear with our fingers.

When the bill came, Cadence snatched it away and insisted on paying.

“I didn’t get you anything, so this is your gift. I might still get you a gift. I don’t think I can let your big day pass without doing something. It just wouldn’t be right.”

I scowled at her, but she was undeterred. We’d taken quite a long lunch and for the first time in ages, I wasn’t eager to get back to my office and my inbox.

Dom waved goodbye to me as we headed out and into the sunshine.

“I’ve got it,” Cadence said, looking up and down the street and nodding. “This way.”

She started walking in the opposite direction of the parking garage.

“Cadence,” I called to her, and she spun around.

“This way, come on.” I hurried to keep up.

“Where are you going? The garage is over there.”

She just kept walking. “I know. We’re stopping somewhere else first.”