I dropped the notebook at the sound of Alice’s voice coming down the hall.
I was panting. “Yes?” I moved quickly to the window. I had to hide the erection I was sporting thanks to Heather’s little porn diary. I hadn’t even gotten to the good part, and I was hard as a rock.
“Are you finished in here?” she asked from the doorway.
I pretended to be trying the window out, opening and closing it, as I turned only my head toward her. “Just finishing up now.”
“I need to talk to you about something important when you’re done.”
“Sure. I’ll meet you downstairs?”
“Yes. That’s fine.”
After I heard her at the bottom of the stairs, I picked up the notebook and put it back on the table. Despite how curious I was about the rest of the story, I was clearly never meant to see it. It was better that I didn’t read any more. Anyway, I was pretty sure how it was going to end. And that would torment me all night.
Fuck, Heather. Seriously? You’re trying to kill me.
After visiting the bathroom to talk down my hard-on, I went downstairs to find out what Alice wanted.
Still flustered as all hell, I found her in the kitchen. “What’s up?” I asked.
Her expression made me a little uneasy. “It’s about Heather.”
Shit.
“What about Heather?”
“Tomorrow is her twenty-first birthday.”
Oh. Wow. Wasn’t expecting that.
“Really? She never mentioned it.”
“She doesn’t talk about her birthday. She tries to forget it.”
“Why?”
She looked away. “It’s also the day her sister died.”
No. My heart broke in two.
“Anyway…this is a big birthday for her,” Alice said. “I wish I felt up to doing something, but I don’t know how to celebrate it without upsetting her. She’s been particularly off since her father’s visit, too. I wanted you to know in case you can think of anything that might brighten her day. I know she won’t tell you. Heather stopped celebrating her birthday when…you know.”
“Thank you for telling me. I’ll definitely try to come up with something.”
After Alice thanked me for my work and went back to her room, I went home, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d said. The fact that Heather’s sister had died on her birthday haunted me.
If Heather didn’t want to celebrate her birthday, I couldn’t make her. At the same time, her twenty-first would only come around once. She’d never get it back.
I had to try.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
* * *
HEATHER
Noah: Meet me in the lake.
I had to look twice to make sure it was actually Noah sending me this message.
Heather: IN the lake?
Noah: Yes. IN the lake. Wear a bathing suit and meet me in the lake across from the boathouse.
Did he really mean in the water, or was I misinterpreting? I hadn’t seen Noah Cavallari so much as dip his toes in the lake since the day he thought I was drowning.
In any case, I needed to know what this was all about, so I did as he asked. Rummaging through my drawers, I couldn’t decide which bikini to wear. I normally didn’t overthink such things, but the man I had a massive crush on had just demanded that I get into a bathing suit. I couldn’t lose this opportunity to make him sweat.
Today was a sucky day—as all my birthdays had been since Opal died. I’d stayed in my room most of the morning, sipping tea and reading. This message definitely changed my outlook.
After slipping on my favorite black bikini, I flew out the front door and ran toward the lake, still wondering why Noah wanted me to meet him there.
When I saw him, he waved frantically to me from the waist-deep water. Then he started dancing.
What the?
He swayed his hips and pumped his fists, and it was the most ridiculous yet adorable thing I’d ever seen a man of his size do. He was totally mocking my water aerobics, but it was hysterical.
As I approached, I noticed he was holding a bottle of champagne.
“Why are you dancing?” I shouted.
He stopped moving and lifted the bottle into the air. “We’re celebrating your birthday.”
What? How does he know? “Who told you?”
“Never mind. I have my ways.” He waved. “Get over here.”
His demanding tone made my pulse speed up as I trudged through the water to get to him.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were turning twenty-one today,” he said.
“There’s a reason I don’t—”
“I know.”
He knows? “Did my mother tell you?”
“Yeah. She did. So you don’t need to explain any of it. Today is not gonna be about sad stuff.” He handed me the two glasses he’d been holding. “Take these.” He unwrapped the foil covering on the bottle. I smiled when he stuck the trash in the waistband of his shorts rather than litter.
“It’s your twenty-first fucking birthday, Heather. It’s not okay to let this day pass you by. You only have one twenty-first birthday in your entire life.”
Without further ado, Noah popped open the bottle of champagne, which sort of exploded onto his bare chest. “Well, that didn’t exactly go as planned.”
We both got a good laugh, and then he licked some off of his arm. He looked so sexy as he flashed a crooked smile with champagne dripping down his body. I so badly wanted to lick that champagne off of his chest and abs. And that was just for starters…
He took the flutes back and poured me a glass, then poured himself one as well.
“This feels surreal. You’re serving me alcohol.”
“Well, you’re legal now.” He winked.
“Wow. I really am, aren’t I?”
“Cheers.” He smiled.
We clinked our glasses together, and I took a sip of the bubbly. It was ice cold and delicious.
I looked over at a boat in the distance, and when I turned back to Noah, he moved his eyes quickly away. I’d caught him red-handed looking down at my breasts. That made me feel damn good. Nice work, black bikini.
“Were you really gonna pretend this was just another day?” he asked.
“Yes. I was,” I said.
I specifically didn’t make plans, specifically didn’t want to celebrate my life when my sister had lost hers on this day.
“Well, not anymore. Not this year.”
“Is this what I have to do to get you in the water? Turn another year older?”
“Pretty much. Otherwise I only jump in when I have to save people from their own bad dancing.”
“You were so mad at me that day. Talk about getting off on the wrong foot. I’m glad that happened, though.”
His brow lifted. “Yeah?”
“Yes, because if it wasn’t for that, we might never have had that conversation. It might have taken weeks before we interacted, if ever. Life is made up of little moments that don’t seem that important at the time, but in retrospect they’re what get you to where you are.”
“So we can thank Kris Kross for the fact that we’re standing in this water drinking champagne.”
“Yeah.” I smiled. “Timing is everything.”
At that moment, the sky opened up, dropping rain on us.
“Speaking of timing…” Noah laughed. “You okay with staying out here, or do you want to go inside?”
“I’m not gonna let a little rain ruin my very first surprise birthday champagne party.”
“Good.”
Noah smiled at me, but more than that, his eyes were smiling. It was genuine happiness that made me realize he was just as glad to be hanging out here with me as I was to be with him. It was the kind of smile that gave me a false hope about where things stood with us.
We stayed in the lake for a while, sipping champagne in the rain. After a few minutes, the sun peeked out again while it was still raining. Sun showers were always so cool, so rare. So were moments like this.
The alcohol was definitely going to my head.
“I’d better slow down. I’m starting to feel it.”
“That’s the point.”
“Yeah…but I have to work tonight.”
He emptied his glass and shook his head. “Huh-uh. No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do. What do you mean?”
“I had lunch over at Jack Foley’s Pub today. Spoke to your friend there—Marlene, is it? She’s gonna get someone to cover for you tonight.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”