Page 103 of Finding Hayes
“You know he hates surprises, right?”River asked, as he stood in the kitchen of the farmhouse that was nearly finished being renovated.
“Yep. But he’ll like this one, even if he pretends he doesn’t,” I said, as I guided everyone toward the kitchen. “He’ll be here in five minutes.”
I could not wait for Hayes to get here. He’d never cared for his birthday when he was growing up. Usually, he and I would go hang out on the lake. We’d take the old canoe that we’d found and tried to clean up, and we’d float around in the water. His mother didn’t do the birthday thing, and he’d never cared.
He always made my birthday special, just like he did when it was Saylor’s birthday.
But he didn’t want to celebrate his own.
So, I’d get him his favorite cupcake and sing him “Happy Birthday,” and we’d just sit in the boat and talk and laugh.
But this was our first birthday together as a married couple.
I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that we werea married couple.
For real.
It wasn’t fake. It wasn’t for any other reason than we just wanted to be together.
“This was really sweet of you to do for my brother,” Saylor said, wrapping an arm over my shoulder.
“He’ll pretend to hate it, but we both know he’ll love every second.”
“And you have his surprise in the laundry room?” Ruby chuckled, as she walked up.
“Yep. I can’t wait to give it to him.”
“I just came out of there. He’s going to freak out,” Demi said, as she had both hands on her lower back and arched her baby bump toward us.
“I hope so,” I said. “And you look like you’re ready to burst.”
“Any day now.” She shrugged.
“I’m glad you were able to waddle your big belly here for the party. And I love that you’ve softened the big grump, Sav,” Peyton said to her bestie before turning her attention back to me. “I never even knew Hayes had teeth before Savvy came back to town.”
That had everyone laughing, and I looked down at my phone to see the Nest camera go off. “He’s here.”
I had all the lights off, and everyone grew quiet as I heard the door open and close.
“Sav? You here?”
“Yep. I’m in the kitchen,” I called out, trying to contain my excitement.
“Why is it so dark?” he grumped, just as he flipped on the lights to see us all gathered there.
“Surprise!” we shouted, and he just stood there, gaping at us.
“I hate surprises,” he said, with a sexy smirk on his face as hemoved toward me. He tugged me close, lifting me off the floor as my legs came around his waist. “But I love everything you do.”
Everyone whistled and cheered, and he set me back down on my feet as he made his way around the group, getting hugs and birthday wishes from all his friends.
We had the French doors open to the backyard, and the cool breeze floated around us. There were acres of green grass and large trees, and it looked like something you’d see in a painting.
Everyone started eating and drinking, and Hayes made his way over to me and wrapped his arms around me, my back pressed to his chest. “Thank you, baby.”
I turned in his arms. “You aren’t going to tell me how much you hate this?”
“I mean. I’d rather have you all alone, but I can deal with it for a few hours.”
