Page 158 of Unexpected Shot
“You’re a shit liar, Shelby Lynn.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
With a final smirk, Shelby opens the door of the…empty bakery?
“Surprise!”
I jump a little as a herd of people come pouring out of the kitchen.
“What the hell?”
I’m a little dazed and a lot confused as a laughing Maddox greets me first, putting a…party hat on me? “Happy birthday, old man.”
“My birthday isn’t for another two weeks.”
“Yes, but you’re going to be in San Diego in two weeks,” Gabi says, placing a “Birthday Boy” pin on my shirt. “And we have to celebrate your birthday, so why not do it early?”
“I…” But before I can get anything else out, Theo comes over, handing me a mini “congratulations” sign.
“And we haven’t officially celebrated your big win,” he says. “It's not every day one of our best friends wins the most prestigious golf tournament of the year.”
“You guys did all of this?” I say, still a little stunned.
“That would be Mrs. Devereaux.” Theo nods toward Shelby. “Her plans. We were just told what to do.”
“And she can be scary, so we listened and followed very good directions.”
I laugh at Maddox’s joke as I turn to Shelby, who’s leaning against the counter with a pretty proud grin on her face.
“You did this?”
“Amazing what you can get done on a plane when you buy the WI-FI package,” she says as I bring her in for a PG, but with promise for later, kiss. “Happy birthday, Beau. And congratulations. I’m so proud of you.”
“I love you. So much.”
I go in for another kiss, wishing I could take it deeper, but before I can, it’s getting broken up by my sister.
“I know you two probably want to go do a thing, but Kitty and Phyllis are here, and if you two start making out, they’ll record it and turn it into some weird porn film for the nursing home.”
We laugh, but that’s a serious possibility, so we smartly back away. Plus, I need to visit and say hi to everyone who’s here. Of course, Kitty and Phyllis are in attendance, sporting birthday hats and feather boas and waving at me from their normal table. My parents are playing with Ace. Stu and Lauren are gathered in a corner talking with Ethan, Kat, and Grayson. The only person I don’t see is…
“Where’s Asher?”
“On his way,” Maddox says. “Texted the three of us saying there was an emergency with Adalyn.”
“Is she okay?”
“He says yes, but we’ll understand when he gets here.”
As if on cue, we hear the bell go off over the door, and Asher walks in with?—
“Wow! Adalyn…you look…”
I don’t know where Theo was going with that statement, but it’s best he stopped it there because…
Adalyn…well…I don’t know when she learned to use scissors, but she did. And decided to take them straight to her hair.
“That’s right, everyone,” Asher says, barely keeping his voice upbeat with the tinge of frustration trying to break through. “Adalyn gave herself bangs.”
