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Garrett was hurting too He’d spent the past sixsure she reot to do when the memories and sadness threatened to overwhel for once, and she was determined to do just that Even if it meant she had to celebrate her birthday
"Fine But I draw the line at strangers crowding around the table singing ‘Happy Birthday’ like a bunch of jackasses"
"Deal" Garrett laughed
They turned and made their way across the beach and up the stairs to her condo talking about birthdays past
An hour and a half later they were seated at a back corner table at Sorrento’s just finishing up their meal Sorrento’s was a small, family owned restaurant on the outskirts of town The tables were covered with green vinyl and the booths with red leather Pictures of Italy and old Sicilian families littered the walls and the white, silk carnation covered in dust in the center of their table had seen better days Garrett liked to tease Parker by calling her favorite place a "hole in the wall" Luckily, the a food made up for the less than perfect at the corner of herher
His best friend was gorgeous There was no denying that If it was possible, she was even more beautiful than the first day he met her, and he was stunned stupid when he laid eyes on her all those years ago in the coffee shop just off caot back from the beach earlier, she had let her naturally wavy hair air dry The auburn waves had golden highlights fro down past her shoulders
He watched as she used her fingers to sweep her long bangs out of her eyes at the dinner table Garrett always had the urge to do that for her How many times had the three of them, and some random hook-up he’d found, been out to dinner over the years when his hand would raise on its own accord to smooth the hair away fronaling the waitress for another drink
Even if Parker didn’t like celebrating her birthday, she still liked dressing up and going out When she had got out of the shower, she chose an olive colored strapless mini dress that had a relaxed top all the way down to her hips It hugged the tops of her thighs and her perfectly round botto that accentuated her toned physique This was her favorite dress to hen her skin started to darken from the sulad Garrett chose to dress up as well He looked good in anything he wore, but when she stood up from her spot in the sand earlier and saw hi sleeved blue button doith the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, it was enough to make hersince she last saw him in the clean, crisp lines of his Navy Service Dress Whites The pants, with a permanent military crease that ran down the front, showed off his ed his well-defined chest and broad shoulders How many times had she stood in rapt attention when he shot his cuffs and adjusted his collar?
Her precarious thoughts were threatening to consu Garrett chose that ift-wrapped box on the table in front of her as the waitress cleared their plates
Parker’s eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together, practically bouncing up and down in her seat with excitement
"You hate birthdays yet pee your pants over presents There is clearly soive me my present," she replied with a sassy tone
He shook his head and laughed as he slid the box across the table towards her
She reached out and snatched it up into her hands and tore the wrapping paper off in three seconds flat
"Hey, I took a lot of care wrapping that present and you didn’t even appreciate it" Garrett pouted
"Oh you did not," she fired back "You wouldn’t knorap a present if your life depended on it Who did you con into doing your dirty work for you this time?" She asked with a raise of one of her eyebrows "Tiffani with an ’I’, Banation that she would suggest such a thing, but unfortunately she was right
Over the years he never had a shortage of wo to overcompensate for the fact that the only woman he had ever wanted, he could never have But Garrett would never say that He was just bored and he tired easily of the sa day after day He needed variety It was the spice of life after all, right?
Parker slid open one of the flaps of the box, and Garrett gave up the staring contest He would never win anyway She knew hiht, fine It was Buffy," he adh at his attempt to hide who he really was froo from his life over the years that she couldn’t keep up She never understood why he didn’t just find a nice girl and settle down, even though the thought of it made her chest ache
The smile dropped from her face when she opened up the last flap and saas in the box
Garrett bit his lip nervously, worried about her reaction to the gift Every year for her birthday his friend had showered her with lavish, expensive jewelry: dias, a ruby necklace, an eive Parker so she wanted and wished for So that actually showed he cared and not how much money he shelled out Parker wasn’t the flashy jewelry type but every year he draped her in expensive gemstones that Garrett rarely, if ever, saw her wear
He sat there second-guessing his decision for sixty-eight seconds while Parker stared wordlessly down into the box Was she sad that she didn’t get her usual gift of jewelry? Did it make her s the saht to buy her so he couldn’t do
Before he could panic for another second, Parker’s voice rang out, causing several of the other patrons to look their way