Page 21 of Falling Over You

Theo followed him to the bar where he ordered a beer. “I had no idea it was Eve’s birthday.” Talking to her dad might be a good place to start with getting information.

He shook his head. “Eve is so hard-headed. She got it in her mind when she was a teenager that her birthday being on Christmas Eve was a pain for all of us and she never let us celebrate.” He took a sip from his glass. “Those first few years, we tried, but she always shut us down and said she didn't want any sort of celebration. It broke her mom's heart. Mine too. Eve is our first child, and we cherished celebrating her birth.”

“Why would she tell me that you guys forget her birthday if she’s the one who doesn't want to celebrate?”

“She did what?” Her dad’s demeanor changed. “We never forgot her birthday. We send her gifts every year and call and try to get her to celebrate. She always turns us down.” He looked to where Eve was talking with her sister Skylar. “We are getting to the bottom of this now.”

Del stormed over to Eve, Theo hot on his heels. “I didn't mean to cause issues.”

He waved him off. “Nonsense. Eve is so damn strong-willed. She thinks she doesn’t need anyone's help or love. What she doesn't understand is that none of us can make it through life by ourselves. We all need someone.”

Eve and Skylar stopped talking when they approached. “Hey, Dad,” Eve said.

“What’s this I hear about you saying we forget your birthday?”

Behind him, he heard a gasp and turned to see her mom with a hand over her mouth. “Eve, what is he talking about?”

Eve looked around the room, her shoulders sagging just a little. “You guys never want to celebrate. We never get together on my birthday.”

“We ask you every year what you want to do,” her mom said, pushing her way toward Eve. “You are the one who says nothing and refuses to come to dinner.”

Eve bit her lip and Theo could see her eyes tearing up. “I heard you. When I was thirteen, you and Dad were talking about how hard it was to have my birthday so close to Christmas. You said you wished it was in the summer.”

“That’s where this is coming from?” her dad said. “Eve, that’s the year I got laid off during December. Your mom and I weren’t complaining about your birthday because we hated it being on Christmas Eve. We felt bad because Christmas was slim that year. We had to scale back and we wished you weren’t the one suffering.”

Eve shook her head. “No, that can't be it.”

“Sweetie, it was,” her mom said. “If you remember that year, you wanted all kinds of things to redecorate your room. Months later, when money was good again, we gave your room a whole makeover.”

Theo hated seeing her like this. Hated that she’d misunderstood, and that for years, she’d thought her family forgot her birthday. He wanted to take her in his arms and never let go.

“Can you guys give us a second?” Theo said to her family. They agreed and walked away, leaving just the two of them. “Talk to me.”

“I didn’t know.” She stared into his eyes. “How did I not know? Why didn’t I see?”

He took her into his arms, hugging her tightly. “We don't always see what’s right in front of our faces.” That was true in more ways than one. She definitely didn't see that he loved her and would do anything for her.

“I feel like a terrible person. I pushed my family away, and it was all a misunderstanding that could have been fixed, if only I’d have paid better attention.”

He pulled her away, looking into her tearful eyes. “Your family loves you and I think you love them. You still have plenty of time to change things.”

“It was you, wasn’t it? You figured it out, didn’t you?”

He shrugged, not sure if she hated him for it or was thankful. “All I did was ask your dad a question.”

“I think I’ve been stupid in more ways than one.” She looked around and then grabbed his hand and pulled him out into the hallway, stopping when they were alone. “I don’t want this to end when we go back to our normal lives.” Her eyes held his and what he saw in them was the truth.

He was pretty sure his heart stopped beating.

“In fact, I don't want to go back to my normal life. I want my life to include you.”

Everything in him settled. Like it had been waiting years for her to say those words. “Me neither. I’ve been trying to drop hints, but I thought you weren't getting them.”

“I was, but I thought for sure I wasn’t hearing them the way you were meaning them.” She took a deep breath and then smiled, a huge, beautiful smile. “That day I fell over you was the best day of my life.”

He grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into his body. “So you finally admit it. You’re the one who fell over me.”

She laughed and it was the most beautiful sound in the world. A sound he wanted to hear forever.

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