Page 82 of Why Not Us?

He doesn’t get to say anymore because the front door opens. We stand.

“What’s this?” Dani asks.

Taylor and I jump out from around the corner and shout, “Surprise!”

She grins. “Adalie? What are you doing here?”

“Your dad asked me to come over for the big birthday present reveal.”

“You want to see what it is?” Nate asks.

Dani is bouncing on her toes with excitement. “Yes!”

“It’s upstairs,” he tells her.

She races ahead, pounding up the stairs. We have to move quickly to follow, and she still reaches the top before we’re more than halfway up.

“Oh my gosh!” she squeals.

I’m smiling so hard, my cheeks hurt. When we reach her, she’s vibrating as she moves from one end of the art space to the other. “This is amazing! Is this all for me?”

“Yep,” Nate says. “The furniture is all from me and Uncle Taylor. We built the desk last week. And the supplies are all from Adalie. She said she wanted to give you a present as well.”

Dani comes over, squeezing me in a tight hug before giving one to her uncle and father. Then she gasps. “Can we paint right now, Adalie?”

“Well, we have snacks downstairs. I helped Taylor set it all up. And I asked Lis to bake something sweet.”

“Ah! This is the best birthday ever!” She returns to the desk where the easel is set up, looking it over from all angles. “I saw this one online.”

I move closer so I can show her how to open and close it, how to adjust it for different sized canvases, and the drawer for extra supplies.

“Is this from you or Dad?” she asks.

“Your dad.” I lower my voice. “But I helped pick it out.”

She giggles. “He doesn’t know anything about this stuff. I’m glad he asked you.”

“Me, too.”

She gives me another hug and I wonder to myself how Nate doesn’t do stuff like this for her every day. I always want her to be this excited. I always want her to be this happy.

Chapter 25

Nate

July is awful. It’s Blue Vista’s busiest month, so I only get to see Adalie when she comes to my house to sleep over. And sleep is most of what we do those nights since she’s too tired for anything else. As the month drags on, I tell Taylor I’ll start making the deliveries to Blue Vista just so I can see her a bit more.

I admit—to myself, not to Taylor—that he was right. The partnership has been great for business. Not only are we selling crates of beer to them, we’ve noticed an uptick in customers coming to the brewery specifically purchasing the ones we sold to the venue. They’ve also been selling faster at the liquor stores that carry our beer.

When August begins, and the craziness of wedding season slows, I ride to Adalie’s house on a Monday to see her. She still has weddings every weekend until September, so when she’d bought the tickets to the play, she’d asked if we could go on a weekday instead.

I park my bike in her visitor parking and go up to her apartment. When we have plans for me to come over, she’ll often give me the spare keys so she doesn’t have to let me in. I open the door, calling out to her.

“Just a second,” she calls back. I go in, setting my helmet and backpack down. I’m not going home tonight, so I’d brought things with me intending to leave here for work tomorrow morning.

Adalie comes out of her bedroom a moment later wearing one of my favourite dresses. It’s white with colourful flowers all over it, reaching her knees and leaving her legs bare. It has puffy sleeves that fall off her shoulders, showing off her tattoo. She has her hair done up for a change, in a pretty style that has her curls framing her face. But the best part is the smile she gives me when she sees me, walking straight into my arms to kiss me hello.

“Hi,” she says. “I’ll be ready in a minute. I just need a sweater and my shoes.”

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