Page 160 of Only With Me
“Mystery Guy, but now I’m thinkin’ I shoulda done something like Liar Liar Pants On Fire.”
I glance at her trying to fight back a smile and act angry.
“It’s not as catchy as Mystery Guy, though.” I wink and she finally laughs.
Once we arrive at the ranch, I take her to my parent’s house instead of mine.
“What’re we doin’ here?” she asks when I open her door.
“This is your first surprise.” I smile, taking her hand and helping her out of the truck.
I guide her into the house and as soon as we walk into the kitchen, her jaw drops at seeing everyone inside waiting for her.
“Happy birthday!” they scream, and I beam at Harlow’s shocked reaction.
“Oh my gosh, what is this?” She turns and looks at me.
“It’s your scrapbookin’ birthday party.”
“Shut up!” She jumps into my arms, laughing in disbelief. “You said you had to be married to a Hollis to be invited.”
“Well…” I shrug. “I spoke toupper managementabout it and made an executive decision to get you an early access pass.”
“We have all the craft supplies you could possibly need and new books for you to make your own scrapbook,” my mom says, coming over to give her a hug.
“Y’all are too freakin’ sweet. I can’t believe this. You dunno how much this means to me.” Tears well in her eyes, and I feel guilty for making her cry. “I promise, these are happy tears.”
“Gramma Grace baked you a cake, so we can eat and scrapbook for a couple hours. That sound okay?” I ask, pulling out a chair for her to sit.
“That sounds perfect.” She gives me a quick kiss before taking a seat.
There’s snacks and appetizer finger foods spread out on the kitchen island, so I put some of her favorites on a plate and then sit next to her.
“How’d you get these?” She opens a box of her family pictures and starts flipping through them. Lots of her and Delilah, their parents, and some of her at show horse jumping events.
“I asked your mom for some a few days ago and snuck over when you were at work.” I grin. “I figured if we were gonna scrapbook, you’d wanna make one with your own photos.”
She sticks out her bottom lip and fights back more tears. “This is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me. Thank you.”
I press a soft kiss to her lips, wiping her cheeks with my thumbs.
She continues looking through them, stopping at the ones with her dad, and silently crying. I figured it might be hard for her to see them, but I also knew she wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to make a scrapbook that she can cherish forever.
With thirty minutes before sunset, I tell her we have to go so we don’t miss her next surprise. She got half the book pages done, but I promised she’d be invited again to keep working on it.
“Where’re we goin’?”
“You’ll see…it’s close.”
I drive us further into the ranch property near a wooded area.
“Okay, we’re here…” I say, parking on a pathway between the trees so we can see the sun set.
“Is this some serial killer fantasy where I’m supposed to run and you chase me with a knife and then catch me and?—”
She pauses when she sees the horror on my face. “I’m startin’ to get a little concerned about Natalie’s tastes in books.”
She cackles. “Remind me to tell you about the one with the priest plot.”
