“Should’ve led with that.”
“So you’re coming?” He asks.
“I guess.” I sigh, rolling my eyes dramatically.
“Brat.”
“If you’d like . . .”
“Maybe later.” He kisses my cheek. “Let me finish a couple things, and then we can leave.”
“Ok.”
Cillian slips back into the office as Oliver moves over to me. “Off the record,” he begins in just above a whisper. “The trip is sort of for Cillian’s birthday.”
I don’t hide my surprise. “When is his birthday?” I realize neither of us had asked the other.
“It was the 17th.”
“As in last week?” I hiss, guilt making my cheeks burn.
“Yeah. But he’s...” Oliver trails off. “He isn’t big on celebrating it.”
“Why?”
“That’s his story to tell.” Sadness flickers in Oliver’s honey brown eyes. “But we’ve been going to the cabin in early November for a few years now, and everyone just sneaks him gifts.”
“Stealth birthday.”
“Exactly,” Oliver says, his warm smile matching mine.
CHAPTER 22
Cillian
“Antoinette Joy,don’t you dare hang up on me!” A woman’s voice I don’t recognize says from Toni’s phone as she opens her front door.
“Joy, huh?” I tease.
“Middle name privilege is earned,” Toni says, ushering me inside.
“Put him on the phone,” the woman demands.
Toni lifts her phone up. “Belle?—”
“Now.”
“Ugh. Fine.” Toni holds the phone out to me. “Cillian, this is Belle. Belle, Cillian.”
A brunette with striking blue eyes greets me on the screen. “Finally,” she huffs. “I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but can you please tell this woman she doesn’t need five sweaters for a weekend in the damn woods?”
I look up from the screen, cocking a brow at Toni. “Five?” She shrugs by way of response. I follow her into her room while Belle continues.
“And tell her that she needs to bring real pants,” Bell continues.
“I thought we were past the leggings are pants debate,” Toni says.
I look back at the screen to see Belle rolling her eyes in a way that reminds me of Oliver so much I almost laugh. “They are technically pants. But if they’re the only thing you’re wearing, your Texan ass will freeze.”
