Instead of doing as I asked, he pulled me deeper into him and he kissed me. This wasn’t a soft, sweet kiss but deep, hard and full-on tongue.

When he quit kissing me, he whispered, “Grape,” against my lips and his eyes looked in mine.

My stomach lurched painfully into a tighter knot at the memory of a better time.

I held my breath wondering why I gave into tonight, to the party, Vance, everything. I was so much better on my own, dinners with Nick, Boo as my bed partner and my music to keep my company.

Before I could find an answer to my mental question, Vance released me, grabbed my hand and we walked in.

Everyone yelled happy birthday.

Even though I felt like crying, I did my very best to smile.

* * * * *

“Methinks, even with the mini-make-out-session on the sidewalk, all is not well in paradise,” Tod said, standing beside me, both of us holding glasses of champagne. It was an hour into the party and I was trying to have fun (and not succeeding).

They’d decided on baked Camembert and crackers, fruit trays, crudités, champagne and truffles. All the men (including everyone from Nightingale Investigations, except a guy I hadn’t yet met named Ike who had night duty in the control room) were there and wearing jeans and nice shirts or sweaters (though Tod and Stevie wore casual suits and Tex wore one of his normal flannel shirts). All the women were dressed to the nines, little dresses, lots of hair and makeup.

Nick was there and seemed to be enjoying himself. Heavy and Zip were also there and both seemed a bit uncomfortable. Frank was a no show, not exactly the most sociable person one-on-one, he might have been able to do beers at a bar but parties were a no go.

Tex surprised me because he was with a pretty blonde lady and they looked close. I wouldn’t have expected Tex to have a date, especially not a pretty blonde lady. I was further surprised (a nice way to say absolutely floored) to find out she was Jet’s mother, Nancy.

Duke surprised me by showing up at all. He brought his wife, Dolores, and she was a cracker.

Jet and Eddie had yet to arrive.

I was avoiding Vance like I’d forgotten to wear deodorant (I hadn’t) and I didn’t want him to find out.

I was avoiding Luke because Luke was a wildcard. I didn’t want him to flirt with me then me be the one to pay.

Vance looked seriously unhappy. Luke looked seriously amused.

I looked to Tod and he was watching me closely. “Everything’s fine,” I assured him.

“Liar, liar, pants on fire,” Tod said.

“No really, it is.”

“Girlie, pu-lease. I had a hot guy like that I’d be all over him, embarrassing my friends enough to leave early so I could really be all over him.”

“You do have a hot guy like that,” I told him.

“Not the same ten years on. You two are in the first blush of romance. You should be going at it like rabbits.”

“I broke up with him,” I blurted, do not ask me why, I shouldn’t have and I knew it.

Tod blinked at me, face shocked.

See? I knew I shouldn’t have.

“What?” he asked.

“I broke up with him when I ran out of the room after I saw the flowers. I called him and broke up with him. We made a deal, he gets tonight then we’re over.”

“You said you phoned to thank him,” Tod told me.

“I kinda… um… fibbed.”

Tod looked at me. He opened his mouth then closed it and looked away. Then he looked back, opened his mouth again and yelled, “Are you f**king nuts?”

Most everyone turned to stare including, to my horror, Vance.

I turned to Tod, my back to the room (and Vance). “Tod! Keep your voice down.”

“Girl, that boy is hot for you, not to mention that boy is just plain hot.”

“Tod –”

“You need a doctor. You need an intervention. You need Daisy,” Tod said and started looking around the room.

“No! Do not call Daisy over here. Why do you think I fibbed to you earlier today? I didn’t want this kind of reaction.”

“What’s going on?” Roxie hissed from beside us. She looked gorgeous, wearing a figure-skimming, strapless, little black dress of her own and her shoes were nearly as amazing as mine.

“Jules broke up with Vance. It’s over. Done. Kaput,” Tod announced.

“What?” Roxie screeched.

This time I felt the room’s attention on my back at Roxie’s outburst.

I closed my eyes (I really shouldn’t have told Tod) then I opened them. “Please, be quiet,” I begged.

“Why did you break up with him?” Roxie asked in a low voice.

“It’s too complicated to explain.”

“But… he’s macho, he rides a Harley and he bought you flowers. Macho men who ride Harleys don’t buy women flowers. They take them to a roadhouse and get them drunk and get in their pants,” Roxie explained.

“What’s happening?” Ally asked, she and Indy had arrived together.

“Don’t tell them,” I said quickly.

“Jules broke up with Vance. It’s over,” Roxie said over me.

Both of them turned to stare at me.

“That’s what she did after she saw the flowers,” Tod shared.

“I thought you said you were thanking him,” Indy said.

“She lied,” Tod told them.

“Why on earth would you do that?” Ally (kind of) yelled.

“Because I didn’t want this exact same thing to happen,” I said in a soft clip, giving up on getting them to be quiet.

“Ya’ll, what is goin’ on?” May asked, pushing close and I could see Daisy on her heels.

Damn.

Daisy. Not good.

And May. Worse.

“Jules broke up with Vance. It’s over,” Roxie, Tod and Ally said together.

“You are jokin’,” Daisy said, eyes narrowed and I moved back, not wanting to be in bitch-slapping-nail-scratching distance.

“Where’s that cake? I’m takin’ back the cake. Lettin’ my grandchildren eat it. They aren’t crazy fools. They deserve it,” May announced.

“Please don’t make a big deal if this. This is not a big deal. We’ve only been together a few days,” I told them.

“A few days for these boys is a few months for normal men. He’s in deep, you’re in deep and you damn well know it,” Daisy snapped.

“Yes. I do,” I snapped back, leaning into her and having… had… enough.

It was my f**king life and it was my f**king birthday and I could do whatever the hell I wanted.