I Love Him...And Him?

I Love Him...And Him? Chapter 13

Riley woke up the morning of her 21st birthday with mixed feelings of joy and excitement. She was happy it was her birthday, she always loved her one special day. Her birthday also meant that her wedding was only a month away. She got out of bed and checked her phone. She had two new text messages. One from Mike and one from Miles. The one from Mike read 'Happy birthday babe! Can't wait to take you out tonight. Love you!' She smiled and opened the one from Miles.

'Happy birthday Riley. See you at work.' It was short and sweet. She had the feeling that he had wanted to say more, but she quickly shook off the feeling and got ready for work. When she walked through the door of the nursing home, she was welcomed by Miles. "Happy birthday!" He yelled at her.

Riley laughed. "Thank you. I can't believe you remembered." It always surprised her when anyone besides Mike remembered her birthday. It always made her feel good. Like there were other people who cared about her besides her fiance. 

Miles looked at her sincerely. "Of course I remembered. Now, come with me." He put his hand on the small of her back to guide her down the hall. Riley let him lead her towards the nurses station, trying to ignore the amazing fire spreading through her back where his hand was. When they got to their hall, Riley gasped. There was a giant "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banner hanging above the desk and all of the nurses were wearing party hats. There were baloons everywhere and she was given a tiara that read "Birthday Princess" on it. Miles put his arm around her. "Do you like it?"

She turned to him with tears in her eyes. "I love it! Did you arrange this?"

He shrugged, although she could tell it was all his idea. "Well, we all helped."

"Hush Miles! This was all your idea!" One of the nurses interrupted him.

Riley laughed and threw her arms around him. He pulled her in and hugged her tightly. "I'm glad you like it. Happy birthday." He whispered into her ear.

She pulled back and looked into his eyes. He had nothing but love and kindness. He was one of the sweetest people she had ever met.

"Thank you. This is one of the sweetest things that anyone has ever done for me." Riley felt her eyes well up with tears and she felt silly for being so emotional. She realized then that they were still hugging eachother and she stepped away to face some of the women giving eachother knowing looks. Before she could say anything, Miles cut in.

"Riley, we have one last surprise for you." She looked at Miles, unable to think of what other surprise he could come up with. Just then, a nurse came walking down the hall pushing Mr. Harrison in his wheelchair. He had returned to the nursing home a few months earlier. Recovering from a broken hip, he was a changed man. Riley missed seeing the happy independent carefree man that she had come to love so much. Mr. Harrison barely left his room anymore. He didn't like talking to people or being around people. It broke Riley's heart to see him that upset all of the time.

But here he was, a huge smile on his face and a birthday cake in his hands. Riley's hands flew over her mouth as she gasped. Just then, a chorus of "Happy Birthday" broke out. When they finished singing, Riley made her 21st birthday wish, and blew out her candles. Everyone clapped and cheered before wishing her one last happy birthday and slowly getting back to work. 

Riley just stood there with tears running down her face. She hadn't had a birthday party with this many people since before her mother died. She had forgotten what it felt like to be surrounded by people that she loved and that loved her back. Shd had forgotten what it felt like to be surrounded by family. She felt Miles wrap his arms around her from behind. "Come with me." He whispered in her ear. Normally, she would have argued or asked questions, but she followed him without saying anything.

He led her to Mr. Harrison's empty room. The residents were at lunch, so the hallway was quiet. Miles opened up the door to the small closet in the room and pulled out a small box. It was wrapped in pink paper and had a gold ribbon tied around it. Looking straight into Riley's eyes, Miles handed her the box. "Happy birthday Riley." He smiled at her, causing her stomach to turn.

"Miles, you didn't have to get me anything. That little party back there was more than enough."

"Oh, I would have done that anyways," he waved his hand dismissively "this is your real birthday present. Just open it." He laughed.

Riley slowly untied the ribbion and pulled away the paper. She took the lid off of the box to reveal a beautiful gold locket. She pulled the beautiful necklace out of it's box and held it up. The front read "Always in my heart" She opened the locket to reveal two sides. One read "always on my mind" in tiny letters. The other side held a picture of her mother. Riley gasped and stared at him. "How-How did you get that picture?"

She stared into his beautiful blue eyes. He smiled. "I found your friend Cassie's phone number on an old staff list and I called her. She said she would get it for me." It now made sense to her why Cassie had taken on a sudden interest in seeing some of the old pictures that Riley kept of her family. She must have slipped into her purse when Riley wasn't looking. As she stared at the picture and the beautiful words, tears began to fall from her eyes yet again. She hated how emotional she always was.

"Miles, I don't even know what to say. It's beautiful. Thank you." He silently took the necklace from her hands. She moved her hair and he hooked the chain behind her neck. When he let go, it fell perfectly into place on her chest. Miles kissed the base of her neck and then moved his mouth down to the side of her neck. Riley turned in his arms and met his lips with hers. His kiss was soft and slow and perfect. When they pulled away, Miles took her into his arms and held her. "I don't know how to thank you." She mumbled into his chest.

"You don't have to thank me. I didn't get it for you because I was hoping you would thank me. I got it for you because I knew you would love it. Now you always have your mom with you." His words caused her eyes to well up again. She pulled away and looked into his eyes again.

"I do love it. It's the most wonderful gift that I've ever gotten." She wrapped her arms around him again.

"Do you want to go out tonight? I want to take you out for your birthday." Riley felt her heart drop.

"Miles, you know I would love to, but I can't. I have plans with-" She felt his whole body tighten up.

"Please. Don't say it. It just makes this whole thing harder." He sighed.

Riley pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. "Miles, why do you want to be with me so bad?" She really wanted to know.

"Is this some sort of trick question? I want to be with you because you are funny and smart and sexy as hell. We have this connection that I can't describe and you make me feel like I never have before. Not to sound cheesy or anything." He blushed a little as he realized what he had said.

"But, I'm kind of confused about something. You want to be with me so badly. Yet, in order to be with you, I'm cheating on my fiance. Everytime I kiss you and go out with you. Everytime we spend time together. I'm cheating on Mike. You're not afraid that if we got together, that I would cheat on you with another guy?" Riley knew what she was saying was rediculous, but she was using everything she could to help ease the pain that he was feeling.

"Honestly, that thought has crossed my mind. But as soon as it popped into my head, I thought it was rediculous. Riley, the reason that you are willing to be so close to me is not because you're a cheater. It's because we are meant to be together. I'm not trying to make you mad or start a fight, but it's true. What you feel for your fiance is love because you two spent time together and fell in love. What we have was automatic. We haven't tried to work on anything." She knew what he had wanted to say when he avoided using the word "love" to describe them. Miles kissed the top of her head. "Let's get back to work."

He unwrapped himself from her arms and went back to his job. Riley's hand wrapped around the small gold heart that was hanging around her neck. Was he right? Were they meant to be together?