His hazel eyes flashed gold as he stared down into mine. He spoke low, his voice sending little flickers through my body, “Kids, and anything involving you.”

I nodded and rewarded him with another kiss, this one a little longer, our lips grazing softly, drawing out into longer kisses. It was interrupted by a man clearing his throat loudly.

I stepped to the side and pulled back when I realized Kent and Jen were standing there staring at us.

Kent was dressed in a suit, he looked handsome but extremely uncomfortable, he kept pulling at his collar. He had a large purple present under his left arm, the silver bow sparkled in the subdued lights of the street.

I pasted on my happy face and hugged Jen. “Happy Birthday, Birthday Girl!” I gave her an extra squeeze and then stepped back.

She smiled softly, it almost reached her eyes, and looked between me and my date. “Thank you. You look great, Elly. Better than I do tonight, don’t you think, Ken?”

She looked at her husband and nudged him to get his papa-bear glare off from Dave.

He didn’t even glance at me, avoided looking at me entirely. Had it been a decade ago I would’ve been offended, but as it was, I was used to his avoidance in the presence of others. It was just the way he was since the night we don’t ever bring up.

“No, of course not, Jen. Don’t be silly. You look terrific,” he said with a tiny smile.

She did. She looked sophisticated in her split neck knee-length blue dress. I always admired how she always seemed to look so put together. Even if she showed up at Kent’s work after hitting the gym in a t-shirt she would end up looking like an Adidas advertisement. Kent leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek but she pulled back.

“Make-up.” She smiled sweetly to play off the blatant rejection of his affections and then nodded towards the door of the fancy Italian restaurant. “Shall we? Our reservation won’t keep for much longer.”

We walked, single file, into Amici. I felt my shoulders tighten as Dave’s warm hand moved to my lower back. I wasn’t too keen on his constant need to touch a part of my body any time we were in public, which was always because there was something that was niggling me about him. I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

After we were seated, and the waiter departed with our drink orders, Jen smiled sweetly to us.

"So, how are you guys doing?” Kent asked. I watched as Kent's eyes shifted from me to Dave and then to the silverware on the table. The present was sitting on the table beside Jen, who payed no attention to it.