Romancing the Blog | Romance Authors and Readers Who Blog

by Kate Perry

My friend Diego called a few days ago. “We should have a Grand Celebration.”

I asked the logical question. “Will there be balloons?”

“Do you want balloons?”

“It’s not a celebration unless there are balloons.” Duh. He should know that—he’s a PhD.

The shrug in his reply was apparent. “If you want balloons, we’ll have balloons.”

Being accommodating was one of his best traits. No wonder my best friend married him. “Can we have champagne too?”

“I already have a bottle of Dom chilling.”

God, I loved this man (though not as much as I love Nate—sorry Diego). “Let’s talk food. Can we cook together?”

“If you’d like,” he replied, ever solicitous.

“Oh, I’d like.” Cooking with Diego is one of my favorite things to do. He loves food and revels in the social process of preparing it as much as I do. Cooking with him is magic. “Let’s make ravioli. And a roasted beet salad.”

“Anything you want.”

“Cool.” There was one thing I was wondering though. “Why are we having a Grand Celebration?”

“Your birthday is next week.”

“Right! I love my birthday.”

“I know,” Diego said. “Also, we’re celebrating the release of your book.”

“Oh. Hm.” Was that really cause to celebrate? It didn’t seem significant. Yeah, I knew actually doing it—actually getting published—was a big accomplishment, and I wasn’t ungrateful or anything, but in the scheme of things it was just a small stepping stone. My pub date came and went—can we say anticlimactic? It didn’t change the day to day stuff. It wasn’t like suddenly I felt like An Author. I still felt like plain old me.

Because Diego knows me so well, he sensed that I wasn’t thrilled. “It doesn’t have to be a Grand Celebration. We can have a Petit Celebration. But we need to celebrate.”

“Why?” Wince. Geez I sounded bratty. But I wanted to know, so I waited for his answer.

“Because I said so.”

I pondered this for a moment. “You’re going to make a great father.”

“Thank you,” he replied humbly.

But I finally realized what was going on here. “You’re saying you want to share in this moment.”

“Exactly. This is important to you, even if you don’t think it is. We need to mark the occasion. What do you say?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation. I was no dummy. A friend who cares enough to get excited about your life (especially when you couldn’t muster any excitement yourself) was not a friend to deny. “Let’s have a Grand one then.”

Diego sighed in relief. “Fantastic.”

Yes, it was.

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