Best Defense

The Price

"Return!" taylor said pushing the chair back and raising the glass, making other visitors to the Italian bistro around us amused.

After dinner last night, Sean and I agreed to take them all out of the lake house. He apparently agreed to my proposal of having fun on his birthday.

"For our great Sean Warner. May all her dreams come true this year and may she not need to be a detective anymore to lure another woman." Taylor continued.

We laughed and then got up and made a toast. "For Sean!"

"Speech!" matt exclaimed while Sam whistled.

Sean resigned, there was no point in refusing, so he stood up. "Thank you, my crazy friends. Well, considering that last year was the toughest year for me, I just want to thank you all for being such amazing friends for more than two decades of my life. And I'm sure you know that I never accepted the idea of celebrating birthdays..." Sean looked at me with a smile. "But this time I did it for my wife. Hmm, that's all, anyway."

"Just a second!" taylor exclaimed as Sean sat back in the middle of our applause. "As long as you're here, we're buying you a special gift." smiling, he pulled out a large gift box from under the table and presented it to Sean.

Sean threw suspicious glances at the grin simultaneously around the table, then untangled the ribbon and lifted the box cover. He laughed as he took out a large deer hunter hat, a magnifying glass, and plastic binoculars for the children. "It's funny" Sean said, putting the hat on his head. "It reminds me of the times when I tried to kidnap people's wives" he muttered looking at me and winked.

Matthew deliberately cleared his throat to get Sean's attention. "Well, speaking of gifts, I brought you this." He gave her a box smaller than the one Taylor gave her. When the box opened, Sean looked surprised to find something like a skirt made of bark. "I thought it would come in handy when you tried to hang on the trees around your forest house" Matthew said.

"Where did you buy it, Matt?" Sam laughs. "A 24-hour workshop?"

Matthew played the end of his napkin with a carefree expression. "That's the only stop on the way here."

We were all blown away, excited to get a chance to laugh at Matthew, but I reached out across the table and clapped his hand. "Well, I think it's good. And very useful. I'll make sure Sean wears it."

Sean glared playfully at me. "Frand,"

"Calm down, Warner," I put my face near her ear and whispered while rubbing her thighs. "That would give me another sensation when you pressed me against one of the fallen trees like you promised. Remember?"

Sean tilted his head and I immediately blinked, flirtatiously biting my lower lip. "I can't wait for that day to come." I said quietly.

He chuckled softly while shaking his head. "Franda, you're really naughty!" He kissed my lips at a glance.

I put my shoulders down. "You promised it yourself." I lightly pressed on as I reached for the glass of my wine.

While sipping a drink, I accidentally looked at Jason sitting opposite me, he was halfway between Taylor and Matthew. Then I turned my head to look at my quiet sister beside me. His roar was completely inversely proportional to Jason.

"Why him?" I asked Mia, pointing at Jason with my chin.

Mia glanced briefly at Jason, then shrugged her shoulders. "No comment."

I returned my eyes to Sean. Both of my hands were wrapped around her waist while my chin was hitching a ride on her shoulders. I looked at him as if we were all there, never tired of enjoying the curves of his perfect face, which always fascinated me.

"Happy birthday, husband." I muttered softly.

"Are you happy?"

He looked one by one at our table with a look I could not understand, his mouth still curled, but there was sadness I saw in his eyes. "Yes, I'm happy, Franda." He's lying, and I know what he's thinking.

I slowly clasped his hand, stating that I understood something that was bothering him at this moment. "You'll be fine. He must be proud to see you now, Sean. I may not know him but I know he must love you very much." I tried to comfort him.

Sean is still reminded of the tragedy of his father's death that happened on his birthday, and it still haunts him today. I know, I really know what it's like to lose a parent because I've felt it too. But what Sean is going through is certainly more painful. He witnessed his father lying helpless, and I was sure the trauma from the sight would not be easily removed.

Sean breathed heavily, sticking his face to my face until our noses met. His eyes closed and he gulped. "Yes, Franda."

"Hello, guys!" taylor's voice blared as she returned to the table after ordering additional wine for us. "So, as we all know, this cool Franda of ours is a voice-wielding woman sent from heaven," I gasped, gnawing several times. "At least that's what her crazy husband said to her," Taylor looked at me with a seductive look. "But I admit he was right after I heard the voice from heaven. And for that, I propose we rekindle The Price who's long dead with our Franda as the lead singer. How, guys?"

The Price, their old band that Sean told me about one night before we slept in the old lake house, whose carcass is nowhere to be seen.

The cry "Deal" echoed around us, everyone seemed enthusiastic about Taylor's idea, except me.

I was dumbfounded for a while, not expecting Sean to show them the song I had made for him. It's totally unexpected. I can't agree to this idea. Music has long since disappeared from my life, the world has been buried since I married Nino. I still sing, but only to myself.

I raised one hand into the air. "I don't agree." I said firmly, making all of them surprised by my rather tight tone. "Sorry, but I can't do that. I've long forgotten about music, and what you're listening to isn't something I'm proud of."

"Come on, girl!" cetus Sam's. "Your voice is amazing, I didn't even think you had such a beautiful voice. It'll be exciting, I can accompany you if you're not confident" he said trying to convince me.

"I agree. Samantha we're cool, too" Matthew said.

"Don't you always say my voice is the coolest?" ask Maggie.

Matthew's confident raut started to waver. "I love you, darling." Matthew muttered to his wife.

This is a source of fun tonight, that Maggie who is not up to 160 centi high, managed to trample Matthew who is more than 180 centimeters tall and a former member of the Australian judo team, it breaks so easily. Fortunately for Matthew, Maggie's not looking for anything tonight.

"So?" taylor asked me after our waves of laughter began to subside.

I was getting nervous as their eyes all looked at me as if they wanted to pounce on me. I glanced at Sean, he just put his shoulder around. Then I nodded and nodded my head. I thought resisting was useless, these people were very persistent and they would continue to harass me until I agreed to join their old band.

"But, I don't want us to seriously do it. It's just for fun, okay?"

"Of course, girl. Anyway, we all have jobs."

The rest of the night we spent planning band practice the next day.