Wrought with sadness, I made that fateful call to Echo and let the cat out of the bag to comfort her. She reversed her decision and was shocked to learn that Joanne was in on the secret all along as Echo had lunch with her earlier that day and asked Joanne to be “the fall back plan” in the event that I should ever ask Echo to have dinner with me et al at Les Faux Bourgeois on Friday.
With the fruit cake I ordered from Veneto’s, I made my way to the French restaurant with Jay and Norm to where I had made reservation over in the private room. Lehli called me to let her know that she had to bail for an SOS, but in her place, Tracy showed up! Shortly after, Dane and Echo arrived. The tea lights were lit, the flowers were arranged, the pork bellies were served, and a bottle of Cabernet were poured as the evening progressed with much merriment. Joanne, after a long day at work, managed to join us in the end and had a plate of assorted cheese.
Desert time came around, and the last bit of surprise came out from the back of the kitchen; the fruit cake! The birthday song was sung and the presents were revealed. From Joanne, Echo took out a small box from a Holt Renfrew bag and shook it before undoing the ribbon. Inside were two golden seals which were chopstick rests stolen from the Jade restaurant from a few weeks ago at Echo’s brother’s wedding ceremony. I had laughed when Joanne first revealed it to me the day before over dinner. After a laugh over the gag gift, Echo unwrapped a larger box from a BCBGMAXAZRIA bag and found a frumpy pink dress with a white belt inside. So Echo! :D From Norm was a picture of Echo at the stern of a ferry from last weekend’s Kayaking trip printed on a canvas which turned out really nice.
For the final surprise, I took out my MacBook Pro and delivered a special video message from Marc and Emma which I received only this morning. As they couldn’t wish Echo a Happy Birthday in person and join us in the celebration of her loss of youth (hahaha!), I had asked them to send a video which was a silhouette of them standing in front of the bright lights radiating from The Mirage hotel in Vegas. As least the audio came through clear. :) And with that, I made my closing speech with “You may be expired and no longer desired, but at least you got laid on your birthday!” as I placed a lay around her neck.
