He catches me staring from where I’m standing on the back porch, making sure the dessert table is perfect, and the second I grin at him, he says something to his interlocutor, then heads my way.
“I think you should consider replacing your baseball caps with this hat.”
He places his hands at my lower back, just above where my jeans are resting. “You’re just jealous I wear it better than you.”
“That must be it.” I finger the dusty material of the veil attached to the top of the pointy hat, finding a small hole in it. “The termites are really getting to it, I think.”
Before I can stop him, he takes the hat off and places it on my head. “Ew,” I say, pushing the veil away from my face.
“Sharing is caring, baby.” He smirks before kissing me, and it’s enough to make me forget about the bug trap he’s put on me. I don’t know when that feeling will start to fade. I’ve now had a year of daily kisses from him, and I still feel like I’m on the first drop of a rollercoaster every time he touches me. I hope it never goes away, and while I was doubtful at first, now, I’m seeing maybe it will be the case just because everything is different with him. Maybe the feeling stays when you find the right person.
“Think she’s having a good time?” I ask him when he pulls back to kiss the top of my head and faces the crowd again. We didn’t invite many people; just Mom, Keira and her family, Mrs. Grant with her husband, Charlie, Liz and her boyfriend, and two of Zoe’s friends from singing class. After seeing how she was treated in choir last year, we changed her to classes given in the town over, and now, she has an even better time. The kids are nice to her, and we never have to hear about freaking Amelia or Ashleigh again.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to worry about my father since he landed himself back in jail by breaking his parole only a few weeks after he got out. I don’t know the planned length of his sentence, and honestly, I don’t want to know. The less I think of him, the better I feel. Mom and I avoid the subject, and our relationship is back to a good spot. We both have our opinions on him, and I’ve accepted that.
“Yeah,” Eli says just as Zoe starts running after her friend Leo with a foam sword brandished before her. “I think she does.”
“A feminist icon.”
He snickers, then looks behind us at the cupcakes he baked, and I helped decorate. “But I think it’s time for gifts now.”
My heart skips a beat. I’ve been able to push my nerves about our gift away for the party, but now, they’re back in full force.
“What if it’s a bad idea?”
Eli frowns.
“What if she feels like we’re trying to replace her?”
“She won’t. She’s been asking for this for so long.”
“But what if—”
“Look who’s the parent hen now,” he says with a wink.
Parent. For years, I grieved the loss of this word. It still feels surreal to me every time I’m referred to as one.
I don’t have time to answer before he’s calling Zoe over to open her presents, and then he disappears inside the house. Zoe completely disregards her friends the second she hears the word “presents” and runs over to me, her eyes wide.
“Take a seat, honey.” I lead her to the chair at the end of the table, but she can’t sit, too excited to settle down. She even throws me weird looks as she giggles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone as excited to open birthday gifts.
We hear the bark before Eli and Zoe’s present are even outside. It’s sharp and high-pitched, the Golden Retriever puppy not even ten weeks old. And then Eli comes out with it, a red bow around its neck as it starts running toward me. Since I’ve cared for it for the past two days at Keira’s while waiting to surprise Zoe, he’s used to me the most.
Zoe gasps, immediately leaning in front of the dog to pet its ears. Her smile is as wide as the ocean, lighting her face with pure joy. I steal a look at Eli who’s already staring at me with a grin. “You were right,” I mouth. I shouldn’t have worried. She could never feel like a puppy would steal the spotlight from her. Not with how much love we drown her in every single day.
“Hi, Sparks,” Zoe says as she lies down so the dog can climb on her.
It takes me a second to compute that she already knows the dog’s name—chosen by Eli based on our favorite Coldplay song. Did he slip up and forget to tell me?
I frown, finding him still grinning at me like all is right in the world.
“Cassie?” Zoe asks once the dog steps off her to run to Eli, then back to me.
“Y-yeah?”
“Did you take a good look at Sparks’ collar?”
This is getting stranger by the second, especially when I catch Liz and Keira also watching me with a weird smirk. I throw Eli a “what the hell is going on” look, but he still doesn’t act like anything’s wrong, his hands casually stuffed in his pockets.
