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“Don’t remind me.”
“Nate, you can’t push yourself too hard.”
“Relax…”
“I mean it.” She pulls herself closer to me.
My heart leaps into my throat.
“Promise me you won’t strain yourself just for some stupid benchmark.”
“It’s not a stupid benchmark. I’m going to be thirty. What kind of thirty-year-old doesn’t know how to walk anymore?” Only half a joke.
Laney shakes her head, and the tenderest smile appearson her lips. “Nate, you know you made it out better than you could’ve. Thirty is just a number.”
“Easy for you to say since you’re a baby.”
“I’m twenty-seven.”
“Exactly. A baby.”
“Then you’re a child.”
I lean my head back, my body starting to give into tiredness and the buzz of beer seeping through my veins. “Fine. That’s true.”
Laney considers me for a long moment, then leans forward.
My heart leaps into my throat.
Surely, she isn’t about to…
Her lips brush my cheek.
That’s good enough for me. I let out a sigh despite myself.
God, her lips against my skin areeverything.
“Let’s get some sleep, huh?”
I resist every urge to tug her into bed with me.
4
LANEY
How hasthis day crept out on us so fast?
“Happy birthday to youuuu…” The final lyric rings through the room as everyone sings with varying degrees of ability.
Nate looks around, a sneaking smile on his face. Then, he takes a deep gulp of air and blows out all thirty candles crowded onto the cake which Abigail, Nate’s little sister, insisted that we opt for rather than just chunky numbers made of wax.
Everyone cheers.
“Hope you made that wish count, buddy,” Mason says from across the table.
“Trust me, I made it count.” Nate leans back in his wheelchair, smiling.
Mason smiles back. It feels hollow.
