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“So, she said.”
“Why would she lie?”
I leaned toward him, so I didn’t have to shout above the music. “You’re not this stupid, Ray. We all know how babies are made. You got sloppy and now you have to suffer the consequences.”
Laughing came from the girls’ table. We both turned toward them. Chase delivered a tray of tequila shots and put one in each of Birdie’s hands.
“He shouldn’t encourage her like that,” Raymond grumbled.
“Dude, it’s not your problem. Leave her alone, already. You got what you wanted.”
“And what’s that?”
“She’s moving on like you told her to. I mean, you’re having a baby, so, yeah…” I needed to shut my trap before I unloaded on him.
Raymond wasn’t stupid. He knew he fucked up and was trapped. Apparently, he’d gotten ballsy and offered to pay for an abortion, and Tabitha cried. I doubt he would’ve let her go through with it. He’d been unhinged and desperate.
Like my momma always said, abstinence is the only guarantee. I might have been a surprise, but my folks had gone in with both eyes wide open. They had wanted a baby. They’d been intentional, like Em and I. We wanted a baby, and I’d make sure we had one.
A couple of hours passed seamlessly. Ray and I talked about sports and about ice fishing next season. He continued to stare at Birdie. I felt fucking bad for the guy. His own screwup would torment him for the rest of this life. I knew Birdie better than anyone and she’d never be with him after he got that chick pregnant.
“What the fuck is she doing,” he said. It wasn’t a question. I believed he knew exactly what she was up to, just as I did.
Birdie took the stage and grabbed her microphone. “Tonight, I’ll being doing a solo number. Just one. I hope you enjoy it.” She went to the karaoke machine and put in her selection.
I didn’t know what she’d sing, but if I had to guess, it would be something that sent a message to Raymond.
The music started, and I didn’t recognize it.
“No, she’s not.”
“What?” I asked Raymond.
“She’s singing my favorite Christopher Cross song. She’s fucking singing ‘Ride Like the Wind.’”
Still, I wasn’t familiar with the song, so I dialed into the lyrics.
Birdie shimmied her shoulders, brushed her long brown hair off her shoulders and gave us all her sassy attitude as she belted the song. Not knowing what the original song sounded like, I had to give her props. It was a rockin’ song.
If there was a message in the song for Raymond, it was good-bye. She was telling him she was leaving, and she wouldn’t look back. Whether or not he had made the connections, I didn’t know.
“Fuck, she killed it.” He stared at her, admiration shimmering in her eyes. Sort of put a lump in my throat. I wanted to tell him she would be gone tomorrow morning, in case he wanted to apologize or something. But I kept her secret, and it about made me barf, lying to him.
The crowd cheered and wolf whistles came from every direction. Even Raymond clapped and hollered, slay, slay, slay.
Birdie ignored him, of course.
She curtseyed and rejoined her girlfriends. For the rest of the evening, I drank and bullshitted with some guys. All the while, I felt like the worst cousin ever. But there wasn’t shit I could do about it, because I’d promised to keep my mouth shut and I wasn’t about to break a promise I’d made to Ember.
My heart fucking shattered watching Em and Birdie say good-bye. It reminded me of when my mom and dad brought me to the airport when I joined the Army.
The crying. The hugging. More crying and hugging.
It wasn’t like Em would never see Birdie again. She wasn’t moving overseas or to outer space.
“You’ll call me every day, right?” Birdie asked.
“Of course I will. And you’ll text before you go to bed, right? I mean, unless Saint will be with you.”
