Page 67 of The Liar in Room 5

Traffic is always terrible.

See you soon.

“Your table is ready right this way, please,” the host said as we arrived at the oceanside restaurant.

We wound our way through the tables until we reached the upper deck, where the walls were made of glass and you had an unimpaired view of the marina and the beach below. Off in the distance, you could see boats crossing the horizon. It had to be one of the best views in the city, and with the sun setting, it was absolutely gorgeous.

“Daddy, how did you know I always wanted to come here? This view is amazing,” Drew said quietly on our way to the table.

I reached out and squeezed his hand. “I didn’t know about you wanting to come here, but I’d heard about the deck over the water. I thought you might like it.”

Drew paused me briefly and hoarsely whispered in my ear, “Thank you for an amazing birthday. I don’t deserve you.”

“Sweetheart, now that’s some bullshit because you deserve all the good things.”

With that, we hurried to catch up with the host, who brought us to the corner of the upper deck enclosed by living vine walls bursting with flowers.

“Happy, happy, happy, happy birthday to you,” Ben sang as we entered the California-style snug.

Ben and Marc were there in brightly colored party hats with a spread laid out on the table in front of them, along with a few cars, coloring sheets, and crayons. At one point, Ben’s shirt had probably been clean, but he had already drizzled something down the front of it and the corners of his mouth were smeared with some kind of red sauce.

“Holy cow, Ben, how did you know it was my birthday? It was supposed to be a secret,” Drew said before sitting down right next to him.

When given the choice, he always picked Ben.

As for Ben, he threw himself over the chair and into Drew’s arms. He wrapped his chubby little arms around Drew’s neck and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

“Uncle Henry told me, but he said I couldn’t tell you at school because we were going to have a surprise party.”

“Well, good job, buddy, because I am super surprised.”

Drew gave him a high five, and then Ben settled himself on Drew’s lap.

“Hey, Ben, maybe Drew doesn’t want to hold you. Why don’t you get back in your seat?” Marc cajoled.

“No, thank you,” he replied primly. “Drew is my teacher, so it’s okay.”

Drew laughed. “Today, I’m just your friend, and I don’t mind you sitting on me, but no jumping ’cause I’m not a trampoline.”

That sent Ben into a fit of giggles. Once he got himself under control, he spent the next five minutes explaining to Drew how his trucks and coloring pages worked. He even offered Drew a few crayons so he could practice with him. Rather than interfere with the serious work the two of them were doing, I pulled up a chair and settled myself on the other side of Drew.

“Drew, you have no idea how hard it was keeping this a secret from you. Ben heard us talking, which is on me, and I had to remind him every day that he absolutely couldn’t tell you.”

“Maybe this kid has a future as a spy since he’s so good at keeping things quiet. Or”—Drew stopped to give Ben a few gentle tickles on his tummy—“maybe he’ll be a lawyer like his Uncle Henry.”

“Uncle Henry, if I’m a lawyer like you, can I come to work with you?”

“Absolutely.”

“Cool. I can put my desk next to yours, and we can share our crayons.”

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t usually use crayons, but maybe I can start, and it’ll make my job better.”

“You can’t use crayons?” Ben asked suspiciously. “How you gonna color your stuff?”

“Sorry, buddy,” I answered and ruffled his hair. “I don’t color a lot at my job.”

Ben screwed up his face in disgust. “Drew, I’m gonna be a spy instead.”