Page 6 of Keeping Score

I pulled her in, pressing a kiss against her temple.

“Happy birthday, Mags.”

Chapter Three

Maggie

Birthdays had always been special to me.

It was the one day a year where I could bask in my slightly self-absorbed tendencies and force everyone around me to celebrate my existence.

But usually, if I wanted something really special, I had to plan it out myself. My mom tried. But her idea of a good time was a supermarket birthday cake and a few balloons.

My idea of a good time? Well, it looked something like the scene in front of me. And since Brody had come into the picture, I’d never had to worry about planning my own birthday.

He just got me in a way I didn’t think a person could. Hence, the perfect party.

“I don’t even know how you did this, but I love you for it,” I told him, staring out at Boston’s hottest restaurant now reserved solely for the occasion of my birthday party.

“Did I surprise you?” Brody leaned over to ask, wide, eager eyes pinned on me.

I stared into the dimly lit room filled with all the people I loved as the lights of the city glittered behind them. The looming arched windows set the backdrop of the city I loved so much, filling me with more emotion than I knew what to do with.

There was a table in the corner stacked with gift bags, a banner that read Happy Birthday, Maggie!, and balloons shaped like the number thirty floating all around the room.

“You did,” I confirmed with a laugh. “An impossible feat, might I add.”

“Go on,” he gestured toward the crowd. “Go be the birthday princess.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I bounded into the crowd, ready to throw myself into a night of dancing and socializing while a DJ filled the room with my favorite songs.

I had my obligatory conversations with all the guests I passed by before rushing over to the pair lingering at a candlelit table.

Even in a room full of friends, I couldn’t help but have my favorites I wanted to spend the night with.

“I can’t even believe you’re awake right now!” I wrapped my arms around Cassie when she stood up from her chair.

“Do you think I’d sleep through your birthday?” She laughed, swaying side to side as we hugged.

I saw her regularly—probably more than any normal person saw their sister-in-law—but before she was my brother’s wife, she was my best friend. And the thing about best friends? You never get tired of seeing them.

She let me go, letting me turn my sights on my older brother, ready to reward him with a dramatic squeeze of his own.

He still wasn’t much of a hugger—his wife and daughter being the only exceptions to that sentiment—making it all the more hilarious to force him into one.

“Happy birthday, Mags,” he said, giving me a sideways hug that he tried to make last longer than half a second.

“Did Lily not want to celebrate her aunt’s birthday?” I teased, wondering who had my niece, considering both her parents and grandmother were here.

“She’s with a babysitter,” Liam said through gritted teeth, taking a peek over at Cassie’s strained face. “Let’s not talk about it.”

“I told you, I’m fine,” Cassie attempted breezily. “People get babysitters all the time! I’m not freaking out about it!”

I knew Cassie well enough to say with confidence: she was totally freaking out.

“She’ll be fine, Cass,” I assured her, watching Brody approach us.

The crowd parted for him, and I swear, everyone in the room was probably halfway in love with him at first sight. It wasn’t just that he was handsome—he was, with his dimples and puppy-dog eyes—but more than that, he embodied an easiness that few possessed. He was the type of person to make you smile, even when it was the last thing you felt like doing.