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“Aww, Mom, you promised. Ice cream and then the park.”
“I know, baby, I know, but won’t this be so much more fun? We can have cake and sandwiches, and you can play with Rocky.”
Eli’s arms dropped to his side, and he pouted. “But I wanted ice cream with you, Ev, and Becca.”
“Excuse me?” Mom straightened, her voice clipped. “What did you say?”
Eli ducked his head. “I said I wanted ice cream with you and Ev and Becca.”
“Is this your doing?” she hissed at me, keeping her voice low enough that I hoped Eli couldn’t hear.
I shook my head, glaring at her.
“Birthdays are about family, baby. Becca isn’t family. We’re your family.”
My body tensed, bristling with anger. She was being completely unreasonable, and just when I’d hoped she was coming around to the idea of Becca being in my life.
“It’s my birthday, and I want Becca there,” Eli shrieked, causing Mom’s face to turn a deep shade of red. Before she could react, I scooped Eli up and grabbed my keys.
“We’ll meet you in the car.”
Eli buried his face in my shoulder.
“Hey, buddy, you’re not crying, are you?”
He sniffled. “No. Big boys don’t cry.”
“It’s okay to be upset, buddy.” I pried his chin up with my finger. “Listen, will you promise to keep a secret?”
Eli nodded enthusiastically, the disappointment melting away.
“We’ll have two birthdays.”
“Two?” His eyes lit up.
“Yeah, we’ll have ice cream, but we can’t tell Mom, okay?”
“Okay. Can Becca come?”
“I’m sure she’d love to.”
Maybe it made me a bad person to tell my little brother to keep things from his mom, but I couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in his eyes. He deserved the kind of birthday he wanted. And I couldn’t blame him for wanting Becca there. She was good to him. To us.Too fucking good.I strapped Eli into his seat and waited for Mom. She appeared a few seconds later, her face still screwed up in a scowl. “He’s three. He didn’t deserve that,” I said coolly.
Her scowl deepened. “This is all your fault.”
“Get in the car,” I snapped, unwilling to do this again. Her shit was getting old. She slid into the passenger seat, and I rounded the driver’s side.
“Hi, baby. Momma’s sorry she spoke like that. I love you, baby. You know that, right?”
“I love you too, Momma.”
Her eyes burned into the side of my head, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at her. I dropped her off at the store first and then delivered Eli to pre-K. By the time he’d reached the doors, all was forgotten, and he was filled with excitement at the thought of not one, but two birthday celebrations.
When I pulled into the school parking lot, Becca was standing with Lilly and Jay. It was good to see her with them. Lilly had been a good friend to her, and Becca needed friends. I couldn’t be around to watch her all the time, and I felt better knowing the others were looking out for her. I wanted to believe Kendall wouldn’t do anything, but I’d caught her leering at us, more than once at Becca, and it felt like all this could slip through my fingers at any moment.
“Hi,” she said, approaching me as I climbed out of the Impala.
“Hi. I missed you this morning.” I’d wanted to double back and pick her up, but she’d insisted on walking.
