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I leveled her with a stare because I expected her to be excited.
"Hey, Claire!" Uncle Jim yelled from the kitchen.
"Hey, Uncle Jim!" I yelled back.
I turned and regarded Birdy through squinted eyes. Birdy had noticed us at the wedding. She didn't miss a thing. I remembered Micah telling me her jaw dropped when she saw me kiss him.
"Birdy, you saw us, and you're not talking about it. You're scaring me."
"You're scaring me a little bit, Claire."
"Why? How?"
"Because I don't want you to… it's your life, and I can't tell you what to do, but I've thought about it, and I guess I just sort of hoped… I hope you're certain before you run out to Tennessee."
"I thought you would be excited, Birdy. I'm really surprised you're upset."
"I'm not upset. I just feel cautious about it, Claire. I love you both, and I don't want either of you getting hurt. You're with that one guy, and then the next day you show up with a bruise on one arm and Micah on the other. I feel like I missed something with you, and I'm just hoping and praying that no rash decisions are made. I love you and Micah both so much." Birdy shook her head, staring at me sweetly.
She was always in a good mood, but she loved her family enough to be an unrepentant truth-teller. This type of conversation wasn't out of character for her.
"I feel like everything that happened up until now has led me to this moment." I smiled and shook my head, tossing my hands up in surrender. "I know that's an obvious thing to say, but in my case, it's deeper than that. I feel like everything that's happened with Micah and me up until this point has prepared me for something—for this. Birdy, even as these words come out of my mouth I know they're not making sense. I'm not making sense because the feelings are deeper than anything I have words for. I actually love him. I love Micah. Something has changed in me, and thankfully, he seems to love me too."
As I spoke, Birdy's eyes began to water. She blinked, staying silent, waiting for me to finish.
"I know he's coming home in a couple of weeks, but I can't wait for that. The only reason I waited for Nashville was because it was the only place I could get a VIP ticket."
"A VIP ticket? Just call him and tell him you're going. For heaven's sake, you can just walk in the back way with him and his band, Claire."
"I know, Birdy, but I want to surprise him. We talk every night before he goes on stage, and I want to be in the same room as him and him not know it. I have a whole plan. I'm going to talk to him before the show like always, then I'm going to watch the show from the audience, then I'm going to use my VIP ticket to go to the back and surprise him."
"The VIP ticket is going to put you somewhere on the first few rows," Birdy said. "Micah's going to know you're there long before you go backstage."
I smiled and wagged my finger at her. "I’m one step ahead of you, Birdy. I've got a whole brilliant disguise."
"A mask?"
"No, but the next best thing. It's a fake chin and nose and I'm thinking about wearing glasses."
"A fake face? You're going to wear a fake face across Nashville and to a whole concert?"
I laughed at her. "It's not uncomfortable. It's nice. It's for professional makeup artists. It's just a little prosthetic piece. I have to take time in my hotel room and put it on. I have a whole plan with an outfit and everything. It's a different nose and chin, and I look completely different with it. We did a trial run with my hair and makeup, and I looked nothing like myself."
"All this to surprise Micah?"
"Yes, and I cannot wait. And I'm not telling anyone in the family because I want it to be an actual surprise. A couple of the girls at the shop helped me with my disguise, but they don't even know the details. I seriously want to just show up there and see the look on his face. I'm also excited about watching a concert when he doesn't know I'm in the audience. The last couple of times that I went to one of his shows, I told myself that I wanted to go back sometime when he didn't know I was there."
"Claire, I'm so glad we had this talk, baby. I feel so much better seeing you all excited like this."
"I am so excited, Birdy. I love Micah. I really do. I'm all in on this. I promise."
"Can I do anything to help you with your surprise? Do you have your ticket? Do you need me to pay for it?"
"My plane ticket? No, I already have that, thank you."
"What about the ticket to get in the show? Did you get a VIP ticket? Did you have to buy it?"
"Yes, and they were sold out so I had to get it through a third-party, and I paid through-the-nose for it."
