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She glanced at me for a long moment, a slow smile spreading across her face. “Is it my birthday or your birthday, Charles?” she joked.
I shook my head and chuckled. “Well, it could essentially be an early birthday present from you. Mine isn’t too far off.”
It felt like forever, standing there, staring at each other until, finally, she nodded. “Okay. Dinner. One condition.”
I reined in the victorious full-on grin that wanted to take over my face. “What?”
“I still get to wear my favorite jeans.”
The grin broke through anyway. “It’s a deal.”
* * *
Twenty minutes later, our pizza came. I sat back and watched the interaction of my family. I was amazed at how Becky just fit. And so easily too. She was laughing with Sarah while Mary played with the toy she had just won with the tickets. Mason was quietly annoyed with Janice. Again.
And Brad was on his phone, laughing.
“Who are you texting?” Mason asked, narrowing his eyes at him.
Brad cleared his throat, looking a bit guilty. “Sonia.”
Mason’s nostrils flared. “Why are you texting your secretary after hours?”
Brad hadn’t looked up from his phone, still smiling. “Because I told her we were going here, to Pete’s Pizza Palace, and she didn’t believe me. So, I sent her a picture of me and Pete the Pizza. The picture is pretty ridiculous.” He lifted his head, smiling bigger, showing us a photo of him and the guy in the pizza outfit.
“Are you dating her?” Janice asked.
“He’s not dating her,” Mason snapped. “Sonia is his secretary.”
“I was just asking,” Janice snapped back, turning her nose away from Mason and crossing her arms over her chest.
“No, I’m not dating her.” Brad dropped his gaze back to his phone. There was a long pause, where he stared blankly at his phone, and then he added sullenly, “She has a boyfriend.”
Mason tone hardened. “I hope you’re not planning on doing anything stupid.”
He shut his phone and gave Mason a pointed look. “I’m not dating her, okay? I’m not planning to date her. I just like to annoy her because she makes me laugh. It’s refreshing. When I’m not home or out, I’m at work, and so it makes sense that we’re friends since we see each other all the time.”
Mason finally chilled, and he smirked. “I’m pretty sure she hates you.”
“She only acts like she hates me because she secretly loves me.” Brad winked.
“I think I want to meet this Sonia girl,” Becky said, smiling.
As their conversation continued, I slipped out of the booth. I took out the candles from my back pocket and split the candles between Mary and Sarah.
The cake was a princess cake, which the girls had picked out for Becky. I positioned the chocolate cake with pink letters spelling outhappy birthdayon top in front of her.
Becky clasped her hands together and smiled so big that it warmed me from the inside out. “I love it.”
We all sang a loud, slightly out-of-tune rendition of “Happy Birthday,” after which Mary scooted onto Becky’s lap.
“Make a wish,” Sarah exclaimed.
After Becky closed her eyes tightly, she blew out her candles.
And as I gathered everyone for a family photo behind Becky, Sarah pointed to the cake. “Do you like it, the decorations? It’s an angel.” She pointed to the little pink figurine on top of the chocolate frosting.
At a closer glance, I realized the figurine had wings, so I’d been wrong about it being a princess, or maybe there was such a thing as a princess with wings.
