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He was already in bed with the blanket pulled up to his chin. “Yep.”
“Great.” I figured I might look a little large and threatening standing in the middle of his room, so I sat on the edge of his bed. “I’ve got something I want to talk to you about.” Shit, that came out way more seriously than I’d intended, and I could tell Jesse felt the same, as I saw the wariness creep into his eyes.
“Okay.”
“It’s not a big deal, but, you know, I’ve been filling out a lot of paperwork recently.”
“Are you going to make me go back to Sandra?”
“No!” I blew out a breath. “Jesus, bud, I’m fu—messing this up. No, absolutely not. You never have to go back. You’re my kid, you live with me now. End of story. Got it?”
“Got it.” He visibly relaxed.
“I was just going to say, with all the paperwork I’ve been filling out, I noticed something.”
“What?”
“Wellll, there’s something happening soon that I think needs to be discussed.”
“Do you mean my birthday?”
“I sure do mean your birthday. I mean, a kid doesn’t turn six every day you know, it’s a big deal—”
A big laugh. “I’m actually turning eight!”
“No way! That old already?”
Another laugh.
“I know, I’m a comedian. Anyway, here’s the tricky part, and I’m hoping we can sort it out.”
“What’s that?”
This is where I had to tread carefully. It wasn’t much of a leap to assume that he’d never had a real birthday party before. “Birthdays are pretty special, and I think it’s important to celebrate them. But only if the person who’s actually having the birthday wants to, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Soooo, I wanted to talk to you about birthday options, because we have a few that I can think of, and maybe there are some you can think of, too.”
“What are they?”
“The ones I’ve thought of?”
He nodded.
“If you don’t want something big, we can do something with just you and me, like go to a movie, or something like that. Jake could come, too, if you wanted. Or we could have a party and invite some kids from school.”
“I don’t really know any of the kids at school.”
“Okay, that’s fine. We don’t have to do that. I’m also pretty sure Ellen and Bruce would love to see you, so we could always do what we do for my birthdays.”
“What’s that?”
“Just a family dinner: me, Jake and the Coopers. All the Coopers, I mean. So Matt and Zara, Lucy and Dante, Claire and Jen and their baby, Elissa and Tom and their three kids, Chloe, Mila and Xavier. Or if that feels like too much, we could just do something with Ellen and Bruce. Or, you know, anything you want.”
He had a thoughtful look on his face, so I let him roll the options over in his mind for a few moments. “Would all the Coopers reallywantto come??”
I rubbed at my chest, where my heart hurt at the uncertainty in his words. “Yes, buddy, I can guarantee they would.”
