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“You look so pretty,” I tell Evie, pulling my phone out of my pocket and snapping her picture.
“Why thank you,” she says, doing a curtsy like she’s royalty. “Is it time to go yet?”
“Soon. Grammy and Papa are coming to pick us up, so we don’t have to carry all the food and decorations to the park.”
“Okay! I’m going to brush Molly’s hair while I wait,” she says, then skips down the hall with her doll tucked under her arm.
“Miles, you almost ready?” I ask, peeking into his room.
When he doesn’t answer, I step farther in and find him sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at the photo of the four of us. It was their last birthday before Peter passed away.
“Hey.” I sit next to him and pull him against my side, kissing the top of his head. “You okay?”
“I miss him,” he says softly. “I wish he were here.”
“Me too, buddy,” I choke out, suddenly missing Brody and Hayden. One shouldn’t coincide with the other, and really thinking about my late husband should probably make me not want to be around them, but every time I think about him, it reminds me how short life is and how our loved ones can be taken from us at any moment. And those stupid details like me being embarrassed or having too much pride to text them are ridiculous and only hurt us all.
“Can we go visit him soon?” Miles asks, referring to his dad’s gravesite.
“Of course.” I kiss his cheek. “Go brush your teeth and get your shoes on. Grammy and Papa will be here soon.”
He nods and walks out the door, leaving me staring at the picture of the smiling family who had no idea that a few months later, their happiness would be taken from them in a blink of an eye.
With that thought, I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial Hayden’s number. He answers on the first ring.
“Hey, baby, you getting ready to party?”
Of course, he holds no grudge toward my decision to uninvite them. “Is Brody with you?” I croak out.
“Yeah, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, can you put me on speakerphone?” I ask, glancing at the picture one last time before I walk out of Miles’s room and into mine, closing the door so the kids don’t hear me.
“Hey, sweetness,” Brody says. “Are the kids excited for their birthday?”
“Yeah,” I choke out, unable to hold back my emotions. “But I’m calling because… I’m so sorry.”
“Bree, are you crying?” Brody asks.
A second later, the phone rings in my ear, and I click accept to turn the call into a video call. The guys appear over the screen, and their worried faces send me over the edge.
“I’m so sorry I pushed you away,” I sob, wiping my tears so I can see them. “The truth is, I can’t afford the party the kids want, and when you guys sent me all that info, it made me feel worse. I know you were only trying to help, but I let my pride get in the way of just telling you the truth, and instead, I uninvited you. And I’m sorry.”
I sniffle through my sobs. “We haven’t really talked about it, but I’m kind of in a weird place right now financially. I had no idea how expensive apartments are nowadays until I started apartment hunting because I went from living with my husband to living where I live now, and it scared the crap out of me. And on top of that, several of the distributors for the coffeehouse have had price increases. My profit has decreased by over fifteen percent because I haven’t raised my prices.”
I take a deep breath in and then release it. “Anyway, I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting, but I’d really like it if you’d come to the kids’ party, if you don’t have plans. You’ll probably be bored, but I want you there. I want you in our lives. If it’s not too late.”
Brody speaks first. “Of course, we’ll be there. We get that you’ve been doing this alone since Peter died, but you have us now. Even if we’re just someone to talk to, we’re here.”
“I’m going to work on that.” When Hayden hasn’t said anything, I say, “Hayden, do you… want to come?”
“Of course, I do,” he says with a sigh that makes me nervous.
“Are you mad at me?” I whisper, sounding like a kid instead of a grown-ass woman.
“No,” he says. “I just… I want to give you and your kids the world and I hate that you’re struggling when Brody and I could do that. I love you, and all I want is for you and your kids to be happy. I know you’re independent, and I respect the hell out of that, but if it were up to me, you’d let us take care of you.”
