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Good news: Tom was an adult. He didn’t like Hale’s mom, he wasn’t pretending he did, but he wasn’t being impolite either. He just avoided her.
Bad news: Chloe was an adult, but she was less capable of hiding her cold shoulder.
More good news: Samantha was acting mature and not reacting.
Last good news: There were enough people around, it wasn’t a thing.
So we could all just enjoy Hale’s birthday.
I set the cake in front of Hale, the thirty-one sparklers lighting up his beautiful eyes.
“Well, there you go, my Extraordinary Mr. Wheeler, happy birthday!” I cried when the song was done.
Everyone clapped.
I leaned in to kiss his cheek, then in his ear, I explained about the cake I got from Milk Bar Bakery, “The sides are naked, but the frosting layers are an inch deep, there are three of them, and there are tons of sprinkles, so I thought it’d work.”
He turned his head. “It’s perfect.”
I went in for a touch of the lips.
When I moved back, he asked, “But how do I blow out the candles?”
I slowly looked to the cake, mumbling, “Well…shit.”
He busted out laughing and pulled me into his lap.
We waited for the sparklers to go out before Samantha dashed back to the kitchen and got the birthday cake ice cream.
“Love you, bro,” Gage said to Sully, then confessed, “But I’m totally here for Hale’s annual birthday cake on birthday cake celebration.”
“I already knew that,” Sully replied.
Everyone laughed.
Carole lifted her glass. “To Thurston Remington the Fifth.”
Other glasses went up, including Fliss shouting, “To Thurston!”
And at that, everyone laughed again.
But Hale laughed the hardest.
And that made me happy.
* * *
I was sitting under an umbrella,and I still had to shade my phone from the sun to watch the video Chuck sent.
Even though it was still difficult to see, I saw what I needed and texted,Tell them we’re interested and I’ll be in touch to set up a time to view it myself ASAP.
I wasn’t with Chuck, looking at studio space for our West Coast operations, because I was where I needed to be.
I put my phone down and looked to the ocean.
Hale was popping to his feet on his surfboard, preparing to catch a wave.
He caught it. Now, with experience with this, I knew he always did.
