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“Bee!” I gasp, hiding my face behind my hands.
She cackles wildly. “Haaappy birthdaaay to?—”
I grab her arm and jerk her towards me. “If you sing, I will take you down!”
Dissolving into still more laughter, she paws at my hands where I’m clutching her. “My goodness, kitty has claws. Meow!” She hisses at me for good measure, but at least she doesn’t continue with the song, thank God. Dmitri looks more pained than usual but he does put his phone aside.
The waiters deposit the cake on our table and disappear. “You can at least make a wish and blow out the candles,” Bee suggests.
I glower at the little instigator. “I don’t believe wishes come true.”
“Satan’s right-hand man over here is poisoning you with his negativity.” She scowls. “Will you just blow out the damn candles?” She keeps muttering under her breath and it sounds a hell of a lot like “don’t know what I’m going to do with these two.”
As I lean in towards my cake, I glance towards Dmitri, who seems to be trying very hard not to smile. It isn’t until after I’ve blown out the candles that I realize I’ve wasted my entire wish thinking about him.
I cut three pieces of cake and plate them up for all of us. As I pass Dmitri his piece, I feel suddenly shy.
His fingertip grazes mine as he takes the plate and meets my gaze for the first time all night. “Happy birthday, Wren,” he rumbles.
I’m embarrassed to say that my insides do a funny little dance. “Thank you.”
My hand drops and I focus on the decadent chocolate cake in front of me. It still hurts that Rose isn’t here with me. But I have to admit—with all this hubbub to distract me, this weird, three-pronged family-that-isn’t…
It hurts much, much less.
41
WREN
Just after Dmitri pays the bill, Bee gets to her feet. “Need to use the ladies’ room. Gimme a second, por favor.”
Dmitri looks less than pleased at the delay, but he doesn’t say anything as she wobbles away, a little unsteady after the rapid-fire parade of alcohol she just annihilated.
I, on the other hand, feel compelled to break the silence. “Thanks for dinner.”
He shrugs. “Not a problem.”
“And thanks for coming tonight. You didn’t have to.”
His eyes fall on mine as if by accident. “We’re going to have to learn to get along,” he says gruffly. “For our son.”
He has a point; it’s just a point that makes me extremely sad. “I’m really happy for you and Bee, you know.”
I’m not sure why I say that. I’m probably compensating for the less-than-generous feelings I’ve had the past few days. The night Bee came home drunk was confusing, to say the least. But every day since then has just reinforced the bond the two of them have. I can’t say anything about Bee without Dmitri jumping down my throat. What is that, if not love?
Dmitri doesn’t bother responding. Just gets to his feet instead. “Bee’s heading back this way. Let’s get going.”
I suppress a sigh and stand. I wish he could just have a normal conversation with me. Then again, the normal conversations we’ve shared are responsible for my current state of emotional turmoil, so maybe I’m better off without them.
The valet is driving up Dmitri’s car as we step outside into the street. “Shit,” I curse, my breath pluming white in the frigid air. “It’s co?—”
SCREEEEECH!
BANG. BANG. BANG.
I’m knocked off-center when Dmitri grabs me and shoves me behind him. My vision blurs behind panic. What the hell was that? I’ve watched enough action movies to recognize the sound of gunshots, but my brain is having a hard time processing them in real life.
How can there be gunshots here? We’re in the nicest part of town.
