Chapter 26
Cody
Birthdays are nature’s way
of telling us to eat more cake.
~ Edward Morykwas
The house is abuzz with activity. The kitchen has been nonstop all day with baking and cooking, stirring, and washing pots and pans.
“I told you to order pizzas and call it good,” I say to my mom.
She’s got flour on her cheek and shirt. Her apron is smeared with something brown—probably juice from the beef, maybe chocolate. I insisted on chocolate cake. It was my only request. I couldn’t care less what cake we have, but Carli loves chocolate.
“It does smell amazing, though,” I say.
“Pizzas? Cody. This isn’t your twelfth birthday.”
I glance into the living room where streamers and helium balloons are strewn in a festive array. “Not my twelfth? Are you certain about that?”
“We are getting a donkey, so maybe we could play pin the tail on a real donkey,” Garrett jokes from the kitchen table where he’s been relegated to wrapping silverware in napkins and stacking the finished ones in a pile.
I size up the stack and look at Mom. “How many people are actually coming?”
“Well … let’s see. The Buckners. That’s four. The Pattersons. Seven. The Hendersons. Six. The McKeehans. Four. How many is that so far?”
My face blanches. I feel the blood draining.
“Twenty-one, Ma,” Garrett says. “And the guys from the station.”
“I told David to bring the family,” she says. “And I told the guys to bring their girlfriends. Patrick and Dustin. Let’s see.” She looks up at the ceiling. “That would be … Thirty.”
She smiles at me and I foolishly think she’s finished rattling off the guest list. Then she adds. “Plus, I asked Jace to swing by Sycamore and pick up Loretta and Evelyn and whoever else wanted to come.”
“Whoever else … ?” I run my hand down my jaw. “Mom.”
“What? We’ve got plenty. Most of those ranch families are bringing food. Oh! And I invited Vanessa Keele and Lacey James.”
“You …” I groan.
Garrett cracks up. “Nothing like a birthday to get fixed up with a local girl.”
“Mom …” I almost let it slip. I’ve already got a girlfriend. “They don’t think they’re coming as some sort of birthday bachelor setup, do they?”
“I merely said that you were still single and it was your party. They were both eager to celebrate you.”
“I bet they were,” Garrett says. He’s enjoying this far too much.
“Don’t give me that look, Cody. I’ve been in here all day preparing to celebrate your birthday.”
“I appreciate all of it, Mom. I do.”
All but the two women who were practically promised a date with me, and the crowd of neighbors gathering on my behalf.
I don’t mind the spotlight when it’s something critical.
I’m not shy. But I’d rather celebrate turning another year older on a horseback ride with Carli followed by a quiet meal with my family.
“This means a lot to you, doesn’t it?” I ask my mom.
“You mean a lot to me.”
“Well, thank you. I’m going to be on my best birthday behavior. And I appreciate all you do for me—for all of us. What can I do to help?”
Mom puts me to work, and a few hours later, the house is filled with people coming in the front and back doors, carrying casserole dishes and platters, hugging everyone and wishing me a happy birthday.
Carli shows up with her family and our eyes lock. We really can’t seem to help ourselves. I smile broadly at her, wink and step over to the foyer.
“Can I take that from you, Carli?”
She hands me a platter of brownies. “I baked those just for you, Cody. Happy Birthday.”
“Thank you,” I say just as McKenna steps up, looping her arm through Carli’s and tugging her away.
“Did you say you baked those for me?” Luke asks, swooping in and grabbing the tray away from me.
“You two can share,” Carli says over her shoulder as McKenna leads her out the back door.
The day I share anything Carli-related with my brother will be the day Hoss signs up for ballet lessons.
I’m tempted to follow my sister and Carli, but I know better, so I root myself in the living room while people approach me to talk.
David arrives with his wife Lynsey and his two kids, Anabella and Benjamin. I immediately offer to take the kids on an ATV ride out to see the calves.
Mom gives me a side eye. She knows an escape hatch when she sees one.
I lift Benjamin onto my shoulders and extend my hand down to Anabella. We walk out back. McKenna and Carli are on the porch swing. I turn to them and smile.
“Hey, Cardy,” Carli says with a smile that tells me I’m in for it.
“Did you just call my brother Cardy?” McKenna asks Carli.
She laughs. “Oh my gosh! Yes. Slip of the tongue. I meant to say Cody.”
“This Cody,” Benjamin says. “He Cody.”
“That’s right, Benny,” I tell him, making my way down the steps with my eyes aimed toward the row of ATVs and UTVs. I’m smiling so wide McKenna would be instantly suspicious if she could see my face.
We ride out to the pasture. I take them to an enclosure where we have a mom with a two-and-a-half-week-old calf. I hold Benny up so he can pet the calf on his nose. He squeals with laughter when the calf licks his hand.
We spend about fifteen or twenty minutes out here and then I load the kids back onto the ATV and we drive back to the house.
McKenna is now surrounded by her friend group—Carli included. I guess she invited all of them. We make brief eye contact, and then I lead Benjamin and Anabella into the house. They see other kids they know and run over to them.
The house is filled with noise and laughter. People are gathered in small clusters, lounging on the sectionals in the living room and standing around the kitchen.
I’m standing by the fireplace, taking it all in when Vanessa sidles up to me, placing her hand on my arm.
I rearrange my stance so her hand falls to her side.
She’s notorious for wanting a firefighter husband—she’d settle for any of us.
With Patrick and Dustin now in committed relationships, her sights are narrowing on me, Greyson and a few guys on the alternating crew.
“Excuse me,” I tell her. “I think my mom wanted me in the kitchen. I’ll be back.”
In the kitchen, I try to find something to do so I don’t have to go back into the main room.
“Can I help with anything?” I ask Mom.
“Normally I’d say no,” she says. “But we’re about to lay out all the food. Can you set this over on the table and make sure the silverware in napkins are closer to the stacks of plates?”
I take a platter of grilled meat from Mom and set it on the table.
She walks into the living room and announces the meal.
People fill plates, and we eat. All the while, Carli and my sister are side-by-side—inseparable as they’ve always been through the years.
We seek one another out, our eyes catching regularly.
And we exchange private smiles. But, otherwise, nothing is any different than it has been at every family gathering we’ve ever hosted since as far back as I can remember.
She belongs here—just not the way I want her to—not yet.
After dinner, Mom brings the cake into the living room and everyone sings Happy Birthday.
“Make a wish!” Ethan shouts.
I close my eyes and wish, not sure whether these things really matter, but just in case, I wish for her. I want my arm around her next year—her carrying the cake out and staring into my eyes over the candles, smiling at me because she’s mine and everyone in the room knows it.
When I open my eyes, she’s in the crowd, staring at me and smiling.
I hold her gaze as long as I’m able without giving us away.
Then Mom swoops the cake out of the room and I follow her, helping to scoop ice cream onto the slices before McKenna and her friends grab the dessert plates and hand them out.
“If I didn’t know better,” Mom says to me. “I’d say you’re avoiding the single women who came here to celebrate you.”
“You would, would you?” I ask, handing Emberleigh two dessert plates to carry into the living room. “Well, it’s a good thing you know better.”
“Cody Lawson,” Mom scolds. “I want some grandbabies.”
“You really should stop tiptoeing around things, Mom. Subtlety is overrated.”
She laughs. “I’m not trying to pressure you.” She lowers her voice. “But what’s wrong with Vanessa or Lacey?”
Carli walks into the kitchen, prepared to carry two plates out right as Mom says that last line. I look at her, guilt probably etched all over my face, even though I haven’t done a thing wrong.
She smiles a forced smile.
“Thanks, Carli,” Mom says, oblivious to what’s right in front of her.
Our hands brush when I hand her the plates and I want to shout to the rafters that Carli’s the only woman I want. My family loves her. They’ll get over the fact that I started dating McKenna’s best friend. They have to. And Jace will too—eventually. At least, I hope he will.
We needed our time to figure ourselves out. But we’ve done that. As soon as the wedding is over, we’ll give it a minute for everything to settle and then we’re going to tell everyone.
“I’m not interested in Lacey or Vanessa, Mom. It’s just that simple. They’re fine. They just aren’t who I want.”
Mom smiles. “Well, it’s your birthday, so I’ll let you be.”
“Thank you,” I say. “Don’t worry. You’ll have grandkids eventually.”
“I don’t know how.” She practically pouts. “You boys aren’t being proactive.”
I step in and hug her. “Thank you for everything—even the party.”
She smiles and ruffles my hair like she did when I was little. “I love you, Cody.”
“I love you too, Mom.”