20. Caleb
CHAPTER 20
CALEB
I haven’t let on yet that I know today is Halle’s birthday. I made pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast this morning, but since I often make breakfast, I don’t think that tipped her off. But now that I’ve got her and her brothers in the car, after telling her I want to take the three of them somewhere but not getting into details about the location, she’s been eyeing me suspiciously.
Only days away from October, the weather has begun to turn. This afternoon, there’s already a slight chill in the air. As a teen, I’d wanted so badly to leave this state. To leave behind the crisp falls and frigid winters. I did leave for a while. Salem and I moved to California, but it didn’t take long for the two of us to want to return.
I pull up to the park and kill the engine. When I enlisted Salem’s help, she lit up like a Christmas tree, then eagerly got everything set up for us. I couldn’t exactly haul a picnic, balloons, cake, and presents in my car and hope for any kind of surprise at all.
“The park?” Halle asks, fiddling with the necklace she always wears. The gold chain is dainty, and the small teddy bear charm may seem childish to some, but to me it’s perfectly her. “This is what you were so excited about?”
“Come on, Hal,” I cajole. “Give me more credit than that.”
I eye the boys in the back—they’re both grinning like lunatics—and push my car door open.
Halle and the twins follow, and when the gazebo I reserved comes into view, there’s no mistaking the balloons and happy birthday sign taped haphazardly to the side. Halle freezes, her shoes squelching in the wet grass.
“Wha—how?” She turns to me, then her brothers, her eyes narrowing. “You told him?”
Suddenly second-guessing my plan, I study her, trying to read into her expression and her body language, worried she’s angry or sad or… God, I don’t know what. I just want to make sure she’s okay with this.
“It’s your birthday,” Casen says simply.
“You always make a big deal out of our birthday,” Quinn shrugs a bony shoulder. “We wanted to do the same for you.”
Halle slowly meets my eyes, and immediately, the truth shines there, impossible to miss. She’s not angry or sad. No, all I see there is gratefulness. “Thank you,” she whispers, the hint of tears clinging to her words.
“You’re welcome.”
The three of us follow Halle into the gazebo. I considered inviting Salem and Thayer and the kids. Cynthia and Thelma too. But if I know Halle, she wouldn’t be comfortable with that much attention focused on her. So it’s just the four of us.
“You got cake?” She sucks in a lungful of air and blows it out slowly, doing all she can to keep from crying.
“Your favorite,” Casen says.
“Lemon.” Quinn smiles. “Cynthia made it.”
Halle’s lips tremble, her eyes misting over. “She d-did?”
It astounds me, how little affection this woman has received in her life. It’s been clear since day one, but this makes it all the more heartbreaking—watching the surprise that comes with realizing that the people in her life would do the most basic of things to celebrate her.
“Yeah, and we helped.”
She takes in her brothers, mouth agape. “That’s why you two were over there so late last night?”
“Yep,” Quinn laughs. “And to think you tried to ground us for it.”
Eyes narrowed to slits, she rounds on me. “That’s why you convinced me to let them off the hook. You knew.”
With a nod, I slip my hands into my pockets.
“And gifts.” She sniffles, wiping discreetly beneath her eyes. “You didn’t need to do this. None of you.”
“We wanted to.” Casen sits at the table and leans forward on his elbows .
“Can we eat now?” Quinn asks, taking a seat beside his brother. “I know you’re all emotional and shit, but I’m hungry.”
This at least pulls a laugh from Halle’s chest. “Food too?” She eyes the basket off to the side.
“Yeah,” I say, nerves skittering through me. “But it’s nothing super fancy.”
She lifts the edge of the basket and peers inside, her dark hair spilling over her shoulders. “Sandwiches and… Cheetos.”
Straightening quick, she drops the lid and turns, the dam finally breaking. “Damn you, Thorne,” she says, her throat thick with tears.
I open my arms. “C’mere.”
To my shock, she does so easily. I wrap my arms around her and let her cry into my chest, mouthing “it’s okay” to her brothers, who look on with horror-filled eyes.
They relax quickly. Halle needs a little more time to recover. I hold her until her sniffles subside, and when she gives me a gentle nudge in my stomach, I reluctantly let her go.
She inhales deeply, then lets it out slowly, eyes locked with mine. “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.” Smile watery, she rounds the table and throws her arms over her brothers’ shoulders, pressing kisses to their heads. “Thank you for thinking of me and making today special. I’m the luckiest sister ever. I love you.”
“Ew,” Casen laughs, pushing her off teasingly. “Don’t go getting all soft on us now. ”
“Yeah, Halle. If you’re gonna be so ooey-gooey on the inside, we might try to get away with more shit.”
“Don’t even think about it,” she warns, ruffling their hair.
I set out the sandwiches, then open the giant Cheetos bag and set it in the middle of the table.
Once Halle and I are seated across from her brothers, bottles of water in front of us—soda for the boys—she slowly, damn near methodically, removes the plastic wrap from her sandwich like she’s afraid it’s not real.
“I still can’t believe this,” she says more to herself than me.
“What I can’t believe is you weren’t going to tell me it’s your birthday.” I stare her down, feigning offense.
“I’ve never liked my birthday,” she admits.
“We told him.” Casen pops the tab on a Mountain Dew.
Head tilted back, she sighs. “Of course you did.”
“We want you to like your birthday,” Quinn says. “You’re the one who always told us birthdays are special.”
Halle’s eyes drop to the table. “They are, but?—”
“But you don’t think yours is?” Casen cuts her off, wearing a sharp look he clearly learned from her. “We disagree.”
I can’t help the amusement curling over my lips as they bicker. I used to want siblings more than anything. Not only for the company, but because I was sure my mom wouldn’t be so overbearing if she had more than one child to obsess over. But after getting to know this family, I’m not sure I could have handled witnessing a sibling suffer in any way. It’s so obviously hard on Halle. She’s shouldered the brunt of so much so they didn’t have to—so they could have a better childhood than she did.
“From now on”—Quinn says around a mouthful of food, unbothered when a chunk of lettuce falls out of his mouth—“we’re celebrating your birthday. Got it?”
Halle lowers her head, trying to hide her amusement, but her smile can’t be stopped. “Got it.”
She can continue to insist she doesn’t want to celebrate her birthday, but by her reaction, it’s obvious this has meant a lot to her.
When we’ve all devoured our sandwiches, the boys insist on gifts.
“This is too much. Way too much,” she says through laughter as we pile wrapped gifts in front of her.
“Caleb’s a show-off,” Casen says, feigning annoyance with a sigh.
Quinn laughs, a dimple popping in his left cheek. It—along with the matching one Casen has—doesn’t appear often. “He went way overboard.”
“You’re telling me,” Halle says, eyes widening when I set yet another present down.
“It’s not as bad as it seems,” I insist. Though as I go over the mental list of items I bought, I realize that’s a lie.
Halle tears into the gifts with a fervor I wouldn’t expect from a person who supposedly hates her birthday. She opens the books first, and when she takes more time to look over the fantasy and romance titles, I make a mental note.
She opens the perfume next, eyeing me in amusement.
“Are you trying to tell me I smell? ”
“What?” I blanch. My voice higher than normal. “No. I just thought?—”
“I’m kidding,” she says, quickly putting me out of my misery. She carefully picks at the plastic wrapping, then eases the box open gently and plucks out the glass bottle. Eyes closed, she takes a sniff, and with a hum, she sprays a bit on her wrist. “Mmm, that smells really good.”
I sag in relief. So far, my gifts have been winners.
After she murmurs happily over the notepads, she opens Casen’s gift. From a pink gift bag, she pulls out two adult coloring books and a pack of markers.
“I saw you looking at coloring books a few months back,” he explains. “So, I thought…” He trails off with an awkward shrug of his lanky shoulders.
“Case…” Her voice is thick, clogged with emotion. “This is so great. Perfect, actually. I love it.”
That leaves Quinn’s gift for last. The first thing she pulls out is a grumpy-faced storm cloud.
She laughs as she sets it down. “That’s so cute.”
“You’re kind of grumpy sometimes,” he says, his tone all tease. “Figured it suited you.”
Next she pulls out a beaded bracelet that reads Be Fucking Nice .
Laughter bubbles out of her, carefree and easy. “Wow, Quinn. I’m sensing a theme here. Should I be offended?”
His cheeks pinken. “I just… you don’t take shit from anyone, so…” He scans the gazebo, suddenly looking unsure. “Was it a bad choice? ”
“No!” she blurts out. “No,” she says again, softer this time as she slips the bracelet on. “It’s perfect. I love it.”
“There’s one more thing in there.” He nods at the bag.
She digs through the tissue paper again, and this time she pulls out a tiny stuffed frog. It’s fluffy and no bigger than her palm, but the emotion it inspires in her is big enough to fill the gazebo.
“I love it,” she says, voice cracking as she cradles the tiny frog to her chest. “So much.”
Her reaction makes my chest tighten and my eyes burn. Fuck. I think she’s going to cry again.
I look between the siblings, clueless as to the significance of the frog stuffie but still moved by the gesture.
“I know it’s not the same one,” Quinn says, voice quivering. “But I thought it was?—”
“Perfect, Quinn. It’s perfect.” She squeezes the tiny frog to her chest, a tear leaking out of the corner of her eye. “Best birthday ever. Thank you. All of you.”
She leans over and presses a kiss to my cheek—though it lands closer to the corner of my mouth—shocking the hell out of me.
She sets the little frog on the table in front of her and studies it. “I love him.” With a sigh, she eyes me. “Growing up, I had this stuffed frog I took everywhere with me. Even when I was a teenager, I couldn’t sleep without it.” She wets her lips. “My mom said she donated it when she was cleaning things out, but I think she threw it away. It was shortly after I told her I’d found an apartment and was moving out. I’m pretty sure it was her way of getting back at me for daring to leave. I looked everywhere for that stuffed animal. Checked every thrift store nearby for months and never saw it.”
My heart pangs with sympathy, but also with a huge serving of respect. She doesn’t see just how much she’s done for her brothers. They may like to wreak havoc, but she’s raising two thoughtful boys with good hearts. Pranks and petty theft aside, a person couldn’t ask for more than that.
She inhales a shaky breath and reaches for the cake cutter. “Let’s have cake. That sounds good, right?”
Casen gently grasps her wrist, stopping her. “Candles first, sis. You have to make a wish.”
“A wish?” She echoes with a nod. “Right.”
The boys load the cake with twenty-four candles. I suggested getting the candles shaped like a 2 and a 4, but they wanted twenty-four individual candles.
Once they’re lit, the three of us sing happy birthday. And when she leans over the cake, ready to blow them out, I hop up and pull her hair back, scared it might catch on fire.
It takes three tries to get all the candles out, and as the smoke rises between her and her brothers, she tilts her head back, giving me a suggestive look that makes me want to know what she wished for.