Chapter Thirty-Seven
I’ve always hated my birthday. First, because attention makes me uncomfortable, and second, because early September in South Dakota always meant back to school—and I hated school. I wanted to be home with my grandparents, my mom, and the horses. The weather would turn cool, and the melancholy would settle in. I hate my birthday, and I hate the end of summer.
“Joe, back away from the door.” I gently hold his arm and turn him. “You’re blocking people from coming in.”
“No one in their right mind would want to come into this place,” he says. “It’s like a prison.”
I laugh. “I’ve never been in a prison, but I have a feeling they don’t have nearly as much fun as we do.”
“You’re full of shit, Birdie.” He lowers himself onto a chair and turns his attention to the baseball game.
Bob wheels himself by, and I glance at him. “Care to watch the game?”
He shakes his head. “Going to the bird sanctuary to get some writing done. When are we going on a field trip to the Hurst haunted house?”
“Well,” I say, “today’s my birthday, but how about tomorrow? I can check you out for a couple of hours, and there’s a ramp entrance at the back of the house so it’s perfect.”
“Tomorrow it is.” Bob begins wheeling himself down the hallway. “And happy birthday.”
Sunny and Sis’s son Larry rounds the corner, followed by David. As long as I’m here, I won’t be able to avoid memories of Liam. They’re everywhere.
*****
My mom convinced me to go to the pool hall for my birthday and invite a few friends. The list is small. I sit on the wood floor in my bedroom and apply some makeup. The nights have turned cool, so I wear a pair of jeans and a sweater over my tank top.
This is twenty-six.
I get to the kitchen just as my mom pours two glasses of prosecco. I lean against the doorframe and watch her sway her hips as a song blares in the background. She’s so beautiful and confident—so different from me.
“Birdie,” she says when she sees me. She presses her hands together. “My gorgeous birthday girl.”
“No embarrassing me today.” I grab the glass of prosecco from the counter. “I agreed to go out, but no drawing attention to the fact that it’s my birthday.”
“Okay, fine,” she says. “But I’m driving and you don’t work tomorrow, so let loose and have some fun.”
When we arrive at the pool hall, it’s already packed. Cars line Main Street.
“Maybe we should go somewhere else.” I bite my lip as I look around. “This place is nuts tonight.”
“You already told people to meet you here,” my mom says.
“Not people,” I say. “Just Lucy and Will. That’s all. I could tell them to meet us somewhere else.”
“Nonsense,” she says. “This is perfect.”
We walk in, and it seems like the whole town is here. I quickly spot Dax and Carrie, and when they see me, they come over, and Carrie hugs me.
“Happy birthday, Birdie,” she says. “Malik just called, and he’s on his way.”
“How’d you…?” I start to say but stop. “You guys just happened to be here tonight, right?”
“Or did a little birdie tell us?” Carrie says, and Dax smiles.
“I see what you did there,” he says with a grin.
“We needed a night out,” Carrie says. “Away from the kids. Camilla and Jake are here, too. And Robby and Jenna are in town. And David.”
“Yeah, pretty much all of the Berglands,” Dax adds.
Almost all of them.
I make my way over to my mom and grab her arm. “Is the entire town here tonight?”
“It seems so. I’m going to grab us drinks. See if Lucy and Will are here yet.”
The bar is five people deep, so I move to the corner by the jukebox to be out of the way. David walks in, and I let out a breath, still not able to get over how much he resembles his brother. But then, two steps behind him, Liam walks into the bar.
I nearly do a double take when I see him. He’s here, in his dark jeans and white sneakers, a simple black shirt. I duck around the corner so he doesn’t spot me as he looks side to side. I’m not sure how it’s possible to both want to see him and be happy he’s here while also finding it painful that my plan to get over Liam has to start over and won’t fully work until he’s gone.
“Happy birthday!” Lucy throws her arms around me and pulls me into a hug. “Are you hiding back here or something?”
“Maybe,” I say, peeking around the corner.
Will approaches. “Happy birthday, Birdie.” He kisses my cheek.
“Did I see Liam walk in?” Lucy says into my ear, and I shrug.
“Seems so.”
He must be here for the long weekend, like the rest of his family. I knew I’d have to face him at some point since he has family in Wheaton, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this soon.
“I thought I saw his name come across my desk for a background check,” Lucy says, looking over her shoulder, and I grab her and pull her back.
“What do you mean?”
“Your mom put me in charge of the volunteers. I could have sworn I saw his name as one of the approved background checks that came through.”
That makes no sense. I narrow my eyes and then lock gazes with my mom as she holds two glasses in her hand.
My mom comes back with a shot and a drink. I’d usually protest, but being a little foggy might suit me tonight. Music blares from the jukebox, and I focus on my mom, Lucy, and Will as we try to find a table that isn’t occupied. To my left, Liam stands in the corner, saying something to a woman, and she laughs. He looks over his shoulder, and our gazes meet. He says something to her, and she looks my way as well, and they both walk in my direction.
Liam is coming directly toward me.
He smiles warmly at me and puts his arm around the woman.
“Birdie,” he says, “I’d like you to meet Jenna, my cousin Robby’s wife.”
Recognition spreads across my face. I saw her from afar at Asher’s birthday party earlier in the summer, but we never officially met.
“Birdie,” she says. “Can I give you a hug? I feel like I know you already.”
I nod, and Jenna wraps her arms around me.
“I’ll be right back,” Liam says, holding up a finger.
Jenna grips my shoulders. “It is so good to finally meet you.”
“Me?” I raise my eyebrows. “It’s so good to finally meet you. I don’t even know where to begin to thank you for bringing awareness to our little nursing home in Wheaton.”
Jenna squeezes my hand. There’s a warmth about her, and I feel like I know her from all she’s shared about her story. She’s been through so much, yet she looks so confident and breathtakingly beautiful.
“Liam is not the kind of guy to ask for favors.” She takes my other hand in hers. “So when he reached out about this project, I knew you must be someone very special to him.”
A song comes on, and people start singing along, making it hard to hear anything.
“It’s not like that.” I get closer to Jenna and speak into her ear. “He’s just a helpful person.”
Jenna tilts her head and smiles. “If it’s not like that for you, that’s okay. But it’s like that for him.”
“Well.” It’s too loud to have this conversation now.
“I’m here for a few days for the long weekend,” Jenna says. “Would you be up for grabbing coffee or something?”
“Yeah, yes,” I stammer. “I’d love that.”
I like her already.
Liam approaches us. Jenna gives me another hug and then excuses herself.
His mouth moves, but the noise in the bar gets louder. I shake my head.
“What?” I point to my ears. “I can’t hear a thing you’re saying.”
Liam nods toward the door, and I freeze at first but then nod.
Liam cuts through the crowd, and I follow. We reach the door, and he holds it open for me, and I slip past him. We step into the dark night, and there’s a coolness in the air, signaling the next season’s arrival.
We stand there, locked in this unbearable silence, each of us trying to decipher the other, like a riddle we’re desperate to crack. He’s never looked better, and it twists something dark inside me. I wish I could glance at him and feel nothing, let the attraction dissolve into the void, but it clings to me relentlessly. My heart is lodged painfully in my throat, suffocating me with every beat.
“Happy birthday, Birdie.”
“How’d you—”
“Grandpa Sunny,” he says before I can finish. “It was on the board at the nursing home. He thought maybe I’d want to know.”
Liam chuckles and puts his hands in his pockets.
“Why are you here?”
“The pool hall or Wheaton?” He presses his lips together.
“Both, actually,” I say.
Liam looks at the ground, and then his gaze flicks to me. “I’m at the pool hall because I called your mom and asked what you were doing for your birthday.”
“Hmm.”
My mom knew. That’s why she insisted we stick to the plan of coming here. Perhaps that’s why Liam has brought almost his entire family.
“I’m in Wheaton because I didn’t feel done with this place. New York no longer seemed like where I wanted to be.”
“You didn’t get the job?” I wrap my arms around my body as a shiver runs through me.
“I got the job,” he says. “Turns out it’s not what I wanted.”
We continue to gaze at each other. Thoughts swirl in my mind before I can articulate them, so I say nothing.
“Anyway.” Liam reaches into his back pocket. He takes my hand, opens it, and then puts a small square box wrapped in gold in my palm. I look at it. “For you.”
“Liam.” I take a deep breath. “You shouldn’t have gotten me anything.”
“Birdie,” he says, his voice low, convincing. “I wanted to get you this.”
“Do you want me to open it?” I hold it out and then shake it against my ear.
Liam laughs. “Only if you want to. Or open it when you’re alone. Your choice.”
Curiosity gets the best of me. I take a long sip of my drink and then hand the glass to Liam. I loosen the string around the box and open it. A beautiful blue velvet jewelry box is the only thing between me and the surprise inside. I pull it open and nearly gasp.
It’s a white gold, oval-shaped pendant, just like the one my grandma gave me when I was young. The one I lost on the very day I lost her. It’s almost identical—ornate, shaped like a teardrop, with an intricate pattern etched delicately across its surface.
I open the locket, and I rapidly blink back tears at the words inside. It’s the same quote from the book my grandma would read to me every birthday. I couldn’t remember it when I told Liam about the pendant my grandma gave me, but here are the famous words from Dr. Seuss, the very ones my grandma had etched on the locket.
“How’d you know exactly what it looked like?”
“You were wearing it in so many of the pictures from that album in your bedroom,” he says.
“Liam.” I look up at him, and he wipes away my tears with his thumb. I hadn’t realized one had escaped. “Why are you doing this? Why are you making things so difficult?”
He leans forward and kisses my cheek. “I once told someone I love that I’m scrappy and persistent. I want to prove that to her.”
“Liam.” I shake my head. “Why are you here? Why did Lucy say she saw your name as a nursing home volunteer? You said you wanted to be in New York.”
“Turns out, I want to be where you are.” Liam reaches for my hand, but I pull back.
“I can’t accept this.” I close the box and push it toward him. “It’s too much. You’re too much.”
He wraps his hand around mine. “And I can’t take it back. Happy birthday, Birdie.”
Liam turns and walks inside, and I’m left standing there with the nicest gift anyone has ever gotten me.