“I can’t tell you, but you have to move it.”
He was so silent I thought the line went dead. “Okay. I’ll call Lucas.” I was about to say bye, when he added, “Happy birthday, by the way.”
“Thank you.”Hinges groaned, and then air rushed through the receiver. “Got any plans?” he asked, louder this time.
“Just dinner with Evelyn, Frank, and Jeb.” I didn’t mention the Watts would be there.
There was another beat of silence. Was he waiting for me to invite him?
He sighed and said, “I’ll call you later,” before hanging up.
I thought Tamara’s pregnancy would lessen his feelings for me, but what if it hadn’t? Perhaps it was a matter of time. Or perhaps it was a matter of me being single.
Maybe Amanda was right. Maybe if I was in a relationship, Liam would stop seeing me as an option.
Frank, Nelson, and Isobel were already seated at a table in the back of the restaurant when I arrived with Jeb. All three got up. Where Frank and Nelson offered me one-armed hugs and whispered happy birthdays, Isobel kissed my cheeks and then held me in a hug that was almost as fierce as my mother’s used to be.
As my heart pinched, I was dragged into a set of new arms.
“Feliz cumpleaños, querida.” Evelyn pecked my forehead. “You are sitting here. Next to me.”
After lowering herself into her seat, which Frank gallantly held out for her, she leaned over and scrubbed her thumb over my forehead. “I am always leaving marks on you.”
I didn’t mind the marks she left on me. I let her wipe away the kiss, even though I was certain I’d get more before the evening was over.
The vacant seat at the end of the table had me glancing at Isobel. “Is August coming?”
“He said he was on his way. You look beautiful tonight. Doesn’t she, Evelyn?”
“She always looks beautiful,” Evelyn answered, her tone a little gruff.
Isobel’s lips flexed into a wide smile as she leaned over and whispered, “Remind me never to get on her bad side.”
Trent, The Silver Bowl’s owner, arrived then, and I got up to shake his hand and thank him for hosting us. “It’s my pleasure.” He uncorked a bottle of champagne from my year of birth. Which meant he knew I was underage, and yet he filled the champagne flute on the table. He winked at me. “A little gift from my wife and myself. Enjoy.”
Just as he was finishing pouring champagne into everyone’s flutes, the door of the restaurant opened. I didn’t have to look up to know who’d arrived, but I looked anyway, because the tether thrummed. August smiled at the hostess at the door, who smiled right back. He spoke a couple words to her, and she tittered, fingers dropping to the V-collar of her dress. Was she trying to drag August’s eyes down to her breasts?
Subtle.
Finally, she turned sideways and pointed to our table. His eyes locked with mine as she led the way toward us. I should’ve probably looked away, and I sort of did. I looked down, first at his white dress shirt which he’d left unbuttoned at the top, and then lower, at his dark-gray slacks that hugged his long, muscular legs.
I realized I was being as unsubtle as the hostess, so I finally tore my gaze off him and set it on the champagne popping in the glass I’d unconsciously plucked off the table.
“Sorry I’m late.” Before taking his seat, he kissed his mother’s cheek, then his hand gripped my shoulder gently, and my heart jumped high, as though trying to reach his palm. “Happy birthday, Dimples.” He handed me a little pouch.
Heart still suspended, I set my champagne down. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”
“It’s nothing really.” He smiled, and I sensed we were okay again. It had just taken him a week of one-word text messages to come around.
I undid the ties on the pouch, then dipped my fingers inside the velvet until I came away with something warm and smooth: an intricate carving of a palm tree on a metal keyring. A grin broke over my lips as I stroked the perfect little piece of wood.
“I heard you got a car. I thought you might need something to put your new key on.”
“Is that a palm tree?” Isobel asked, leaning in closer to look at it.
I nodded, the hair I’d blow-dried straight fluttering over one of the dresses from Sarah’s reject pile. The frock was as red as Evelyn’s lipstick and draped off one of my shoulders before tapering at the waist and flaring out. It had this vintage flair that made me think of something a Hollywood star would wear.
“They’re my favorite trees,” I explained, then added, “Apparently.”
“Apparently?” Isobel quirked a painted-on eyebrow. Like her hair, which was covered by a wig, her real eyebrows were growing back, but the process was slow.
“Apparently I sketched my dream house when I was a kid, and it had a palm tree in the middle. August reminded me of it.”
“Can I see the carving?” Jeb asked.
I handed it over, and he oohed and aahed at the detail before passing it along to Frank.
I mouthed a thank you to August, and it won me a devastating smile, which made my navel tingle behind my cinched waistband.
Nelson lifted his champagne. “Before the food arrives, we wanted to say a little something. Ness, you’re like a daughter to Isobel and me, and although we know we can never replace Maggie and Callum, I hope you know you can come to us with anything you might need.”
My bottom lip wobbled.
“We will always be here for you, sweet girl,” Isobel said, making my attempt at keeping it together worse.
“Nelson, you just stole my entire toast,” Jeb chided, humor lilting his tone. Directing his attention on me, he said, “Ness, I know you’re eighteen now, and legally not mine to keep, but I hope you’ll choose to stay with me a couple more years. I really enjoy having someone to take care of, even though”-his Adam’s apple bobbed underneath his gray-blond scruff-“even though you take better care of me than-” He stopped talking abruptly, his eyes growing red and shiny with emotion.
As Frank patted my uncle’s back, tears trickled down my cheeks. I palmed them away, hoping they weren’t dragging down the mascara I’d applied.
“I’m not going anywhere, Jeb,” I managed to whisper. “At least not without you.”
He smiled, and my heart squeezed because in that moment, he looked so much like Dad. He didn’t have his dimples, but he had the same smile.
“Six years ago, I met a sweet little girl with blonde pigtails who would not let me into her apartment,” Evelyn said, “and yet, the same little girl ended up letting me into her heart. Querida, I never had the chance to become a mother, so I never imagined I would have the chance to become a grandmother, but you made this dream of mine come true.”
So much for staying stoic and well made-up. I lifted my napkin from my lap and blotted the corners of my eyes, leaving behind little black smudges on the pale linen.
“I do not know if I am any good at it, though.” She lowered her gaze to her ornate plate and added quietly, “I want what is best for you, but maybe I have been wrong about what is best for you.”
A beat of silence descended upon the table.
I nibbled on my lip, my heart accelerating. I prayed I was the only one who knew what she was referring to.
Whom she was referring to.
“I’m happy your father didn’t take well to the pledge drink, Ness,” Frank blurted out, which made Evelyn’s gaze jerk off her plate.
I laughed, which was a nice change from all the crying.