When she thought of that day she still cried at the beautiful sentiment. The woman, who had been like a mom to her, had given her a piece of her mother back. And so on her twenty-ninth birthday, she kneeled before her mother’s head stone, placing a bouquet of roses in front of it. She ran her fingers over her name and smiled.
“Hi, Mom, sorry I haven’t been here that much. I may not come to visit as much as I’d like, but you’re always on my mind.” She smiled and folded her hands in her lap. “I miss you so much. I tell myself it should be easier as I get older, but the truth is it’s not. No matter what age I am, there’s always something I wish I had my mother for. It’s true what they say; you’re never too old to need your mom.” She smiled sadly, and looked down at her hands. “My life hasn’t changed much. Well, except for one thing.” She bit her lip and glanced around the cemetery. All she could hear was the slight noise the, leaves made as the wind caused them to brush against each other. “Things are getting strange between Jake and me. I don’t know how to explain it.” She paused. “That’s a lie. I know exactly how to explain it, I’m realizing I’m in love with him, and probably have been for a very long time.” She leaned back on her heels and took a deep breath, feeling the weight from her admission, ease off of her chest. “I don’t know what to do with my feelings, mom. Part of me wants so badly to tell him and then I hear this voice in my head, telling me I’ll ruin everything. I’m so scared.” She whispered to her mother’s stone. “I’m so scared I’ll lose them all if things don’t work out between me and Jake. They’re the only family I have, and Jake.” She shook her head as her eyes filled. “Jake is everything to me. He’s my friend, my confident, my light at the end of the tunnel, with him in my life, I feel like I can go on, that I’m not alone.” The tears fell freely. “I look at him, and I see his imperfections, and they don’t matter to me. I know he’s wild and reckless, but I know his heart. Mama, he’s got the biggest heart and I want his heart. I want him. I want to be the girl that’s enough for him.”
She wiped the tears from her cheeks and stared up at the sky, willing her tears to stop. “He knows all of my flaws. He knows I’m broken, and he still looks at me like I’m the best thing to ever happen to him. When he stares at me sometimes, I feel like we’re the only two people in existence.” She sighed and became quiet for a while, soaking up the serenity. “I wish you were to push me in the right direction.” She said finally, and then remembered the cupcake and the tradition. She lifted the little white box and took the cupcake out of the box. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a candle and a lighter. Cara stuck the candle into the creamy frosting and her fingers maneuvered the lighter. She held the cupcake in her palms and stared at the lone lit candle. No one was there to sing happy birthday, so she closed her eyes and made a wish, hoping her mother would hear it. She blew out the candle and opened her eyes. “Happy Birthday, to me.” She whispered.
Jake knew where Cara would be, for the last fourteen years, she always visited her mother on the morning of her birthday. His heart ached for her, and wished she hadn’t lost her mother. If Corrine hadn’t died, maybe Cara wouldn’t have endured all the pain she had. He couldn’t erase the bad memories, he concluded, but he could damn well give her the best birthday ever, and that was exactly what he set out to do.
Jake spotted the willow tree perched on top of the hill. He climbed the hill, his long legs making the strides quick. When he spotted her, kneeling beside her mother’s head stone holding a cupcake, his heart clenched. He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and buried the emotions that he was drowning in. He forced his feet to move, and though they felt like lead, they moved. She must’ve sensed she wasn’t alone because he hadn’t made a sound, and she still turned around. Her hazel eyes staring at him, like he was a figment of her imagination. He pushed his sunglasses up on top of his heads so she could see his eyes.
“Happy Birthday.” He said softly. She didn’t move right away, instead she simply stared up at him quietly. He walked closer to her and held out his hand. With one hand holding the cupcake, the other fell into his and he helped her stand.
“Thank you.” She said so low he barely heard her. She gathered her bearings and dropped his hand to dust the dirt from her pants. “What’re you doing here?”
Jake glanced at her mother’s stone, and the pretty bouquet of flowers that adorned it and smiled slightly before looking back at her. “I came to whisk the birthday girl away.” He said confidently, and stuck his finger into the frosting on the cupcake. He smiled up at her sheepishly as he sucked his finger dry. “Double chocolate, my favorite.”
Her lips broke into a small smile and she handed him the cupcake. “Here, have it.”