“What are we doing?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just go home and get dressed. Nothing too fancy. I’ll pick you up in a couple of hours.”
***
Noah wouldn’t tell me where we were going. We rode with the windows down, and the warm summer evening air blew my hair around. It felt amazing to be next to him in his truck. I stole glances over at his profile and wondered if this feeling of wanting him would ever subside. I wished he would touch me again, even just my face. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t give for a taste of something more with him.
Finally, we pulled up to Tito’s Cantina, a popular Mexican place. Noah had taken a roundabout way to get here. It was almost like he’d driven in a circle.
“Tito’s! How did you know I love this place?”
“You told me once Mexican is your favorite. This is supposed to be the best place in town, so…”
“You’re good. You listen.” I grinned.
As we walked into the restaurant, he placed his hand on the small of my back, which practically lit my insides on fire.
The feeling was quickly replaced by shock, which then transformed into pure joy.
My heart filled up fast as I spotted my mother, Chrissy, and Marlene sitting at a table surrounded by balloons.
My mother is here?
They were all wearing sombreros.
“Surprise!” Chrissy shouted.
The real surprise was seeing my mother out and about. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d left the house other than to go to a doctor’s appointment.
“Mom?”
She smiled. “Hi, honey. Happy birthday.”
I turned to Noah. “Now I know why you drove around for a while. How on Earth did you get her out of the house?”
“She loves you. It didn’t take much.”
“Happy birthday, my beautiful daughter.”
I bent down to kiss my mother before moving over to hug Chrissy.
“You took tonight off?” I asked.
Nurse Chrissy was supposed to be working a twelve-hour shift starting at seven.
“Yup. Got someone to cover for me. I couldn’t miss your birthday.”
“And who’s covering for me?” I asked Marlene.
“Are you kidding? When they found out it was your twenty-first birthday, Kel and Leah were fighting over who got to fill in. I can’t believe I didn’t know. Thanks to Noah, I can celebrate with you.”
After we sat down, I leaned into him. “I can’t believe you pulled this off.”
Noah winked and grabbed a sombrero, placing it on my head. “Happy birthday, beautiful.”
A rush of heat ran through me. I wouldn’t read into it, but it felt damn good to hear him say that.
Dinner was everything I could have wanted. My mother laughed at Marlene’s stories. Noah was by my side. As far as I was concerned, everyone at this table was family to me—Noah included. I didn’t know how else to characterize him. He was a friend, for sure, but also a big brother figure, and someone I still had a massive crush on no matter how hard I tried to deny it.
It was very emotional to be sitting here with the four people who mattered most to me, especially knowing how many changes were on the horizon. I shook those thoughts from my mind, because tonight wasn’t supposed to be about that. I needed to enjoy this moment with the people I cared about.
We all stuffed ourselves. And after polishing off two margaritas, I felt completely tipsy.
Chrissy ended up taking Mom home early, and after Marlene left, it was just Noah and me at the table. His eyes lingered on my lips as I licked the remaining salt off the rim of my glass.
I took my hat off and placed it on his head. “It’s a good thing you’re driving, se?or.”
“That was always part of the plan.”
Moving my straw around, I smiled. “Thank you again for doing this.”
Noah grinned mischievously. “I might have one more surprise up my sleeve.”
“You’re just full of them tonight, huh?” My cheeks hurt from smiling. “What is it?”
“It’s back at the boathouse. Wanna get going?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
***
He led me inside. “You need to close your eyes for a little bit, so I can get something set up.”
I laughed. “Okay.”
Making myself comfortable on the loveseat, I covered my eyes with my hands.
“Okay, you can open them now.”
Noah had lit two candles that formed the number twenty-one. This wasn’t just any cake.
“Holy shit,” I said.
“You like it?”
“Who made that?”
“You know Evie’s Cakes in the center? I told her what I wanted, and she did it.”
The top of the cake was a little girl with her hands on a snowy television set—a replica of the famous scene from Poltergeist, the one I’d told him I was obsessed with as a child.
“This is the most awesome cake I have ever seen in my entire life.”
“I think we should try it.”
“Are you kidding? I don’t even want to touch it. We can’t ruin it.”
“We can cut around the bottom, leave the top intact. But eventually you’re probably going to have to destroy that, too.”
“No way! I’m freezing it.”
“You’re gonna leave a Poltergeist cake in your mom’s freezer while you go away to school?”
“Yes. I’m keeping it forever and ever. Someday, when I’m old and gray, I will still have that thing in my freezer. You think I’m joking, but I’m not.”
“That’s crazy. I hope you know that.”
“Well, so am I—a little.”
“This is true.” He winked. “Well, then I’d better not accidentally destroy it.”
Noah sliced us two pieces of cake from the bottom part, being careful not to touch the top.
“I almost brought it to the restaurant,” he said. “But I was afraid something would happen to it. Plus, it would’ve ruined the surprise of everyone being there if you saw me carrying a cake.”
“You really did surprise me, and I’m kind of glad it’s just us now.”
I knew that comment was a bit too honest, that it bordered on crossing the line. But it was the truth. I wanted him all to myself.
“This is the best birthday I’ve had in a long time,” I said. “I know my mother told you my sister died on my birthday. This was the first one I’ve had since then where I didn’t think of her all day. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
“You shouldn’t feel guilty.”
“I’ve always felt I don’t deserve to celebrate my birthday if she can’t have them anymore.”
“The day you were born is something to be acknowledged. Your sister would want you to celebrate your birthday.”
“I know that rationally. But you can’t always help how you feel.” I took a bite of cake, which was chocolate with a pudding filling. Yum. “I just wish I could have done something to help her. I was young and never thought things were as bad as they were.”
He nodded to himself as if he’d just figured something out. “That’s why you want to become a psychiatric nurse, isn’t it? Because of your sister.”
“Yeah. I want to help people feel better.”
He licked frosting off the corner of his mouth. “You know, sometimes that’s not possible, right? Not everyone can be saved.”
“I do realize that. But I can try.”
“Yes. You absolutely can, but you can’t blame yourself for not being able to succeed every time—not for anything that happened with your sister or anything that may happen in the future to someone else. We don’t have control over others’ actions, no matter how hard we try.”
“Of course. I know that. And I have a long way to go, right? Before anyone can trust me with their mental health?”
“You’re a strong person, and you have a lot of personal experience dealing with mental health issues from the people around you. So I’d say that’s a huge advantage over most people going into the field.”
“Wish that weren’t the case, but it’s true.” I stared off. “I’m sorry…this night has taken a dark turn, hasn’t it?”
“We’re eating a Poltergeist cake. It fits the mood,” he said.
“That’s true.”
“Hey, have you ever considered becoming a writer?”
“Not as a career, but I’ve dabbled in it. Why do you ask?”
“No reason. I just have a feeling you might be good at it.”
Hmm.
Strange.