“I swear, Spence, I don’t have any idea!” Our surroundings felt familiar, but I was a little dizzy from the car ride where he’d insisted I wear the blindfold.
The narrow space felt like it opened up suddenly and then Spence was guiding me to sit down. I did, and knew he’d just deposited me on a couch. And then I got a whiff of something like Pine-Sol, and felt the rough scratch of the fabric beneath my fingertips, and heard a suppressed giggle somewhere off to my left, and I knew exactly where I was. “I’m at your house?”
Spence eased the blindfold away from my eyes and I had to blink a few times to get them to focus, but finally I saw that I was, in fact, in his living room and staring at me were about twenty people wearing party hats.
“Surprise!” they all yelled.
I let out a small squeal. “You guys! I had no idea!”
That was a lie, but Spence had worked so hard to put together a surprise party for me that I didn’t want to let on that I knew. Britta grinned knowingly at me, because she’d been the one to tell me, but only after I’d grilled her about it.
Spence’s little sister stepped forward from the crowd and handed me a small wrapped package. “Aw, Stacey! What’d you get me?”
Stacey smiled wickedly and twitched with excitement. “Open it!”
I offered it out to her. “Help me with the paper?”
She eagerly came to sit next to me and pulled at the bright yellow wrapping paper. I took out the present and studied it curiously. It was a pink rhinestone collar.
“Oh!” I said, careful to keep the confusion from my expression. “This is awesome, Stacey! Thank you!” I wrapped the collar around my wrist. “I love it,” I said to her, and she burst into a fit of giggles.
Next I was handed a present from Britta and Sara. “Here!” they said in unison. “It’s not much, but we think you’ll really like how it’ll come in handy,” Britta added, with a conspiratorial wink at Sara. Sara pressed her lips together, as if trying to hold in a secret, and nodded with vigor.
Eyeing them curiously, I tugged open the wrapping paper and discovered a leash that matched the pink in the collar that Stacey had given me. For a long minute, I was really confused. I mean, I could make the dog collar into a nice bracelet, but what was I supposed to do with a leash?
“Uh…” I said. “Thanks, you guys. I love it!”
Everyone in the room laughed, and next to me Stacey laughed the hardest. I had a feeling they were laughing at me, but for the life of me I couldn’t understand what I’d done that was so funny. “What?” I asked Spence.
Instead of answering me, he nudged Jamie, who was standing next to him.
“Here,” Jamie said, handing me yet another present.
“Did you wrap this yourself?” I teased. The package had more tape than it had wrapping paper.
“That obvious?” he said.
“No,” I mocked as I struggled to get the thing open. At last I got my thumbnail under a corner and pulled it open to discover a doggie dish. Holding up the dish I said, “Okay, you guys, what gives?”
The crowd of people standing in front of me parted. Spence came up through the middle and in his arms was the most adorable blond puppy I’d ever seen! I was so surprised that I dropped the doggie dish, jumped to my feet, and squealed.
“Ohmigod! Ohmigod!” I cried. The puppy in Spence’s arms began to wriggle, excited by my squeals, and then Spence laid her carefully in my arms and said, “Happy birthday, Amber.”
For the next several minutes all I could do was cuddle and hug the squirming pup as she covered my face in kisses. Until that moment I hadn’t realized how much I missed Jasper, my beloved cocker spaniel who’d passed away just six months earlier. The little bundle in my arms was clearly a golden retriever, and I’d always wanted one of those.
“How did you know?” I finally managed to ask Spence, my voice cracking with emotion. I’d wanted another dog so badly, but I’d felt guilty for wanting a new pup so soon, and I didn’t think my parents would let me get a dog this close to my going away to college.
“I know how much you loved Jasper,” Spence told me, stroking the pup’s head. “So I asked your parents if it was okay, and they said yes right away. I think they really miss having a dog around, too.”
I hugged the puppy tightly to me and felt a well of love for Spence that was so intense it almost hurt. “What’re we going to do with her when we go to UCLA?” I asked him.
Spence chuckled. “Both our moms said they’d take care of her when we’re out there,” he said.
“Please let her stay with us, Amber?” Stacey pleaded.
I looked at Spence’s little sister and my heart melted, but I also knew that a puppy was probably more responsibility than an eleven-year-old girl could handle, and I didn’t think Mrs. Spencer would be much help. She probably wouldn’t do more than throw some cheap kibble in a bowl and only occasionally let the poor pup out in the backyard. My parents, on the other hand, would take excellent care of her, of that I was sure. “You can come visit her at my parents’ house anytime you’d like, Stacey.”