Page 36 of Forever Golden

“Hopefully not too soon,” I say back.

Jules has moved on to re-wrapping the cord to the vacuum when she speaks again.

“Heard from Mike?”

The mere mention of his name has me wanting to play in the busiest of traffic.

“Nope, and I’m glad for it. As far as I’m concerned, that place can keep him. He’d just come home to raise hell and make life ten times more miserable.”

“He ever been to a place like that before?” Jules asks.

“He’s never cared enough to bother eventryingto get himself cleaned up. Hell, he’s only therenowbecause Uncle Dusty literally dragged his ass down there.”

I know there’s absolutely nothing funny about what I’ve just said, but the memory of Uncle Dusty busting in with a replacement door and tarp was one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my life.

“This is a laughing matter to you?” Jules asks with a smile.

“Not at all, but when you’re me, you learn to find humor where you can.”

She pushes the vacuum against the wall near the kitchen and grabs me around my shoulders.

“I know things suck right now, but look at the bright side. Things can only get better from here, right?”

I peer up at her. “Famous last words.”

She doesn’t get the chance to respond because there’s a heavy knock at the door. I slip from beneath her arm and rush to peek out the window.

I count two pairs of crazy-expensive gym shoes standing on my porch, because that’s all I can see. There are colorful bags and huge bouquets of balloons blocking everything else. To the point that I can’t tell which two of the triplets are waiting to be let in, and who the two silhouettes still in West’s car belong to.

I pull the door open, then hold the security door to let in who I now know to be West and Sterling, which means the two in the car are Dane and Joss.

“Uh… hi.”

I pause to scan all that these two are hauling inside my house.

“I thought you asked if you could grab Scaragift. Singular,” I say, smiling to myself. I should’ve known West would go above and beyond that.

Hence the reason Scar’s early Christmas gift from him was a game system that probably costs more than a car payment.

“You know me. Go big or go home,” West answers, leaning in to kiss me before he sets Scar’s things on the couch.

There are at least ten bags here, and not all are presents. I see drinks, snacks, and paper goods. Between him and Sterling, I spot a dozen and a half balloons, maybe two. And speaking of Sterling, he’s holding a huge box I can now see is a birthday cake. One with a sticker on the side, stating that it was mixed and baked in a peanut-free zone.

My eyes are blurry, but I’m not going to cry. I do, however, want to squeeze West to death with a hug. So, I do that the second he passes the balloons off to Jules.

“Whoa,” he says with a laugh, catching me when I basically attack him.

“Thank you so much,” I manage to say.

Thank you for caring so much. Thank you for doing for my sister what I wasn’t able to do. Thank you for… just loving me.

He presses a kiss to my cheek and is in no rush to let me go. Jules and Sterling seem to notice that.

“Guess we’re on setup duty,” she teases. “We’ll get started in the kitchen.”

With that, Sterling follows her, and now I’m not so guarded since it’s just West and me. Despite how hard I fought against it, I do shed a few tears, but they’re happy tears for once.

“You didn’t have to do this,” I whisper.

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