Page 110 of Don Caselli

This was what she wanted, and I was her dream come true. It felt so good knowing that my parents had wanted and prayed for me. Every child coming into this world should have felt wanted and loved.

My parents were seated, and I took Landon’s hand and brought him toward the front of the restaurant. “Lan?”

“Pooh, I told you that I’m a fixer. You spend your birthday with your family every year. I couldn’t bring them all here, but I could bring your parents to you. I’d do it again just to see the look on your face.”

I held his face and kissed his lips. “I love you… do you know that?”

“Let me hear you say it again, Pooh. I need that sometimes, you know?”

I hugged and kissed his lips softly. “Whenever you need to hear it from me, just tell me to say it.”

“Say it.”

“I love you, Landon. Sounds crazy, but I do. I only have this feeling right here for you.” I placed his hand on my chest as he looked at me.

“I love you, too, Bleu.” He kissed my lips and held me tighter against his body.

The tears were working double time on not falling down my face. I didn’t want to mess up my makeup. Seeing my parents had me emotional because Landon made that happen for me.

When we returned to the table, there was an orange box on the table. My mother was pointing at it, more excited than I was. “You didn’t think all I got you was a book for your birthday, Bleu.”

“I did and was perfectly happy with that.” I squeezed his hand, as he kissed the top of my head.

Standing over the box, I opened it and unraveled all the paper and dust bags and pulled out the exact bag that I was carrying tonight. “Canal Street, who?” my mother cackled, clapping her hands.

“Maaa, not too much on me.” I started laughing because she clowned me when we went down to Canal Street together. Instead of helping me haggle prices, she was hiding with her hood pulled over her head and looking around with herrealpurse. “You got me the real bag?”

Don stood behind me. “Not about to have my girl walking around with a fake bag. Not when her man can get her a real one. It was offered to Kora, but she has one, so she let me know.”

“How did she know, though?”

“I may have texted her to keep a look out for me.”

“I know that’s fucking right.” My mother clapped her hands, and my father shook his head. “My baby got this Louis Vuitton bag for me last month.”

“Don’t get no damn ideas, Avril, either.” My father laughed, and she slapped him. “I drive trains, not flip bricks.”

“Anymore,” my mother muttered, thinking I didn’t hear the words that left her mouth. I’ve always felt like my parents had a different life than the caseworker and the MTA worker.

Ignoring them, I held the bag in my hand. “Thank you, baby. Now I don’t know what to do with my bag.”

“Give it here… already did half the work going down there with you.” My mother snatched my knockoff and pulled my lip-gloss and perfume out the bag.

We were finally all seated and ordered the fixed menu that Landon had picked out. The top of the digital menu had my name and happy birthday. He had everything picked out to make me feel like the most special girl in the world.

“I remember you wanted a dog so bad… did your research and gave us a power point on why you should have one,” my father spoke, as we were digging into dinner.

They were going down memory lane with Landon, and he was encouraging all the embarrassing stories that I had. “And you both never let me get one.”

“Why, Mamas? Tell the damn table why?”

“I didn’t mean to kill the hamster. I forgot he was in my room,” I sulked.

“Damn, baby, a hamster killer?”

As we sat at the table, and I ate while laughing, Landon had my feet in his lap, massaging them while I fed him off my plate. He had taken my damn heels off and was deep in conversation with my parents while allowing me to feed him and massaging my feet at the same time.

“First of all, why are you all spilling my tea right now? I still want a dog… please.” I waved them off and fed Landon some of my curry shrimp.

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