Page 64 of A Billion Dollar Romance
“Edie, you came!” she said, turning to me, running to give me a hug too. The top of her head came up to my chest, her arms wrapping around my waist for a moment before she released me.
“Hi!” I said, hoping I didn’t sound as surprised as I felt. James had told me that Maddie had asked for me to come, but I had assumed it was him who wanted me there, not the birthday girl herself. “Thank you so much for inviting me,” I said, and she gave me a huge smile.
I meant it, I thought later, standing against the wall in a tastefully decorated living room, drinking lemonade from a pink-tinged glass. I smiled watching James kneel on the floor to help assemble a huge purple tent as a flock of pre-teen girls tried to sit underneath the half-built structure. Presents had been opened, cake cut and eaten, games played, and now as the preteens played together, parents drifted in clumps through the house, from living room to kitchen–where the half-eaten remains of the three-tiered pastel purple cake reigned over a vast quantity of snacks and cupcakes and a build-your-own-frozen-yogurt bar for good measure. Ryan had clearly gone all out for his daughter.
“Can we have a sleepover, Dad?” came Maddie’s voice from inside. “And sleep in this in the playroom?”
“Ooh, there are lights inside,” a second voice squealed, and Ryan chuckled beside me.
“Not tonight, Maddie, maybe later.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Not tomorrow, either–we’ll do invitations, honey, and plan a real sleepover party, how about that?”
“A real sleepover party, huh?” Charlie said to Ryan from my other side, raising his eyebrows, and Ryan shook his head.
“She’s growing up,” he said with a quiet sigh.
“You’re getting old,” Charlie teased, but Ryan just nodded, huffing out a laugh.
“Yeah. We all are, aren’t we?”
“Not Edie,” Charlie said. I didn’t have time to be embarrassed before he continued. “You look great for eighty-seven. You’ll have to tell me your skincare routine.”
“How old are you, Edie?” asked Ryan.
“Twenty-six.”
I expected a flinch, but instead, Ryan just smiled. “That’s how old I was when I had Maddie. It was a good year for me. I hope it’s good for you, too.”
I looked back at James. I couldn’t see his head as he stood inside the mostly-finished tent, but I could see his khaki pants, the hem of his Oxford shirt coming untucked as he adjusted the fairy lights that ringed the inside of the party tent.
“I think it’s been good for him, so far,” Ryan said quietly, and I nodded, unable to speak–the lump in my throat was far too big.
“There,” James said, and ducked out from the purple monstrosity now sitting in the center of the living room. “I emerge victorious.” His hair was mussed and his eyes determined.
“Thanks, Uncle Jamie!” called Maddie, from somewhere in its depths, and then a round of giggles drowned out her voice.
“What’d I miss?”
“The last round–anyone want another lemonade?” Ryan offered, and when James grinned, darted off to get him a glass.
“We can leave whenever you feel like, Edie,” James said, gesturing behind himself. “My work here is done, if you want to go get some dinner, or go to mine, or…”
“What about Charlie?” I asked. The man had wandered off after Ryan.
“He’s hanging out here with Ryan. They’re having a ‘boys’ night in’ tonight.” He made air quotes around the phrase. “Ryan doesn’t have a babysitter right now, so Charlie’s skipping out on one night of doing…whatever it ishe does on Saturdays,” he shuddered, “to keep him company tonight.”
“It’s not every day your daughter turns ten,” I said, and James smiled.
“Onlyoneday, in fact.”
“You don’t think Ryan will have any more? He’s still young…”
James laughed. “He’s thirty-six, Edie.”
“So? You’re thirty-eight. You don’t want to have kids?” I asked, and then realized after a long beat what, exactly, I had asked.
