“I’m afraid there’s been a mix-up,” the lady at the cake shop tells us. “I can see you ordered a chocolate cake, but your order note is attached to a strawberry one.”

She shows it to us, and indeed, it says Happy Birthday, Emilia. My dad and I both groan, but Emilia’s dad just shrugs. “It’s pretty enough. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

I shake my head. “Emilia hates anything that’s strawberry flavored,” I tell him. I look at the employee that’s helping us through narrowed eyes. She looks familiar, but I can’t quite place her. One of Gabby’s friends? As far as I’m aware, Gabby and Kate have finally stopped being friends. I hate how Kate is all over Emilia now, as though she didn’t ditch her the second a more popular girl befriended her. I love my sister, but I hate the way she’s been behaving. I can’t believe Emilia lets her get away with it so easily too.

“That’s nonsense. Emilia loves strawberries. She eats them all the time,” John says.

I close my eyes and sigh. “Yeah, she loves strawberries. She just hates anything that’s artificially strawberry flavored.” She can’t stand the fake flavor, but she loves the real thing.

“It’s all right, John,” my dad says to Emilia’s dad. “We can just get a refund on the deposit for this one and get her another one.”

I nod in agreement, but Emilia’s dad shakes his head. “No, this’ll do. I don’t want to get her one of those supermarket cakes. I think this’ll be fine. She’ll like this better than anything else we can get her on such short notice.”

He hands over his credit card and I sigh. I can’t believe this. I know for a fact that she’s going to hate this cake and that she does, in fact, have a thing for the chocolate cake at the small bakery down the road. I wish we hadn’t trusted John to pick a cake. It’s obvious he doesn’t know his daughter at all.

I’m about to interrupt when my father shakes his head at me. He throws me a look that tells me to shut up. It’s her sixteenth birthday, for God’s sake. She should at least have a cake that she’ll love. I know it’s not our place, but it’s clear even my dad knows Emilia better than John does.

I’m stewing as we make our way back to the house. I’ll need to find some time to grab her a chocolate cake, because I know she’ll hate this one. I’ll be very surprised if she even takes a single bite. I’ve got a surprise planned for her tonight, and I hope everything goes to plan.

We make it back to the house minutes before the girls do. Thankfully, we decorated everything before we went to pick up the cake. All three of us are in a rush to get the final things done, but we just about manage.

I’m oddly excited when the front door opens and Emilia walks in. On cue, all three of us pop our party poppers, sending confetti flying everywhere. Emilia jumps in fright and then smiles when she spots us and the decorations.

“Happy birthday!” we all yell. She giggles and we hug her one by one. I’m delighted when she lingers in my arms for a couple of seconds longer, and I press a covert kiss to her neck.

My mom throws an arm around her shoulder and pulls her towards the living room. We’ve got dozens of balloons against the ceiling and her birthday cake on the coffee table. She gasps as she looks around, her eyes finding mine. I wink at her and she giggles.

Her dad starts singing happy birthday while my mom lights the candles. Emilia falls to her knees in front of the coffee table and stares up at all of us, her face lit up with pure delight. I’m relieved to see her enjoying her day. This morning it seemed like she wasn’t having a good time. She walked in with bags underneath her eyes and she was in a mellow mood. She’s been a bit odd all week, come to think of it. I’m worried about her. Gabby has finally disappeared from our lives and I thought she’d be happy about it, but she’s been acting strange instead.

Emilia glances up at me before blowing out the candles, and for a second I wonder if she thought of me when she made her wish. She and I only have a couple of months left together before I’ll leave for college, and I hope she wants to spend them with me the way I want to spend them with her.

Emilia cuts the cake and frowns a little. She looks up at her dad with disappointment, but hides it instantly and smiles. She hands everyone a slice of cake and then takes a bite of her own slice. She struggles to mask her disgust, and her smile looks awkward, but it seems like only Kate and I notice. Kate discreetly swaps her empty plate for Emilia’s and I sigh in relief.

“Told you she’d love the cake,” her dad says, pointing at her empty plate. I blink in disbelief and nod slowly. How can the man be this clueless?

I wait patiently for the evening to end. It’s not obvious to anyone but me and maybe Kate, but Emilia is definitely not having a good time. She was delighted at the start but her excitement waned quickly — her mood is back to what it was this morning. Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes and she looks impatient for the day to end, but I’ll be sure to change that tonight.

Chapter 28

Emilia

I’m tired. Exhausted, really. Ever since Kate made me promise to never fall for Carter, my heart has just felt broken. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat. All I can think about is him, and how badly I want to be with him. I’m not even excited about my own birthday, and until a week ago I’d been counting down the days diligently.

I get into bed eagerly. I can’t wait for this day to be over already. Kate and Helen have tried their best to give me a good day, and the spa day we had was really fun, but I just couldn’t enjoy myself. It’s like no matter how hard I try, my heart isn’t in it.

I’ve only been in bed for a few minutes when I hear my bedroom door open. I sit up in surprise. My dad seemed dead tired when we got in, so I didn’t think he’d come to my room. My eyes widen when I see Carter standing in my doorway.

“Are you crazy?” I hiss. He and I are both dead if my dad catches us. Carter shrugs and holds up one of his hoodies. He pulls me out of bed and pushes the hoodie over my head.

“Your birthday isn’t over yet, baby,” he whispers. Carter pulls me along and out of the door quietly, pausing long enough for me to get my flip-flops on. He leads me straight to his car and grins as he buckles me in.

“What are you doing? Where are we going?”

Carter smiles. “It’s a surprise,” he tells me. I’m instantly excited. I love surprises, but I guess I’m also excited to spend some alone time with him. He and I haven’t spent a single second alone since I made Kate that promise. But tonight, I’m weak. Tonight, I need a high enough dose of Carter to sustain me for the foreseeable future.

Carter is quiet as he drives us towards the nearby woods, but his excitement is palpable. I can’t help but be ridiculously excited too. When we finally reach our destination, he takes out a flashlight before running around to get me. Rather than helping me out of the car, he lifts me into his arms. He pushes the car door closed with his hip and carries me into the woods, one arm underneath my knees and one arm supporting my back.

“Hey, are you murdering me and burying me out here?” I whisper.