Twenty-four

Haley

Fed up with watching David and Madison flirt—it definitely looked as if they were flirting—Haley excused herself and went to the restroom to calm down.

What the hell?

Madison had even smiled at him at one point. Funny way to show her hatred. And what about David? So much for being in love with her, and for promising he wouldn’t try to play mind games or make her jealous… And why was it that simply seeing him talk to one of her friends made her jealous?

They used to be together.

So? What place do you have being jealous?

Haley shook her head. None.

Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling. And it annoyed her.

Haley entered the restroom and stood in front of the mirror. She didn’t really need to use the toilet, so she decided to fluff her hair and reapply her cranberry lip gloss.

On top of everything else, Scott still hadn’t called to wish her happy birthday. Sure, he’d sent a cute message with a silly picture that morning, but nothing else all day. He was probably locked in an OR, but Haley wished he’d make the effort to find the time to call.

When she could no longer pretend to be fixing her hair, Haley dropped her lip gloss in her clutch and headed out, checking her phone for new messages. There were none.

“Hello, Birthday Girl.” David’s voice startled her halfway down the corridor to the main bar.

Haley lifted her gaze from the screen to find him propped against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. He’d clearly been waiting for her.

“What? Are you stalking me now?”

“Oooh.” That infuriatingly sexy grin spread on his lips. “Feisty, aren’t we? I like it.” He lowered his gaze to her legs. “The heels, too.”

“What do you want?” Haley didn’t know why she was being so rude.

“Only to wish you a happy birthday.”

“You could’ve done it as soon as you saw me.”

“True.” David pushed himself off the wall and searched the folds of his jacket. “But I wanted a little extra privacy to give you this.” He took a small box out of an inside pocket.

“What is that?”

“A birthday gift, obviously.”

Haley softened at once. “David, you can’t give me gifts.”

“What? Now a friend can’t give you a present for your birthday?”

Haley scowled at him. “A friend could. Is that what we are… friends?”

Lips curling up only at one corner of his mouth, David said, “This is a one hundred percent friendly gift.” He handed her the small box.

“What is it?”

“Open it.”

Haley did, and gasped when she discovered a stunning dark-silver locket inside. It was an engraved oval in a Gothic style, beautiful and perfect. “David, thank you, it’s gorgeous. You shouldn’t have.”

He really shouldn’t have.

“May I?” he asked.

Haley gave him the necklace and turned toward the wall, holding her hair up. David came closer, looping the necklace around her neck and fastening it at her nape. His fingers grazed her skin, and shivers spread down her spine. Haley had to make an effort not to shudder under his touch.

“Now,” he said, letting the chain fall in place. “You wouldn’t think I’d buy you jewelry, right?”

Haley scoffed, facing him again. “No?”

David reached for the pendant. “It’s a secret container.” He flipped the locket open to reveal a hidden USB key inside. “Thirty-two gigs of data at your disposal anytime you need it, Miss Robot.”

Haley smiled. This really was the perfect gift for her. “A girl never knows when she might need extra gigs.”

Just then, Haley’s phone started ringing. Lovefool.

“It’s Scott,” she said. “He hasn’t wished me happy birthday yet.”

David’s smile faltered slightly. “I’ll leave you to it. See you later.”

Haley watched him go, filled with mixed emotions. She waited until he’d turned the corner to pick up.

“Hey,” she breathed into the mic.

“Hey, are you out celebrating? I can barely hear your voice over the music.”

In the hall the music was less loud than in the main bar, but it was still loud, especially to talk over the phone.

“Give me a minute; I’ll go outside… Here. Can you hear me now?”

“Loud and clear. Happy birthday!”

“Thanks.”

Tires screeched on the concrete, distracting Haley. She lifted her gaze and spotted a familiar truck crossing the road and merging onto the MA-28 toward Cambridge. She only got a side-peek at the driver, but enough to recognize his slight frown. The same one he had on whenever he was concentrating on the road—she should know, she’d spent seven hours watching him drive not long ago.

Haley’s chest contracted a little at seeing David go. Was he mad at her? He couldn’t be. At least, he didn’t have any right to be. Maybe it was better this way for everyone. On impulse, Haley’s phone-free hand closed around the locket dangling from her neck.

“Haley, are you still there?” Scott’s voice brought her out of her trance.

“Yeah, sorry. What were you saying?”

“I was asking if you’re having fun.”

“Yeah, the girls organized a surprise party, they made me a birthday cupcake, fed me pizza, and now we’re in downtown Boston to celebrate with everybody else.”

“Sorry I can’t be there.” The hurt was audible in Scott’s tone.

“It’s as if you were.”

Only it wasn’t. Not really.

There was a pause. Was Scott thinking the same? Instead, after a while, he asked, “Is David there?”

“He was.” Haley didn’t want to lie. “But he left early.”

“Oh.”

Was it an I’m-upset-he-was-there oh, an I’m-happy-he’s-gone oh, or something between the two?

“Anyway,” Haley continued. “I’m doing it more for the girls than for me. My birthday wish was to have an early night. I leave at five tomorrow morning.”

“That’s the saddest wish ever.”

“Well, nothing great has happened lately.”

“Haley?”

“Yeah?”

“Stare up at the sky.”

Haley looked up at the dark blue sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight. “Okay?”

“Can you see the stars?”

“Uh-huh?”

“I’m looking at the same stars…”

Finally, a small smile crept on Haley’s lips. “Are you going all cheesy romantic on me?”

“You bet I am! I promise you, Haley, this is the last birthday you spend alone.”

“I wish I could kiss you right now.”

“That sounds like a much better wish. Tilt your head up and send a kiss to the stars… They’ll pass it over.”

Feeling silly, but also giddily romantic, Haley gazed up, pressed her hand to her mouth, and blew a kiss to the sky. “Done! It should get to you in approximately… mmm… six hours, assuming kisses travel as fast as planes.”

“I won’t go to bed until it gets here. Now, go enjoy your party. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

With one last glance at the sky, and then at the spot where David’s truck had disappeared, Haley walked back inside the bar.

***

The day after the birthday party, she left for Buffalo. Her mom had been super excited when Haley had announced she’d fly over to celebrate her birthday with them, and that she’d stay home for as long as she could. It had been ages since she’d stayed in Buffalo for more than a few days. Usually, even for the holidays, Haley never stayed more than a week.

At first, between the celebrations, the catching up with her parents, and the rest of the family’s entourage—grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and old friends—it was a family-reunion honeymoon. Haley was so grateful her dad was home that she didn’t care about following the lifestyle of a fifty-five-year-old couple.

But after almost two weeks at home, Haley—as much as she loved her parents—couldn’t stand living with them any longer. Her dad, usually the life of the party, was mostly sulky about his new healthy-but-unsavory diet. And her mom had started bugging Haley about all kinds of annoying house chores. The day Miranda Thomas told her she should clean up her room, Haley knew she had to get back to Boston. It was only ten days before the official year start, and every single one of her friends was going crazy over the massive end-of-summer party Blake Donovan was throwing.

Blake was on the basketball team, and was also apparently a rich kid with a summer house in the country, complete with an Olympic-size outdoor pool. And since his parents were away in Europe, he’d decided to put the empty house to good use.

In their roomies WhatsApp group, Madison wouldn’t stop going on and on about the party—for a generally quiet introvert, she had a weird love for parties—but even Alice showed some excitement. Haley was torn; the date of the party would be only a day after Scott came back from California. She wasn’t at all sure she’d be ready to share him with the world after only one night together.

But, party or not, Haley craved to be home in her own apartment. Free to eat or not eat at whatever weird hour of the day or night she pleased. Free to leave her dirty socks on the floor for as long as she liked without the socks police—aka her mom—yelling after her. And as much as she loved her dad, she was too young to follow his no-salt-no-bacon-no-nothing-remotely-yummy diet. Definitely time to hug her parents goodbye and go.