Jessica dug her heels into the ground below her and tried not to look uncomfortable as she pushed back in her chair and rose to her feet. Her pop was already in a big bear hug with his sister, and Jessica’s aunt Mary, when she cast her a look and Jessica knew what was coming next.
“Where’s Zack?” her aunt asked as she let go of Rich, Jess’s father, and pulled her niece into a big, warm hug.
Jessica tried to ignore the question and hugged her aunt back, just hoping it would all be forgotten.
“Happy Birthday!” her uncle called to her as he appeared in the doorway of the restaurant and started to make his way over to the table. Jessica managed to slink her arm free, out of her aunt’s grip, and she raised it to wave.
“Zack?” her aunt said again into Jessica’s ear.
She took a deep breath and prepared to spin her well-rehearsed line.
“We’re just taking some time off at the moment, Aunt Mary,” Jessica said quietly, trying to keep it so that her father didn’t hear too much or ask too many questions. “It all got a little full on a little fast for me…”
She trailed off and her aunt held her back at arm’s length and looked at her. She had the look in her eye as if she was fully aware there was more to this story but that she didn’t want to push it. She nodded her head slowly and kept her mouth shut, before she turned and dipped her shoulder in to meet Jess’s where she whispered into her ear…
“I’m glad,” she whispered so that no one else at the table could hear. “I wasn’t overly keen on him. Never warmed to him properly.”
Her Aunt Mary raised a lone finger to her lips to signal silence and then she winked and turned her attention back to finding a place to sit at the table. Jess smiled and felt a wave of relief. At least she had her aunt on her side and wasn’t going to face interrogation.
For what was supposed to be a small, intimate family meal to celebrate Jessica’s twenty-fifth birthday, it suddenly felt as if a lot of fuss was being made. She hugged her uncle and her cousins, and then she sat down at the table next to her best friend Kiara and raised her eyebrows.
“I love your family,” Kiara purred as she smiled widely up at all the Durrett’s with a ton of affection.
“Well, I guess someone has to,” Jessica joked with a wry smile.
Her dad moved around the table and made sure everyone had a place to sit and then he stopped at the head of it and raised a glass before he tinged it with his knife. The table noise dramatically lowered, and Jess dipped her head down and tried not to blush flame red, she knew the attention was about to be drawn toward her with full force.
“My baby girl,” her dad said warmly as he held his glass of wine and looked toward her at the other end of the table. “Not so little anymore, and certainly making me prouder and prouder every day,” he beamed… and Jessica felt the familiar pang of sadness that she always suffered whenever it was a family occasion. “And your mother would be so proud of you too…” he said as he blinked away a tear of his own.
Jessica nodded her head and there was a rumble of agreement from everyone around her.
“I don’t want to go on and on as I have a habit of doing,” he laughed. “So, I just want to say happy birthday to the best daughter a man could ever ask for, and here’s wishing you a wonderful and exciting year ahead.”
“Hear, hear!” Kiara agreed as she raised her glass and everyone else sitting with them followed suit.
Jessica knew she was blushing, but she felt happy and grateful to have her family around her, and she smiled and dipped her head coyly.
“Thank you, everyone,” she said genuinely. “And thank you for coming, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Aww,” her cousin Daphne said. “As if we would ever miss it!”
“It’s not an option,” her aunt smiled. “Us Durrett’s stick together.”
Jessica beamed back at them both and then she took a sip of her Merlot and let the warmth roll through her. Maybe she was going to have a good birthday after all.
She looked across at Kiara who was busy perusing the menu that they all must have known by heart, and then she too picked it up and started to scan it.
Even though she hadn’t been in for a while, the bistro was one of the only places in Slate Springs which felt like a good place to have a big old family dinner. And when it came to fine dining, it was most definitely the closest thing the town had. During the day, it was a kind of easy going and relaxed café, but by night, the wine carafes came out, the candles were lit, the music tinkled its way through the building and out onto the street where it helped their little town feel alive. It had been there for as long as Jessica had been alive, and probably many years before that, and she felt a swell of affection as she looked across toward the bar and saw the owner, Old Jim, sitting there nursing a whiskey and smoking a big old cigar.
“What are you having then?” Kiara asked as she nudged her shoulder against Jessica’s. “I mea,n in here you’ve gotta go with a classic, am I right?” she laughed.
“Damned sure you are,” Jess nodded. “Spaghetti, meatballs… or Jim’s special parmigiana.”
“Hmm,” Kiara mused as she stroked her chin. “Decisions, decisions.”
“Spaghetti for me,” Jess grinned as she slammed closed her menu and picked up her wine glass and swilled it around before she raised it to her lips and took a sip. “With a big side salad and a lot more of this.”
She winked, and Kiara laughed too.
“Well, it is your birthday,” she smiled. “You’re only twenty-five once.”
“Exactly,” Jess nodded. “And I intend to fully take advantage of the opportunity of having all my favorite people here and celebrating in style.”
“As long as you take it easy,” her pop called down the table with a knowing smile.
Jess rolled her eyes and nodded, and he gave her a wink. Even though it had almost been a week since the incident out in the desert and the fact that she had ended up in the ER, her dad was still being overly protective of her and she didn’t want to give him any more reasons to worry. Thankfully, he hadn’t quizzed her too much over Zack, and a part of her worried that he may have guessed he had played a part in it… but then, surely, Zack would be paying the price, and Jess had seen him looking perfectly normal around town the day before.
“You look deep in thought,” Kiara said, breaking the spell and Jessica took a breath and turned to look at her.
“Oh, you know,” she said. “Just another year older and not a lot wiser…”
“You can’t say that,” Kiara laughed. “You’ve fully got your shit together. It’s me who’s got to shake things up a bit and get my ass in gear.”
Jessica gave her a weak smile and was glad that Old Jim was heading toward the table with his pen and pad raised, ready to take their orders.
“Come on then, Durrett’s,” he said heartily. “What are we getting for you all?”
The family began to order and Jessica smiled. She felt eternally grateful to have such a strong unit around her, and she was truly blessed and happy.
She looked across at Kiara and knew, deep down, that she was right, even though she didn’t like to push it in her face. Jess did have her shit together, she was self-sufficient and working for herself, she had her own place in a great little part of town, and she had a strong family unit. She may have lost her mother when she was a child, but she would forever hold her in her heart, and she only had many things to look forward to when it came to the future and all that could possibly lay ahead.
“And so, when I got the call and she said she was in the emergency room, I thought I was going to keel over,” she heard her dad say.
Jessica looked up and widened her eyes, a silent plea for him to stop retelling the story over and over again.
“I’m fine, everyone,” she said as she raised her hands in surrender. “Honestly, it was just a dumb accident.”
“It was no accident,” her father said sternly, the wine clearly taking hold of him and loosening his lips around his nearest and dearest. “Someone tampered with that car.”
“What the hell?” Kiara said as she looked down at Jess with a horrified expression.
“They didn’t,” Jess whispered as she shook her head.
“I’m telling you, someone did,” her dad continued. “And that’s why I’ve decided to take on some extra hands up at the shop.”
“Oh, really Rich, that sounds like a good idea,” her Aunt Mary beamed. “I’ve always said you work too hard, you’re going to give yourself all sorts of health problems with the stress.”
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about me, I’m fine,” her dad laughed as she brushed off the comment. “However, we are getting busier and I could do with some muscle around. I want someone to be there at all times when I can’t be, and the more I have to travel the more likely that is going to be the case, so I thought I better get onto it sharpish.”
“Have you found anyone?” her uncle asked as he passed his menu to Jim. Most of the party had ordered and Jessica whispered her order to Jim so she could keep an ear on the conversation.
“As a matter of fact, I have,” her dad said smugly as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked out at everyone who was staring up at him with wide eyes. “A buddy of mine owed me a favor and he recommended someone who was looking to take on some extra hours.”
“Well, that sound fantastic,” Aunt Mary grinned. “And it seems to have all slipped into place and worked out for you.”
“Oh, it has,” her dad smiled as he reached for his glass and took another sip.
Jessica felt Kiara’s hand jab lightly into her side and she looked down to see her passing her a cellphone with the screen illuminated. She squinted to try and read it, and when she saw that it was from Zack she felt a dip of panic.
“Read it,” Kiara said with an eye roll. “He’s creeping again, and he thinks he can do it through me? As if.”
Jessica took the phone and read the message.
Z: I know it’s Jess’s birthday today and I know you’ll be with her. Tell her I miss her and love her… Please… xx
Jessica found herself rolling her eyes too and she pressed delete.
“I don’t want to know,” she said. “I hope he doesn’t contact you again; if you want to, just block his number.”
“Oh, I will,” Kiara laughed. “I have zero intention of staying in touch with his crazy ass. And plus, I don’t want to be in the middle of you two. If you say it’s done, then it’s done.”
“Oh, it’s done,” Jessica confirmed as she took a sip of her wine. “Done, dusted and buried. I am moving on.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Kiara grinned as she raised her glass and the two girls chinked them together.
It wasn’t long before the food began to arrive and the Durrett’s all tucked in and had one of the best times they had had together in ages. Jessica hadn’t been overly keen on making a big fuss for her birthday, but when it came to being with her family, she knew they always came through and made her see that it was worth it.
She laughed and laughed with her cousins and aunt, with Kiara and her pop, and even Old Jim. They drank red wine, ate pasta and tiramisu, and they all even sang her a happy birthday. When it was time to leave, they were all merry, and Jess linked arms with Kiara as they dipped out of the bistro and onto Main Street.
“Happy Birthday, doll,” Kiara said as the two girls hugged. “And thank you for inviting me.”
They danced together a little, before Jessica started to say goodbye to the rest of her family, and then they all began to walk home. Their home town was small and quaint, and they all lived so close to each other they may as well have been on the same street. And Jessica knew as she waved goodbye to her family and began to walk up her street, toward her house, that she had everything she needed. She was lucky, safe and fortunate… and not having a man in her life wasn’t going to be a make or break deal for her. Zack had clearly been insecure and that was why he had played the trick. He had needed her, but she hadn’t needed him… and he had known it.
As she opened up her front door and stepped into her lovely home, she breathed a sigh of relief and locked the door behind her.
“Another top birthday,” she smiled as she turned off the lights and headed for the stairs.
And the best thing about it, was that she hadn’t missed him once.
She was over Zack and his foolish games, and now the future once again, looked bright.