“Fine…” he sighed. “Ten thousand.”
“Are you out of your mind?” I asked.
“No. I’m worried about my son. I want the best for him, and you aren’t the best. Now, twenty thousand is my final offer. If you’re smart, you’ll take it. Because trust me, if the carrot doesn’t work, I can bring out the stick.”
“I repeat: get out.”
“Sorry to inform you of this, honey, but this is my son’s apartment, not yours.”
“Perfect. Then if you like, I’ll go tell your son what you’re up to in here.”
That worked. Mr. Ross tore a check out of his checkbook and threw it at me in disgust. I bent over to pick it up, ready to ball it up and throw it in his face, but then I accidentally spilled a bit of coffee and stayed crouched, trying awkwardly to wipe it up with my wounded hand.
“If I find you here again, this will get ugly,” Mr. Ross said on his way out.
I have to admit, that scared me. But it was also hard to take him too seriously. He wasn’t Monty—I couldn’t see him trying to hurt me—and bribery wasn’t going to work.
When I’d finished cleaning up, I put my cup on the bar and looked atthe check. Twenty thousand dollars. Wasn’t that what Jack said a clinic would cost? Realizing this could be his salvation, I folded it up and put it in my pocket.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!”
I had just gotten back from class, and I found myself in the middle of a surprise party. Not that I was really surprised. Even before I left that morning, I’d seen Naya getting things ready.
She and Will were holding a giant card everyone had signed, Mike was double-fisting some beers, Lana and Curtis were blowing noisemakers, Chris was clapping, and Sue was in her armchair trying to pretend none of this was happening.
They’d gone all out: the coffee table was covered in my favorite foods, there were buckets of beer all around, chill music was playing, and balloons were floating up near the ceiling. I hugged Naya and Will, since it was obvious they were the ones who had done most of the work.
“Well, you’ve done the impossible,” I said. “You’ve actually gotten me to agree to celebrate my birthday.”
“That’s the attitude!” Naya shouted.
But Jack was gone, and it took me an hour to start getting into the swing of things without him. I kept telling myself he’d be there soon. Supposedly he was at a party at Vivian’s place. I got it: he must have wanted to talk to her about the phone call. I just hoped he’d still have some time left to come to my party afterward. Otherwise, it wouldn’t feel very special.
I had fun, despite everything. I stuffed my face, then drank a beer with Curtis, who at some point forced me to dance with him. Chris stumbled over and tried to join us. He wasn’t what you’d call suave, and when we cracked up at him, he crossed his arms and sat frustrated on the sofa. When Curtis winked and went over to console him, Mike tried to jump in his place.
“Aw, did he leave you all alone, sister-in-law?”
He was moving his hips suggestively. It was gross, but also hilarious, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “You want to tell me what exactly you’re supposed to be doing?” I asked.
“I’m seducing the birthday girl!”
“Failing to seduce the birthday girl, you mean,” Sue said, taking a sip of her beer. “It looks like the mating ritual of a turkey.”
“Whatever,” Mike said, grabbing her hand. “It’s time for the Drug Squad to bust a move!” Sue tried to get away, but Mike had her trapped, and once she was on her feet, we surrounded her. She pretended to be angry but gave it up after a moment and grinned, not exactly dancing, but bouncing slightly on her feet between us.
Naya got bored and tried to get us to play a game. First it was spin the bottle, but once she got Curtis and Chris to kiss, she didn’t care about it anymore and changed to truth or dare. And since everyone kept picking truth (the best part was when Mike got offended after finding out Sue had been with more girls than he had), she finally just changed the game to dare and let her imagination run wild. She forced me to rewatch a clip from the movie about the psycho nun, Will had to do a sexy dance with Curtis, Chris had to do the same with Sue… The poor guy was lucky to make it through the experience alive.
It was fun, but something was still missing, and that something was Jack. I was thinking about my family, too. I knew some of them were mad at me, and I didn’t expect them to call, but what about Shannon? What about my grandmother? Didn’t anyone remember me? I mean, I forgot their birthdays all the time, but I was the youngest, I had a right…
Chris, who’d gotten a few drinks in him, was trying to dance with Sue again, and it was amusing enough that I knew no one would notice when I walked away and took out my phone, scrolling back and forth looking for Jack’s number. I was too nervous to call, so I opted for a voice message,feeling a little pathetic: “Hey there…” I said, “I’m not trying to be needy on my birthday, but…you think there’s any chance you could show up here before midnight? Pretty please? They threw a pretty cool party for me here at the apartment. I’m sure you’d have fun if you’d show up. I guess you’ll see clips of it, I’m sure Sue’s recording everything and putting it on her TikTok…”
I saw a call coming in, but my brain needed a few moments to grasp the significance of the letters on my screen.Mom. Now I was nervous. Was she just going to wish me a happy birthday like nothing had happened? Would she chew me out about something? I didn’t know, and I didn’t know which was worse, but I decided to stop thinking about it and just pick up.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hey,” she murmured, sounding cautious.
I swallowed, trying to get rid of the knot in my throat.
