Brie looks back at me, a tentative smile crossing her lips. “Ethan and I have one more thing for you.”
I wave my hands in front of me, shaking my head. “You’ve already given me too much.”
Ethan hands Brie an envelope, and she tosses it over to me. “Before you open it,” she says, “we are absolutely, positively sure that we want to give this to you.”
Anxiety begins to bubble inside me again, and I want to dig myself deeper into my hole. Or have the salty tide sweep me out of my home in the sand, into the vast hiding places of the sea.
But my sister won’t let me hide. She and Ethan both watch as I open the envelope, waiting for my reaction. I’m sure it will be about as good as when everyone yelled “surprise” a few hours earlier.
Inside is a birthday card with a woman on the cover lounging on a hot-pink chaise, engrossed in a novel. The front reads,Some people live by the book.
Looking up, I glance at the two of them, at the expectation on their faces. There’s no turning back now. I open the card.
Others write their own story.
Under the words is a hand-drawn picture of a stick woman wearing a pair of green boots, a brownish structure that resembles the Eiffel Tower looming behind her. Oscar, I assume, drew it incrayon for me. He likes to draw and wants me to readHenri’s Walk to Parisalmost every night I’m here.
Underneath is a note from Brie.Happy birthday, Sis. It’s time for you to write a chapter or two of your own.
I shake my head, eyeing her, then my brother-in-law. “I don’t understand.”
Ethan steps forward, handing me a slip of folded paper. “We want you to go away.”
“Go away?” My words fall out in a violent rush. It feels as if I’ve been slapped.
Brie laughs. “Not for good or anything.”
Relieved, I take a breath. “I still don’t understand.”
“You were so full of life when we were kids, Callie, always talking about the places you were going to explore when you grew up. I wanted to be just like you one day.”
“And now?”
Brie exchanges a glance with Ethan before continuing. “It’s like you’ve climbed up on the edge of the pool in the past two years, and I—we—want you to dive into life again. Fly to Paris or go swim in the Caribbean or take a Hawaiian cruise like Ethan and I did last year.”
The next words pour out before I can censor them. “Except I don’t have anyone to go with me.”
When I see Brie’s face, I feel rotten. Guilty, once again, for making my sister feel bad.
“Nor will you,” she insists, “if you don’t try to meet some new friends...”
Who aren’t married—I know what she’s thinking, but the thought dangles out there. My high school, college, and church friends have either moved or married by now. Most of them havechildren of their own, which isn’t very conducive to flying away for a week or two, at least not with an old friend. And even if Brie didn’t have kids, she couldn’t vacate with me. One of us needs to stay at the store.
Opening the check, I gasp at the number. “That’s too much.”
The smile returns to Brie’s face. “The money we find in our used books adds up.”
“We haven’t found three thousand dollars!”
“Charlotte contributed some to your travel fund, and Ethan and I threw in a little extra as well.” She shrugs. “Consider it payment for the many hours you’ve helped in the store.”
“I already get paid.” Not to mention my apartment...
“Please take it,” Ethan says in a way that deflects any argument. “And spend a few weeks traveling this summer.”
“Perhaps Charlotte would want to see Paris.”
Brie shook her head. “This is an adventure she wants you to have on your own.”
