“Idon’t know if I buy into the whole ‘big birthday’ thing,” I say.“To me, every birthday is a big one, even if I don’t mark it with asplashy party, you know? I could have died when I was fifteen. Ifthings had played out just slightly differently, I could have beenkilled in that car accident. And I don’t know if you know aboutLouisa’s mom, but she was our age when she died.”
Leland nodsslowly. “Wesley told me when I asked why Louisa wasn’t in schoolanymore.”
Hereallywasobservant. I make a mental note to tell Lulu that Lelandnoticed her absence back then; I can picture her grin-and-blushcombo at the thought of someone like Leland Levesque even knowingwho she was in high school.
“What’swith the little smile?” Leland asks, leaning forward to peer at myface.
“Justthinking. Anyway, our friend group basically has two and a halfmonths of celebrations since all our birthdays fall between themiddle of October and the end of December. We do special thingstogether all the time, so unless one of us wants something specificfor her birthday, we don’t make a big deal about the actualday.”
“Hmm. Ilike your way of thinking. Everyday life should be celebrated, notjust the holidays and special occasions.”
“Exactly.”
I’vebeen trying to remember to live my life that way recently. I’dnearly forgottenhowover the last several years. And even though I’m beingcompletely truthful and I don’t want, need, or expect a bigcelebration, there’s a small part of me that would secretly loveone. My parents always made a big deal about Wesley’s and mybirthdays when we were younger, and my friends always spoil me withattention and gifts, but I’d love to have a proper party. Larswould often mention having a party or even going on a mini vacationaround my birthday, but he never followed through in the entirefive years of our marriage.
He hinted atsomething special for my thirty-second birthday, but when the daycame, I woke up to an empty condo. He’d left a cupcake on thekitchen island, along with a note saying he’d forgotten he had abusiness trip and would see me in a few days. I wondered if it wasa ruse to throw me off a surprise party, so when Evie called towish me a happy birthday, I hinted around before finally comingright out and asking her. She swore she didn’t know anything abouta party, and her tone gave away how upset she was when I told herLars had gone away for a few days.
That afternoon,she, Hollie, and Louisa showed up at my condo in Toronto and toldme to get ready for a night on the town. They took me to dinner ata fancy restaurant, a show at the Princess of Wales Theatre, andthen out for drinks before inviting me for a sleepover at the fancyhotel they’d booked at the last minute.
My eyes sting atthe memory. I mentally take back my earlier thoughts of wishing fora big celebration. I have the greatest friends on the planet, andthey’ve always made me feel loved. They must have been dismayed byLars taking off on my birthday with nothing more than a note and acupcake, but they didn’t say a single disparaging word about himthat night. In that one evening, they made me feel how he neverdid: cherished, valued, supported, and unconditionallyloved.
I pull myself frommy thoughts and glance at Leland. He’s looking around at the treesin the park, his lips curved in the barest of smiles. He doesn’tseem to mind that I withdrew into myself and fell silent for a longtime. He never minded in high school either.
His smile growswhen he catches me looking at him. “I forgot how pretty this placeis, especially in the fall.”
The sound oflaughter draws our attention to a pair of young women on the otherside of the park. One grabs the other’s hand and they take a flyingleap into a giant pile of colorful leaves. I chuckle to myself asthey emerge, laughing even louder than before as they pick leavesout of each other’s hair. They share a kiss, then one of them pullsout her phone to take a picture of them pressed cheek tocheek.
“I’mnot sure I’m up for leaf jumping, but how about a selfie?” Lelandasks.
I shift to standbeside him when he holds out his arm. “Are you going to post thisone in the reunion group too?”
He scrunches hisface as if he’s giving it serious thought. “Undecided. This one mayjust be for me.”
He puts his armaround my shoulders and draws me closer until I’m tucked into hisside. I refuse to entertain the voice in my head that points outhow perfectly we fit together. Or how cute we look as we smile intothe camera, our faces nearly touching. I laugh when he shuffles usaround to get the most colorful trees in the background.
“There,” he says after taking several shots. As he’s showingthem to me, a text pops up on the screen from his sister, asking ifhe can bring more cleaning supplies when he comes to the store. Webegin walking again as Leland taps out a response. I expect him toloop back toward the park’s entrance, but we keep going furtherdown the path.
“Oh,that reminds me,” he says as he slips his phone back in his pocket.“Felicity was wondering how you’d feel about helping her get thestore ready. She’s going to start collecting résumés andinterviewing people in another week or so, but she wanted to startsetting up the store to give potential employees an idea of what toexpect. I suggested she hire someone, but she had a bunch ofreasons that wouldn’t work.”
Leland holds up ahand and begins ticking things off on his fingers as he speaks.“It’s too short notice, considering she wants to get startedimmediately. She doesn’t want to rush through the process of hiringsomeone since she’s become really particular about who she hires.She says it’s better to take her time and hire the right peoplethan hire the wrong ones and have a high employee turnover.According to her, repeat customers like to come into a store likeFandomTown and recognize the people working there. They want towalk in and feel safe and comfortable, knowing they’re talking to afellow nerd. Her words.”
My lips tug into asmile. “I know exactly what she means. When you go into a storelike that, you’re likely either a nerd yourself or looking for agift for someone who’s into specific fandom stuff. You want someonewho gets that and doesn’t act like they’re above itall.”
“That’sexactly what she said. It’s different from a lot of other retailjobs. Employees need to be knowledgeable and—again, herwords—‘willing to geek out with shoppers’.” The air quotes he makesaround the last words has my smile growing.
“Soanyway, she thinks you’d be the perfect person to help her set upthe shop if you’re interested,” he continues. “She said she’d payyou for your time and you could consider it a trial run beforeapplying for a regular job at the store.”
“Shewants me to apply to work there for real?”
“Well,yeah,” Leland says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.“You need a job andsheneeds employees who know their stuff when it comesto fandom…stuff.” He makes a face, laughing at himself. “I’mlearning as much as I can as quickly as I can, but I’m really moreof a behind-the-scenes guy when it comes to the store. Seems to meyou’d be the perfect fit for a job like this.”
“Huh.”It’s the only word I can muster as I consider what he justsaid.
“Felicity said you can have your pick of jobs too,” Lelandadds, his tone cajoling now. “Besides sales associates, she’s alsolooking to fill positions for people to run the store’s socialmedia and events.”
“I…don’t know what to say.”
“Okay,well, what’s stopping you from wanting to work atFandomTown?”
