“Mom, it’s fine.” I looked away as quickly as I dared. I couldn’t let her see me cry, which I felt perilously close to doing with my sister as far away from me as our kitchen would allow.
“Let me get you a bandage,” Mom said, heading out of the kitchen. “Keep it under the water.”
As soon as she left, I looked at Selena, who was studiously not looking at me.
“I can’t stand you not talking to me, not right now.”
She slapped a hand towel down on the counter. “What do you want from me?”
I could only shake my head. “You don’t believe me, fine, but at least believe thatIbelieve this.”
But she turned her back on me again, and my sliced finger wasn’t a blip on the pain scale compared to the rest of me.
I was still staring at her when Mom came back. Couldn’t Selena see that I wanted to be lying? That I’d give anything for her to be right about me being a jealous attention monger? I’d rather almost anything be true than Dad having had an affair and son.
“Smells good,” Dad said, coming in and dropping a kiss on the back of Mom’s neck before she shooed him out to the dining room. My gaze trailed him, staying at the doorway even after he was gone, and in turn, I felt Mom’s on me.
“You know what, I think I forgot one little thing upstairs. I’ll just be real quick.”
Selena didn’t so much as glance in my direction while we finished cooking or when Mom returned, squeezing my shoulder with a quick, “Smile, it’s going to a happy night,” before leading us to the dinner table.
Selena’s overly bright and enthusiastic demeanor only highlighted the contrast between the two of us as we ate. But it was Dad’s birthday, so Mom didn’t call me out on it. Instead she beamed at Dad, kissed him at least a dozen times throughout the meal, whenever the impulse struck her. I eventually had to stare at my plate to hide the tears that kept springing to my eyes.
At last the cake was brought out, and it was covered in so many candles—way more than the forty-two for Dad’s age—and theOLDcandle prominently placed in the center. Dad pursed his lips seeing it and Mom howled with laughter in response, almost dropping the cake until Selena and I jumped up to take it from her. Mom kept laughing until Dad pulled her into his lap and kissed her soundly. He kept her in his lap while we sang “Happy Birthday” to him and he blew out the candles. Mom started laughing again because it took him two tries to get them out.
Selena was clapping and I was quietly dying watching them all. Smiling and so damn happy.
“Okay, okay,” Mom said when the song ended. “I have to say something. Every year, on this day, I’m the one who gets the gift. I get the best husband, the best father and the best friend I could ever ask for.” Her eyes were shining as she gazed at him. She always cried on his birthday. “I don’t love you half as well as you love me.”
“You love me just right,” Dad said, covering the hand she rested against his cheek. “So much more than I deserve.”
I couldn’t duck my head fast enough that time.
“Dana,mija.” She reached for my hand across the table.
“I’m sorry,” I said, blinking away the moisture in my eyes. “I must be tired or something. Can we just open presents and then maybe I can go to bed early?”
“Yes,” Mom said, smiling more than she should have considering I’d been nearly crying a moment ago. “I’ll grab them.” She scrambled from Dad’s lap, returning a moment later with the three presents I’d seen earlier but also a silver wrapped box that I hadn’t.
“Who’s that one from?” Selena asked.
Mom only smiled at her in response.
Dad opened the Diamondback tickets from Mom first, then a watch from Selena that she’d had engraved. When he reached for my gift, Mom stopped him.
“While I’m sure this is a really great movie, I think this is the gift Dana wants you to have.” She slid him the silver wrapped box, the size clothing usually comes in.
I frowned as Dad began untying the ribbon on a gift I had neither bought nor wrapped.
“I saw the envelope on your desk—I didn’t open it, I swear,” she added when I blanched. My heart fisted its way into my throat.
“I just put it in a nicer box.”
Horror froze me to my chair, iced over my limbs and kept me from lunging across the table and tearing it from his hands. Not like this. Not with Mom grinning and half-curled around his side. Not with Dad smiling as the silver wrapping paper floated to the floor.
Dad lifted the lid and opened the plain white envelope. His smile faltered. “Dana, what is DNA Detective?”
“No!” Selena shot to her feet. “It’s not—She’s not—” And then she looked at me, pure panic widening her eyes.
