Harvey is back to his trusty leather jacket and Grace is back to giving her mate‘sexy eyes’.
For his birthday monkey insisted on wearing his favorite Disney sweatshirt with a dashing lion printed on the front. My little monkey is beaming with happiness, his dino clutched to his chest and I have to pinch myself to check if this is a dream.
Seiji follows my gaze to where I’m admiring Angel’s muscular back and huffs. “So, you’re letting it go? That woman flirted with your man, and you won’t do anything?”
Why do I feel he is trying to get a reaction out of me? “Angel didn’t pay her any attention, and she ran off when introduced myself as his wife. There is no need to do anything,” I purposely avoid telling him how I was close to breaking her nose earlier.
Hazel pipes in. “Couldn’t be me. If I had a man, and some bitch was trying to get all cozy with him, you best believe she would have three less fingers to count on and way fewer teeth in her mouth.”
I can’t help but slightly agree, but I’m trying to be civil for Angel’s sake. He is already stressed about mending fences with all the people Hazel has pissed off on our behalf, and causing a scene will only add to his stress.
The list Hazel handed over was four pages long.Backand front.I didn’t even bother checking the number of people on it, but I did scan some of the reasons.
While some were genuinely creepy and were asking for a stabbing, the majority were Hazel offendingthemand then taking offense from their retaliated.
For example, when a man joked about how she was similar to his pet fish (the rare kind), she shot the tank to prove him wrong.
“Stop trying to instigate her, you troublemakers,” Grace chastises them.
As usual, Grace is the good tiny angel on my shoulder, and these two idiots are the devils with red horns and a pitchfork. In the movies, I love it when the little devil wins, but in reality, it’s better to listen to the angel in white.
Leaving the paintball arena, we stick around at the edge of the Griari empire for the rest of the day and tour the nearby shops before picking a quiet restaurant to cut the cake and have dinner.
Huddled before the restaurant, everyone is bouncing with excitement. August is happy to celebrate his birthday, and Angel and I can barely suppress our emotions over his first milestone with us.
I go to follow them inside, but the strange feeling of being watched stops me. To shake off my paranoia, I scan around, watching every face that turns in our direction, but I don’t find anything.
I turn to face the restaurant again, but not even one step ahead; my spine stiffens, and my head snaps in the direction of a silhouette passing behind the thick trees surrounding us.
The shadow camouflages its darkness with the darkness around it, and a chill runs down my spine.
“Hey, what are you still doing out here? The little guy is about to take a fist out of the cake.”
Hazel startles me, and the silhouette disappears faster than I can blink, making me question if it was shadows from trees playing tricks on my eyes.
“I thought I felt something.”
“I get it. There are too many people around. I don’t like it either but I’ve checked everything inside. Come in now.”
Singing the birthday song at the top of our lungs, I ignore the looks thrown our way and focus on August buzzing like a monkey high on sugar.
Grace asks him to make a wish before blowing out the candles, and I bite my tongue at how ridiculous and creepy the whole human birthday ritual is.
After handing Seiji a plate loaded with the biggest piece of cake, Angel gives me the last of it. Taking the plate to share with August, I’m halfway into my seat when a shaky whisper turns my body to ice.
“Vove you, mama.”
It takes me a second to understand and more to beg every person in the room with my eyes to tell me I’m not dreaming—that the little boy beside me didn’t just say those words.
Right when the first tear rolls down Grace’s cheek, reality sets in. Seiji’s spoon slips past his fingers as he gapes at monkey to make sure he heard it right.
Clutching the back of my chair until my knuckles turn white, I search for Angel to confirm that my mind isn’t playing tricks on me again and August just spoke his first words to me. With a slow, stunned nod, his glassy eyes take in the boy sitting with his head down.
His small sniffle echoes in the silent room, breaking me out of my shock. When monkey wipes his nose with the back of his hand, my heart nearly stops beating from the hurt on his face. His hands fists his sweatshirt as he sits still from my reaction—or the lack of it.
I was so busy trying to take in what happened that I forgot to react. I didn’t say it back, and now my little boy is crying. I will hate myself forever if I ruin this for him—for us. Carefully spinning August's chair, I crouch before him and take his hands to hold them between mine.
“I’m sorry baby, please don’t cry. You just surprised me… of course I love you too, kiddo.” The crack in my voice betrays how hard I’m trying to keep the tears at bay. I don’t want him to think I’m sad because of what he said.
