“You look so good together,” I say.
Mari catches my eye, shaking her head as if she’s thinking the same.My lips twitch.
After, we do presents.Emily opens them with help from Mari.
“It’s… a purple basketball!”Mari says with feigned enthusiasm when they open the package from Jay.
“Gotta start ‘er soon if she’s going to be pro, right Clay?”
“Hell yeah.”
“They’re bath paints,” I explain when she opens the gift from us.“So she can make art on the side of the bathtub.It washes off, I promise.”
Then, there’s a cake with a sparkler.We sing for Emily, and Mari blows out the candle.
Jay shifts in his seat.“When Brooke and I were growing up, everyone got a wish for the year.”
We’re silent for a minute as we each do it.
“Everyone got theirs?”Jay asks.
I cut a look at Clay as I think about what I want.
We nod one by one.
“Now what?”I ask.
“Now we eat cake.”
Once the meal is done, Clay ensures everyone’s glasses are full.
“I ordered something special,” I say, ushering everyone out to the balcony at sunset.
“What is it?”Mari asks, glancing around.
The fireworks start.
Mari gasps.“You did this?”
I nod.“They were your favorite when we were kids.You asked for them for your birthday, and our parents always said?—”
“Fireworks are for holidays,” she finishes.“And I said my birthday was a holiday.”
“Thought we could start a tradition for Emily.You and I moved around, but we were always under the same sky.”
She throws her arms around me.
I rest my head on her shoulder.“What’d you wish for, Mar?”
“That I can fit in here as well as you do.”
On my other side, Clay takes my hand and squeezes.I squeeze back and watch the lights dance across the horizon, each color blazing and shimmering and fading into the next.
“You did this.”
Clay’s murmur makes me turn toward him.
“I know.I got the fireworks.”
