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“I hadn't told him. Obviously. How the hell would I tell him?”

She doesn't answer, and I look down at my hands, trying to find the words to explain something I still don't understand myself.

“He told me to have fun. To live.”

“Maybe he came to tell you,” she says softly.

I look up at her. “You think?”

She shrugs, quickly wiping beneath one eye before she ruins her mascara. “I think there are a lot of things in this world we don't understand.”

“He felt real.”

“Then keep that part.”

Our eyes meet again, and she gives me a small smile.

“You don't have to explain everything.”

I breathe out slowly, letting her words settle.

Maybe I don't.

Chiara grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. “Now come on. Apparently we have karaoke, beer and fun to attend.”

I laugh. “You already sound brainwashed.”

“I like Penny.”

“You met her a few days ago.”

“And?”

Fair.

The second I walk into Midnight Rodeo, I stop.

“Those fucking liars.”

Chiara bursts out laughing.

“Happy birthday!”

The shout comes from somewhere ahead of me. Thankfully, it isn't the whole bar, but there are balloons tied around two tables pushed together near the back, a ridiculous amount of food and a cake that absolutely nobody in their right mind would describe as little.

Almost the entire Hawthorne family is here.

And then I see two people standing among them, and everything else fades into the background.

“Mamma?”

I'm across the room and in my mother's arms before I even realize I've started moving. She holds me tightly, and I bury my face against her shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of her perfume.

God, I've missed her.

“Happy birthday, amore mio,” she whispers into my hair.

I pull back just enough to look at her, and that's when I see my dad standing beside us, beaming at me. I let go of my mother and throw my arms around him.