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It’s been a month of kids whispering behind my back as I walk the halls at school, “Poor Emma!” or “I feel so bad. Vinny chose Juliet over her”—my quartered heart on public display.

But as I look around the kitchen for Vinny to join me in front of our cake so we can blow out the candles, my quartered, broken heart gets publicly displayed once again.

“Oh, Vinny left,” somebody from the crowd explains. “He went to Juliet’s house. She set up a special birthday picnic for him.”

The whispers begin as I blink back the sting of tears.

He left our birthday party for Juliet?

“Then we’ll just sing to Emma.” My mom starts the birthday song as my dad lights sixteen of the thirty-two candles.

I force a smile.

I have to.

Everyone is looking at me.

Once the song ends, my dad shouts, “Make a wish!”

I close my eyes and wish for the one thing I want most in the world: Vinny Brooks.

Present Day

“Then he asked for Emma’s number!” Juliet gushes to Hess and Camila as we spill into her condo. “Talk about the best birthday ever. You get hit on by the hot Uber driver.”

“He probably won’t even call,” I say, taking a seat at her kitchen table. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

Nate sits across from me. “I don’t know. He seemed pretty interested. Don’t you think, Vinny?”

“Sure.” Vinny’s in the corner of the kitchen with his back to us, placing twenty-seven candles into my cake.

Sure.

I guess that means he’s back to being nonchalant about my love life.

“We’ll see.” I wear my best smile as I look back at my friends crammed around Juliet’s kitchen table.

Carly sits on Nate’s lap because there aren’t enough chairs for everyone.

Camila and Hess are leaning into each other.

And then there’s Vinny and Juliet.

I wish Blair were here. Then I wouldn’t be the only one flying solo. Thankfully, she’s single too. My partner in crime.

Juliet carries the cake over to us.

Voices are off-key and too loud as the group sings “Happy Birthday.” The candles flicker in front of my face, turning everyone into warm, wobbly blurs.

Juliet grins. “Make a wish! But if I had to guess, I bet it will be something about Shane.”

I look at Vinny.

I don’t mean to.

I promised myself before I came here tonight that, at this exact moment, I wouldn’t. I’m renewing my vow to get over him. To end these stupid feelings. End shared birthdays. End making wishes for him. End hoping for something more.

When you get to the end of something, you always go back to where it started.