Page 67

“I want to make a birthday card for Mama,” she says, and James looks up from the reindeer he’s coloring to chime in with, “Me too!”

A birthday card? I wrack my brain, trying to remember if Scarlett mentioned anything about her birthday, but there’s no way I wouldn’t have made a note if she had. But she did say she got pregnant on New Year’s Eve, just after she turned eighteen. Shit.

“You can use the glitter, but be super careful, okay?” I agree, grabbing the basket of glitter and paint from the top shelf of the cabinet where Scarlett keeps their art stuff. “Do you know what day your mom’s birthday is?”

Caitlin squeezes a bunch of glue in the shape of a heart onto a folded piece of paper. “Duh. It’s Christmas Eve. Grandma always says Santa brought her the best Christmas present the year Mama was born.”

Christ. She’d been eighteen for exactly a week when she met my dad.

The fact that she hasn’t mentioned her birthday coming up tells me she probably doesn’t do much for it. With it being so close to Christmas, I’m guessing it’s always been overshadowed, and that can only have gotten worse since she had kids. I know she’d push back if I suggested we do something, so I’ll have to go about it another way.

“Can you keep an eye on things? Specifically, the glitter,” I ask Ronan, because Fallon can be trusted with glitter about the same as Caitlin and James.

“On it.”

I leave them in the kitchen and pull my phone out to call Piper as I sit on the loveseat in the living room. I could just as easily run across the street to talk to her, but it’s fucking freezing.

“McTwinkle Toes,” she answers after a few rings. Christ.

“Did you add the Mc to make it more Irish?”

“Duh.”

“I thought you liked me?”

“I do. Mostly. I mean McTwinkle Toes complimentarily.”

God help us all when she and Fallon meet. “Noted. I’m calling for some advice.”

Piper sighs down the line. “Killian, I do like you, and I love that my best friend is getting some, but I don’t think we’re at the place where you can ask for advice on how to please her, you know?”

“Wha— That’s not— I don’t need advice for that,” I say before pausing. “Has she said something? Is she not happy with me? Because she seems happy.”

“Oh no, it’s been glowing reviews all around.”

I blow out a long breath, pinching the spot between my brows. “Great. Can we just assume going forward that I’m never coming to you for sex advice?”

“I’m not saying never, I’m just saying we’re not there yet,” Piper replies like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Piper. I’m saying never. I just wanted to talk to you about Scarlett’s birthday.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so?”

This conversation feels like it’s lasted an hour but, according to my phone, it’s been less than two minutes. “Moving on. I was thinking it would be nice to do something for her, maybe the day before her birthday, so it’s about her and not Christmas Eve.”

“That sounds nice. Her birthday’s always been taken over by Christmas. What did you have in mind?”

“I think she’d just worry about being a bother if we told her we were planning something, so how do you reckon she’d handle a surprise party?”

“Damn, you know her well already. Honestly, I think it’s the only kind of party she’d let us throw her,” Piper answers with a laugh.

I know I’ve called the right person when she immediately starts listing off things Scarlett would like at a party. I have to scramble to grab a scrap piece of construction paper and a rainbow pencil that changes colors as I write down everything she’s saying. But in no time at all, between the two of us, I have both sides of the paper covered and we have a loose plan that shouldn’t be too difficult to pull off, especially if we get Landon on board, which Piper assures me we will, because, “Landy always does what I ask him to.”

I thank Piper and end the call as the kitchen door opens.

“Just shout if you need anything!” Fallon says over her shoulder as she and Ronan come through to the living room, closing the door behind them.

“The glitter is away,” Ronan assures me before I can ask. “They’re playing some matching card game thing, and the birthday cards are drying by the sink.”