“Are you going to blow out the candles or are you going to wait until your cake catches fire?” Hayley shook my shoulder. “Hello!”

“What?” I snapped out of my thoughts and noticed the three layer cupcake sitting in front of me. There was a “To Jonathan, From Claire” message signed in whipped chocolate on the side of its plate.

Smiling, I blew out the sparklers and looked over at Claire again. “I didn’t know they served cupcakes here...”

“They don’t,” she said. “But when you tell them your date is Jonathan Statham they’ll make whatever you want.”

“Is that so?”

She smiled. “Would you two please excuse me for a minute? I need to take this call.”

“Of course.” I stood up and helped her out of the chair, giving her a quick kiss before she walked away.

“Since when do you celebrate your birthday?” Hayley crossed her arms once Claire was out of earshot. “Do I need to buy you a gift too?”

“No.” I laughed. “She made me do this. What made you come during the semester?”

“Your girlfriend is pretty damn persuasive. She made me fly in yesterday. Is she a lawyer or something?”

“No, she works with me at the company...You talk to dad lately?”

“Unfortunately...He got sent to solitary confinement again last week—contraband. It’s going to be a rough six years for him. You talk to mom?”

“New job. Eastern sea-docks. Five months post-rehab. Decent therapy sessions.”

“Noted...Maybe the thirteenth time really is the charm.”

I picked up my wine glass. “We’ll see.”

“You must really like Claire, huh?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well for one, you two can’t take your eyes off one another for more than five seconds. It’s actually quite nauseating. You also haven’t called to check on me in three weeks. Considering that you usually call me every other day...”

“I have checked on you. I texted—”

“No, Greg texted me.” She laughed. “It’s okay. It’s nice not having to report to my over-protective big brother for a change. “

“Don’t get used to it.”

“Trust me, I won’t.” She looked at her watch. “I’m gonna go now. Bring Claire to Memphis this summer okay? My Scrabble tournament is going to be the last week of August. There’s always a blues festival going on if you want to come some other time.”

“You’re leaving? Right now? You just got here!”

“Yeah...You clearly weren’t paying attention to anything I said over dinner were you?” She shook her head. “I kept asking you two questions and you just kept staring at each other and smiling. You think I want to stick around for another second of that shit?”

“I am so sorr—”

“It’s okay. Greg is outside waiting to take me to the airport because my brother is too in love to pay me any attention right now.”

I rolled my eyes and helped her out of her chair. “Have a safe flight. Thank you so much for coming.”

“I will. I love you.”

“Love you too.” I gave her a hug and watched as she left the room.

I realized Claire had been gone for quite a while and stood up. I started walking towards the restrooms, but I saw her walking my way.

“Where’s Hayley?” she asked.

“She was sick of us staring at each other apparently. Are you okay?”

“Yeah...It’s just...Ashley and Caroline are driving me crazy about their shared car again...They called me on three-way to ask about letting one of them drive my car tonight.”

“You said no?”

“Of course I said no. They need to stick together and share what they have.”

“Okay... Are you ready to go?”

“After you open your presents. Let’s do that first and then—”

“I want to open them at home.”

I set the two presents—one sparkling red rectangular box, and one fat silver box—in front of the fireplace, waiting for Claire to sit next to me.

“Which one should I open first?” I asked.

“The silver one...”

“Okay.” I took my time un-wrapping it, unfolding every corner and gently pulling away each strip of tape. I placed each torn sheet in a neat stack and stuck all the tape pieces together.

“Why is it taking you so long?” She laughed. “Do you need help un-wrapping it? You’re acting like you’ve never received a birthday present before.”

“I haven’t.”

Her eyes widened and her face paled. “I’m sorry...I was just joking. I didn’t—”

I pulled her close. “You didn’t know. It’s okay.” I peeled the last bit of paper off and flipped over the box. I took the lid off and sucked in a breath once I saw what it was.

“I wasn’t sure what to get you since you seem to have everything already,” she said as she pulled the golden sea hooks out of the box. “Since you love yachts so much I figured I’d get you these...They say that sea hooks are—”

I knew exactly what sea hooks meant, exactly what they stood for. To someone who didn’t know yachts, they were simply huge golden metal hooks in the shape of an anchor, but I knew better. Every man who owned a yacht had a set of loose sea hooks, and whenever he was seeing someone he loved, someone he couldn’t live without, he was supposed to personalize them and weld them onto the ship’s real anchor. They were a symbol of longevity, a way of saying “I want to be with you.”

I looked over them and noticed that she’d already personalized them: Her name was etched alongside the edges in cursive and my name was etched at the bottom.

I didn’t know what to say so I simply opened the other present—much faster this time.

I laughed once I tore the last sheet of paper off. “I didn’t know they made a Harry Potter version of Monopoly...”

“They don’t...” She took the box from my hands. “I did some pretty intense work for Parker Brothers years ago and they owed me one, so I asked them to make a one of kind game just for you. I know that neither of these gifts is a new car or a–”

I leaned forward and pressed my lips against hers, wrapping my arms around her tightly, not wanting to let her go. I pulled her down to the carpet and ran my hands across her hips, still exploring her mouth with my tongue—saying everything with kisses that I couldn’t say with words.

“Thank you very much,” I whispered once I had to take a breath. “Everything you did today means a lot to me...”

I’d never had a birthday party, birthday gifts, anything. My real parents never gave a shit about birthdays and my foster parents only gave me one present per year—on Christmas, and it was usually a used electronic device or a book. After growing up so long without a birthday, I never saw a point in celebrating.

I slowly let her go and reached into my back pocket. “I bought something for you too.” I handed her a small jewelry box.

“This isn’t an engagement ring is it?” She paled. “I can’t accept or agree to—”

“What?” I sat up and laughed. “No. I think I know you much better than that. Open it.”

“Can it wait until tomorrow? It’s your birthday and I don’t want to—”

“Open. The. Box.”

“But—”

“Now.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “I really don’t want to...”

Chapter 22

Claire

“Open the damn box, Claire.” His voice was stern. “I don’t feel like threatening you on my birthday.”

“You’re acknowledging that it’s your birthday now?”

“Five seconds.”

“No.”

“No?” He raised his eyebrow.

“Are you a parrot?” I tossed the box back to him. “You heard me.”

He narrowed his eyes and reached out to grab me, but I jumped up and stepped backwards. He jumped up with ease and smiled his wicked grin. “You always have to do things the hard way, don’t you?” He lunged towards me, but I slipped away.

I ran out of the room with him on my heels, dashing down the grand staircase. I rushed through the double corridors, past the parlor, and into the kitchen—hoping to hide in the two-roomed pantry. Before I could slip inside, I felt myself being lifted into the air and tossed over his shoulder.