Page 80 of The Persistence of Thornes
I set out the sandwiches, then open the giant Cheetos bag and set it in the middle of the table.
Once Halle and I are seated across from her brothers, bottles of water in front of us—soda for the boys—she slowly, damn near methodically, removes the plastic wrap from her sandwich like she’s afraid it’s not real.
“I still can’t believe this,” she says more to herself than me.
“What I can’t believe is you weren’t going to tell me it’s your birthday.” I stare her down, feigning offense.
“I’ve never liked my birthday,” she admits.
“We told him.” Casen pops the tab on a Mountain Dew.
Head tilted back, she sighs. “Of course you did.”
“We want you to like your birthday,” Quinn says. “You’re the one who always told us birthdays are special.”
Halle’s eyes drop to the table. “They are, but?—”
“But you don’t think yours is?” Casen cuts her off, wearing a sharp look he clearly learned from her. “We disagree.”
I can’t help the amusement curling over my lips as they bicker. I used to want siblings more than anything. Not only for the company, but because I was sure my mom wouldn’t be so overbearing if she had more than one child to obsess over. But after getting to know this family, I’m not sure I could have handled witnessing a sibling suffer in any way. It’s so obviously hard on Halle.She’s shouldered the brunt of so much so they didn’t have to—so they could have a better childhood than she did.
“From now on”—Quinn says around a mouthful of food, unbothered when a chunk of lettuce falls out of his mouth—“we’re celebrating your birthday. Got it?”
Halle lowers her head, trying to hide her amusement, but her smile can’t be stopped. “Got it.”
She can continue to insist she doesn’t want to celebrate her birthday, but by her reaction, it’s obvious this has meant a lot to her.
When we’ve all devoured our sandwiches, the boys insist on gifts.
“This is too much. Way too much,” she says through laughter as we pile wrapped gifts in front of her.
“Caleb’s a show-off,” Casen says, feigning annoyance with a sigh.
Quinn laughs, a dimple popping in his left cheek. It—along with the matching one Casen has—doesn’t appear often. “He went way overboard.”
“You’re telling me,” Halle says, eyes widening when I set yet another present down.
“It’s not as bad as it seems,” I insist. Though as I go over the mental list of items I bought, I realize that’s a lie.
Halle tears into the gifts with a fervor I wouldn’t expect from a person who supposedly hates her birthday. She opens the books first, and when she takes more time to look over the fantasy and romance titles, I make a mental note.
She opens the perfume next, eyeing me in amusement.
“Are you trying to tell me I smell?”
“What?” I blanch. My voice higher than normal. “No. I just thought?—”
“I’m kidding,” she says, quickly putting me out of my misery. She carefully picks at the plastic wrapping, then eases the box open gently and plucks out the glass bottle. Eyes closed, she takes a sniff, and with a hum, she sprays a bit on her wrist. “Mmm, that smells really good.”
I sag in relief. So far, my gifts have been winners.
After she murmurs happily over the notepads, she opens Casen’s gift. From a pink gift bag, she pulls out two adult coloring books and a pack of markers.
“I saw you looking at coloring books a few months back,” he explains. “So, I thought…” He trails off with an awkward shrug of his lanky shoulders.
“Case…” Her voice is thick, clogged with emotion. “This is so great. Perfect, actually. I love it.”
That leaves Quinn’s gift for last. The first thing she pulls out is a grumpy-faced storm cloud.
