“Waffles for dinner!” they all scream.
“Shhh,” Avery says. “It's a secret.”
“Why is it a secret?” B asks.
“Cuz Mommy and Daddy don't know that Nanny lets us have breakfast for dinner.” The girls all giggle quietly, like it’s the best secret in the world.
The girls chatter away, talking about all sorts of random facts.
I look up to find B staring at me.
He reaches out and places his hand on my cheek. I lean into it and close my eyes. Feeling the warmth. Soaking in his familiar touch. Causing a flurry of memories.
Sunrises on the beach. Floating on our boards. Waiting for the perfect wave. Kissing in the moonlight. Afternoons filled with nothing but his naked body, cool white sheets, and ocean breezes. The thrill of catching a big wave and the proud look on his face when I did.
I turn my face into his hand, put my lips on the spot I know so well, and kiss his tattoo.
Gracie jumps off his lap, knocking his hand off my face.
“Gracie wanna open presents!”
“Where's the dog?” I ask. “Do I get to meet Kiki?”
“I’ll get Kiki out of her kennel,” Emery says.
“No, it’s my turn!” Ivery argues.
They both rush off into the house.
A few minutes later, a yellow blur barrels out of the house with the girls chasing after it.
The dog rushes toward us, bounds into the sand, knocks down the castles, gives Avery a slobbery wet kiss, jumps on Gracie's lap, and then licks her entire nose.
“Bad Kiki!” Gracie yells, but then she wraps her arms around the puppy's neck and practically strangles it.
The dog deftly ducks out of her hold.
“I wuv my bad Kiki,” she says as the dog bounds onto my lap.
She sniffs me first and then licks my hands.
“Come inside for lunch, girls,” Mom yells.
I get up and try to brush some of the sand off my skirt. B wraps his arm around my waist and walks with me to the door.
His gesture reminds me of a song. The kind of song that you know you’ll never forget the lyrics to.
This will always feel familiar.
He stops me, turning me to face him.
“I can't believe you're here,” he says.
“I can't believe you're here. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
He pulls me into a tight hug and I grasp him as tightly as I wish I could grasp my old life.
He looks into my eyes. I noticed there was something different about him in the sandbox but I couldn’t figure it out. Now I know it’s his eyes. They aren't bloodshot. They aren't dazed. They are clear and vibrant and beautiful.
“I’m sorry, for everything, Keats.”
“I’m sorry too.”
“Kiki, come now!” Gracie yells.
We go inside and have Gracie's favorite foods for lunch. After singing “Happy Birthday,” Gracie blows out the candles four different times only to make Tommy light them again.
By the time the candle blowing out is done, I’m sure the cake is covered with spit and germs. But I don't care. It may be the best cake I've ever had in my life.
My mind flicks to Aiden bringing me cake. One single amazing kiss.
I look at B and feel guilty.
While we’re cleaning up, I confess my guilt to Mom.
“My guilt tops your guilt,” she says seriously.
“How?”
“If I weren't an actress—if I were just a normal mom—none of this would be happening. It's my fault. All of it.”
Just as she starts to cry, the puppy jumps up on the kitchen bench, leaps onto the table, and dives headfirst into the cake.
Tommy is quickest to respond. He grabs the dog, hoisting her off the table and shooing her outside.
The girls tear back into the room with Gracie in the lead, all chanting, “Presents! Presents!”
Tommy leans back in his chair, grins, and pulls Gracie onto his lap.
“Did you know that when it’s your birthday you're supposed to get spanked once for every year?”
Brooklyn whispers in my ear. “I’ll be twenty soon. Wanna spank me now?”
The triplets all screech, “No, Daddy. No spankings!”
“Alright. Maybe we'll change that. Let’s go with kisses!” He gives Gracie three purposefully sloppy kisses on the check.
“My turn! My turn!” the triplets say. They stand in line and each kiss Gracie.
Mom follows suit. Then I pull her up on my lap and tickle her sides while I kiss her, causing her to shrill with laughter.
“Guess it’s my turn,” B says. He gives her three sweet kisses on the cheek, and I swear she swoons. She puts her hand on her cheek and holds it there like she's trying to save the kisses.
We go into the family room where there is a stack of presents on the floor. Gracie jumps up and down with excitement.
I sit on the floor. Brooklyn sits directly behind me, putting his knees on each side of me and wrapping his arms around me. He presses his lips into the side of my face.
I lean back into his chest and close my eyes.
“How many times have we sat this way on the beach? Can't you almost feel the ocean breeze on your face?”
“Yes.”
He continues to whisper in my ear as we watch Gracie rip open her presents. “Keats, I'm sorry for any hurt I caused you. I was an idiot. And high. After the cabana girl, I quit smoking and now there's a clarity to my life that I never had before. I'm eating healthier. Working out. And it's all for you.”
I open my eyes.
“You should be doing it for you, B. My mom says you have to love yourself before you can love someone else.”
“That's pretty deep.”
“I've changed too.”
“I can see that. You look so soft and even prettier than I remember.” He slides his hand down my hip, his fingers stopping at the exact spot of my tattoo.
“I know exactly where it is. I know every,” he taps my skin, “teeny, tiny place on you. And when you're ready, I can't wait to feel every single inch of it again.”
I feel high. My brain is fried. I don't even bother thinking at this point. I don't know when I'll see him again and I want to cherish it. Revel in it.
I feel my phone buzz in my pocket. I pull it out and peek at it.
Peyton: Both you and Hottie Cooper are absent today. If you are having a hot affair with him, I will be completely mad and totally jealous.
Me: Don’t I wish. Had to take care of some stuff for my family in NY. Where is the hottie?
Peyton: Rumor has it, he is ill.
Me: Sick of girls throwing themselves at him, maybe?
Peyton: Not funny. He loves it. I can tell. And I’m close. Closer than Whitney, for sure.
Gracie rips the wrapping off another present. This one is a baby doll, which she snuggles, then tosses aside. She carefully studies the remaining packages. She digs to the bottom of the pile to a small package. She rips it open and jumps up and down.
“Chocolate chips! Chocolate chips!!” she screams, holding up a bag of chips.
She tears through a few more packages.
When she's done, I ask Cooper, “Would you bring in my present?”
Cooper nods, goes out to the car, and then drags in the huge wrapped trunk.
Gracie's eyes get huge. She runs to it and hugs it then climbs on top of it like it’s a jungle gym.
“Did you wanna unwrap it? Maybe, since it’s big, the girls can help you?”
“No. Mine!” she yells.
“Gracie,” Mom says calmly, “even though it’s your birthday, you have to share your toys.”
She folds her little arms tightly across her chest and juts her lip out into a pout.
Brooklyn laughs in my ear. “She does that just like you.”
“I don't do that.”
He laughs again, as do Mom and Tommy, who both go, “Yes you do,” at the same time.
Which immediately causes me to fold my arms and stick out my bottom lip before I can stop myself.
“Haha. See?” Tommy says, pointing at me and laughing.
I uncross my arms and straighten my face.
Gracie walks in front of Mom and says politely, “Sissies can help me.” But then under her breath, I hear her say, “Mine.”
They shred the wrapping and Gracie opens the trunk filled with dress up clothes. The girls have an abundance of princess costumes and ballerina tutus, so this has different kinds of costumes. A dragon. A horse. A ninja. A butterfly. Basically, I bought one of every Halloween costume available and a handmade trunk to put them in.
The girls start pulling out costumes. She watches, looking at the costumes in amazement. Then she slowly walks over to me. “For my plays,” she states.
I nod at her. She throws herself into my arms and strangles me with a hug. Tears stream down my face.
She stops the hug, looks at me, and says, “No cry, Kiki.” Then she bounds away, grabbing a white doctor’s jacket and putting it on.
She walks over to Cooper and goes, “Do you have a tummy ache?”
Cooper looks puzzled and goes, “Uh, no.”
She leans in and whispers, “You say yes.”
Cooper holds his stomach. “Yes, my tummy hurts really bad.”
She taps on his tight torso. Pushes on his chin. Then she gives Mom and Tommy a sneaky glance, grabs the chocolate chips, and hands them to Cooper. “You need chocolate. Open.”
“She's brilliant. You know that, right?” Brooklyn says.
I laugh. “She's tricky is what she is.”
Cooper does as he's told. Gracie takes the package away from him and doles out two chips.
“Eat,” she says.
Cooper looks at the chips like they might be poisoned. I don’t think chocolate chips are part of the Steele Building Menu Plan.
“Eat!” Gracie insists, so Cooper pops them in his mouth.
Gracie stares at him for a second then asks, “All better?”
Cooper pats his stomach. “Yes, all better.”
“Gracie tummy hurt too,” she says, reaching into the chip bag.
“Gracie,” Tommy says. “Only two. You already had cake.”
She smiles, takes three, and shoves them in her mouth. Then she wanders over to Brooklyn and me. “Two for Bwooklyn. Two for Kiki. Two for Gracie. Two for Daddy.” She gives Tommy a radiant smile.
“Give Mommy the chips, Gracie.”
“No!” she replies, clutching them to her chest.
“Go put them in the pantry if you want to see your other present,” Mom tells her. As she runs off, Mom turns to Brooklyn and me and says, “Tommy renamed this month
NO
vember. That’s about all that comes out of her mouth.”
Gracie does as she's told and gets led back to a room with a large wooden stage. Behind the stage, painted on a big canvas, is a rainbow, a blue sky, mountains, and a castle in the distance.
Gracie’s eyes get huge then she starts jumping up and down and clapping. “My very own stage!”
The triplets are already ahead of the game. They are dressed up as a horse, a dragon, and a butterfly.
Gracie runs to another room and brings back two crowns, placing them on B’s and my heads.
“You, prince. You, princess.”
She pulls our hands and makes us stand up on the stage.
I have to stand in the corner while B and the horse fight the dragon with a bejeweled sword.
“Die, dragon!” Gracie yells.
The dragon runs into the sword and then drops to the ground.
“Prince, find princess!” Avery, who is dressed as the horse, says. She drags B over to me, then pulls us both back to center stage. “Lie down and be asleep,” she whispers to me.
I lie down on the stage and close my eyes.
“Kiss!” Gracie yells.
I open my eyes wide and look at B.
“Kiss!” all the girls say.
He leans down and gives me a sweet kiss on the cheek.
“Ahh. No,” Ivery says, clearly disappointed by this.
“Don't wake up,” Avery, the horse, says to me. “That was
not
true love’s kiss.”
“Wait!” Gracie shouts. She waves a magic wand at Brooklyn, looking like she will curse him if he doesn’t comply. “Bibbidy, bobbidy, boo. Now, kiss!”
I quickly shut my eyes and pucker my lips, so B will know it’s okay to kiss me.
I feel his lips slowly press into mine and wonder if it is true love’s kiss. Will it wake me up? And when I wake up, will this all be over? Will my life go back to the way it was? Me and B on the beach. When my only worry in the world was what my friends would think of him.
I open my eyes slowly, like I've woken up from a really long dream, rub my eyes like Sleeping Beauty does, and sit up.
“My prince,” I say to B.
The girls clap and Emery says, “Now you have to dance. We all have to dance!”
B pulls me to my feet and into his arms.
Avery yells, “Wait. Cut!”
“No, Avery! Gracie say
cut
!”
“But we forgot the music,” Avery says back.
“Music!” Gracie screeches. “Turn music on.”
B and I stare at each other, ignoring most of what's going on around us.
When the music starts, he moves with me. Like he did that night at the Undertow. The night when I wished he’d kiss me. Now, I don't know what to wish for. B has changed. I've changed. We're not those two naive kids anymore. Vincent has changed us. I look at my sisters dancing with each other. The triplets are getting taller and are under constant surveillance. Mom and Tommy were nervous upon seeing me. My godfather, James, thought I was some sort of trap.
And I realize Vincent has changed us all.
I close my eyes and do something I haven't done for a while.
I make a wish.
“I wish we could have our old lives back,” I say quietly.
“I’ve been studying stalking cases,” B whispers in my ear. “I want to talk to you about it.”
“Not today, B. Don't ruin today with any other thoughts of him.”
I stop dancing and clap. “That was an amazing play, girls. Thank you for letting me be in it!”
“Let’s go outside!” Emery says. “I wanna bounce in the bouncy house.”
The triplets grab Brooklyn’s arm and pull him outside. I stop at the door to grab Gracie’s hand, but when I look back through the doorway, I see she’s still on the stage. She walks to the wall and runs her hand across the rainbow. Then she picks up a pretend microphone, walks to the center of the stage, and starts talking. At first, I don't realize what she's doing, but quickly understand that she's acting out a scene from
The Little Mermaid
. Playing Flounder and Ariel and Prince Eric.