Today's Promises (Promises #2)(33)

“I doubt that,” I murmur.

He blows out another breath, along with a nervous laugh. “Okay, so, here’s the deal. Whenever there’s any ice cream in that f*cking house, I swear Mandy can’t keep her hands off it.”

Whoa, this sounds familiar. “Go on,” I prompt.

“Well, take last night, for example. I caught Mandy in the kitchen, at, like, three in the morning. She was shoveling these huge spoonfuls of that Neapolitan stuff like it was the last thing she might ever eat. Dude, it was crazy.” He shoots me a sidelong glance, to which I nod. “Anyway, I got her to stop. But she must’ve gone back downstairs once I was asleep so she could eat more.”

Shit. So Mandy deals with issues similar to Jaynie.

It’s somewhat surprising to me, since she always seems so together. It shouldn’t be, though. We all deal with food issues, even the twins. Still, Mandy is always so strong and sure of herself, she was especially so when we lived in the same house. Not that there was ever any ice cream available to dig into.

Nor were there candy bars.

Sighing, I say, “Hey, you’re not alone, dude.” I feel like a new bond has been forged with Josh. “It’s the same deal with Jaynie,” I go on. “She keeps a stash of candy bars hidden in our bathroom. Has them all stuffed up under the sink.”

He shoots me a sad, commiserating smile. “It’s tough sometimes, isn’t it? It’s like you want to help them so f*cking much, but you have no damn idea how to fix things.”

“I don’t know if it’s possible to fix anything,” I say. “Hell, I’ve called out Jaynie on the candy bars a time or two. But, really”—I lower my voice, ashamed—“I have no room to lecture her.”

I don’t elaborate any more than that. There’s no reason to tell Josh that I have my own supply of candy bars stowed under a loose floorboard in our closet.

You know, just in case.

“Wow.” Josh shakes his head. “I guess there is no fixing it, then.”

“Dude…” Now it’s my turn to run my fingers through my hair. “If you saw the conditions we once lived in, you’d totally get it.”

“Yeah, well, from what Mandy has shared with me, it sounds like you guys had it rough at the Lowry house.”

“You can’t even imagine,” I mutter.

When we return from the store with the ice cream, I overhear Mandy whispering to Josh, “If there’s any left, please just throw it away.”

He nods. “Okay, hon.”

A few minutes later, we push all that negative garbage behind us in order to make Cody and Callie’s birthday a success. After all, it is their day.

After we regroup in the living room, Mandy sneaks off to the kitchen to grab the cake. A few seconds later, she’s back, carefully balancing a sheet cake that’s decorated with balloons made of colorful icing. Birthday candles, nine of them in all, glow brightly on top of the cake.

The twins jump up from the floor and clamber around Mandy. “Is that for me?” Callie asks, pointing to the cake.

Her eyes are wide as saucers, the flames from the flickering candles reflecting in her gaze. I realize then these kids have probably never had a birthday cake for their birthday. God, that hurts my heart.

“The cake is for you and your brother,” Mandy tells her.

“Yeah,” Cody interjects, side-eyeing his sister. “Cake for me too.”

“Those two are hilarious with their bantering,” Jaynie murmurs to me.

“They are,” I agree, a smile brought to my lips.

Mandy slides the cake onto the coffee table, and Cody drops to the floor. He just sits and stares intently at all the colorful icing balloons.

“It so pretty,” he whispers in awe.

Jaynie nudges my arm and murmurs, “Better than nutrition bars, yeah?”

“Much better,” I agree, shaking my head as I recall last year and my sad attempt with Mandy to make the twins’ birthday special.

Mandy starts humming the opening notes of “Happy Birthday,” our cue to start singing, and I catch her eye. When she smiles over at me sadly, I know she’s also remembering last year.

“You made up for it today,” I mouth once we’re done singing.

That makes Mandy smile.

Later, once the candles have long been blown out, and the kids have dug into their cake—like literally, as in we let them eat with their hands since it’s their day—I pull Mandy aside.

“Hey, I just wanted to tell you again that you really made this day special for the twins.” I nod down to Cody and Callie, who are sprawled out on the floor, smiling and laughing, still eating cake. “Those two are truly happy today.”

Mandy closes her eyes. “God, Flynn, thank you for saying that. Their happiness means so much to me.” She opens her eyes and peers up at me. “I swear I try, I really do. But I still find myself questioning if it’ll ever really be enough.”

“What do you mean?” I ask. “You’re doing a great job with the kids. You always have.”

“Thanks for saying that, but it’s just… They’ve been through so much, you know?”

“We all have,” I reply.

“Yeah, we sure have,” she agrees, sighing.

“The twins are young,” I remind her. “They’re more resilient than us. Plus, because of you fostering them, it’s really like they’re out of the system.”