The Summer of Sunshine and Margot(87)

Sunshine really didn’t want to. She preferred her girls’ nights out with her sister. With Margot she could totally relax and be herself. With Phoebe, she was less sure. Did the other woman actually want to spend time with her or did she want to grill her about Declan?

She knew he’d taken her advice and had gone to coffee with Phoebe so he could tell her where he stood, which made it very likely that Phoebe’s overture of friendship was more about Declan than wanting Sunshine to be friends with her.

“I’m begging,” Phoebe told her. “Say yes, or I’ll be devastated.”

“Devastated seems strong,” Sunshine murmured, feeling herself start to cave. “But all right. Drinks would be fun.”

“Great. I’m in my car and can’t get to my calendar. Let me text you later and we’ll set something up. Bye.”

And with that, she was gone. Sunshine dropped her phone onto her bed and groaned. She should have just said no, she told herself. It wasn’t a hard word. According to her great-grandmother, it had been the first word she’d ever spoken.

“I’ll deal with that later,” she murmured, heading to the kitchen. She had a busy day planned. Her math class had been canceled which gave her more time to get ready for Connor’s birthday party tomorrow. While she felt organized, there was still a lot to get done. Declan had insisted on taking the day off to help her and if she was going to be honest with herself, she was way more excited about hanging out with him than prepping for the party. Not that she had to admit that to anyone. Still, the thought of being together for the day made her feel just a little squishy inside.

Declan met her in the kitchen. He looked strong and capable and more than a little sexy.

“Ready?” he asked.

“I am.”

They walked to the spare bedroom and he unlocked the door. Inside were all the party supplies including the items for the goodie bags and equipment for the games. There were also wrapped presents including the custom-made ant-patterned comforter Sunshine had ordered for Connor on Etsy.

It took four trips to carry what they needed to the kitchen.

“I want to save the game setup until the morning,” she said, grabbing the goodie bags along with the tote containing her craft supplies. “It’s not going to rain, but there’s still morning dew to contend with and I don’t want anything getting wet.”

“Not a problem. I’ve already turned off the sprinklers so they won’t go on tomorrow. That way the grass will be dry.”

The birthday party would be held outside. Sunshine had ordered long tables and plenty of chairs. She had game areas, a giant ant pi?ata and separate tables for presents along with food and drinks.

She pulled out her party to-do list.

“Today we’re going to cut out the ants for the goodie bags and glue them on, then load them up. I want to cut out the ants for the flashlights, run through the supplies for the games, confirm the backyard layout and get started on some of the food.”

“That’s a lot.”

She smiled. “Not with you helping me. Margot is coming tomorrow and she’ll help with serving the food and generally run interference.”

“Won’t the other parents be sticking around to help?”

“Oh, Declan, seriously? A kid’s birthday party is a chance to have a few hours without worry. That’s the deal. Trust me, the parents are going to drop off their kids and bolt.”

“I guess I hadn’t noticed that before.” He frowned. “Actually, I think we never bothered with much of a party for Connor before. Iris wasn’t the party type, so we kept it mostly family.”

Sunshine knew there was nothing she could say that wouldn’t be considered snarky so she offered him a smile and said, “My love of planning parties is only surpassed by the thrill of throwing them. So thanks for letting me do this.” She waved her papers. “Let’s get started.”

They cut large ants out of construction paper and glued them onto the bags. Nine boys were coming to the party, giving them an even ten. Sunshine had ten bags, the last of which she would tuck away until everyone was gone and the postparty letdown had started. Then she would give Connor his bag.

While Declan applied bug stickers to the bags and filled them with the toys and candy, she put a fresh blade into her X-Acto knife and went to work on the heat resistant tape she’d found. Her plan was to cut out an ant silhouette and apply it to the lens of the flashlight, thereby creating a custom beam. She’d just finished two of them when the knife slipped and the sharp blade sliced through the edge of her left palm.

In the nanosecond that followed, Sunshine tried to figure out what she’d done. Nothing hurt and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. Then blood began to gush onto the table and nerve endings lit on fire. She started to stand, only to realize that might be a bad idea.

“Declan!”

He glanced at her, swore and jumped to his feet. “What happened?” he asked as he grabbed a dish towel and wrapped it around her hand. In seconds, the towel was red with blood.

“I cut myself with the knife.”

She felt sick to her stomach and the pain was intense.

Declan grabbed three more towels from the drawer and hustled her into the car. He ran back to the house for her bag so she would have ID, then quickly drove out of the neighborhood and to the local hospital. Quicker than she would have thought, she was in a small room in the ER, sitting upright in a hospital bed. Her nurse, who had introduced herself as Nikki, put on a pressure bandage that hurt like hell, while Declan hovered.