Night Road(40)

On Saturday, the fifteenth, Lexi woke early. It had been a restless night, full of bad dreams about planes that taxied down runways and rose into cloudy skies. She padded out of her bedroom and headed down the hall.

Eva was waiting for her in the kitchen, wearing her old white chenille bathrobe and a pointed metallic hat. On the table beside her were two glazed donuts on yellow paper plates; one had a twisty blue candle in it. “Happy birthday,” she said, blowing on a noisemaker.

Lexi almost burst into tears. In all the college drama, she’d forgotten about her eighteenth birthday. But Eva had remembered.

“I got you two presents this year.” Eva cocked her head to indicate the wrapped packages on the table.

Lexi couldn’t help remembering her birthdays before Eva—long, unhappy days spent waiting alone for a mother who never showed. She kissed her aunt’s wrinkled, velvety cheek and then took a seat at the table.

“Open it,” Eva said, taking a seat across from Lexi.

Lexi enthusiastically started unwrapping the paper. Inside the box lay a sapphire blue cotton sweater with tiny silver buttons. She held it up, admiring it. “It’s beautiful.”

“If it don’t fit, we can exchange it at the store.”

Lexi would never return it, even if it were two sizes too small. It would always be in her top drawer, alongside the pink bedazzled butterfly sweatshirt she’d outgrown. “It’s perfect, Eva. Thank you.”

Eva nodded. “Open that one.”

The other gift was about the size of a tablet of paper, and slim. Lexi opened it carefully and lifted the lid.

On the top was a four-color brochure for an apartment complex in Pompano Beach, Florida. “Fun in the sun,” it promised, in big, bold type. Below it was a class catalog from Broward Community College.

“That’s Barbara’s apartment building,” Eva said, leaning forward. “I got to thinking about your future, and I thought, hell’s bells, why couldn’t you come to Florida with me? Barbara’s got two bedrooms, and her and I have shared a bedroom before. You could have your own room and go to classes during the day. You wouldn’t have to pay any rent at all.”

Lexi looked across the table at this woman who had done so much for her, and her throat tightened. “It looks great.”

“I shoulda known you wouldn’t want beauty school. Barbara told me as much. You’re the first one of us ever to go to college. College,” Eva said the word reverently. “We’re so proud of you. And you need to get to know your other aunt. Her kids and grandkids are dying to meet you.” She patted Lexi’s hand. “I know you got your boy to think about, but he’s goin’ off somewhere with his sister. So I wanted you to know you had me to think about, too. You aren’t alone anymore, Alexa. Not unless you want to be. Now, let’s eat these donuts. I got to be at work soon. Make a wish and blow out your candle.”

A wish.

Lexi stared into the small flame dancing above the twisted blue candle.

There was only one wish, and it wouldn’t come true, but she made it anyway.

“Good luck, Lexi. I hope your birthday wish comes true.”

After that, they ate their donuts, toasted her birthday again with glasses of milk, and went their separate ways—Eva to a Saturday shift at Walmart, Lexi to the ice cream shop. For the rest of the day, Lexi was in constant motion. On a sunny weekend like this, the shop was crazy busy.

She didn’t slow down again until evening, when Zach and Mia picked her up from work.

Lexi did her best to be cheerful around both of them. She laughed and joked and talked at the dinner table, but when Jude brought out a cake with candles, her fragile veneer cracked a little and it took willpower not to cry or run away.

Next year, she would celebrate her birthday by herself. Mia and Zach would be in sunny Southern California, living the college dream. She wanted to be happy for them, she really did. But she kept glimpsing the future that lay like a storm cloud on the horizon. Oh, they talked about staying in touch and keeping their lives braided together, and their intentions would be as true as their emotions, but it wouldn’t be enough. When she told them about Eva’s Florida offer, they both groaned aloud and begged her not to go so far away. They wanted to see her on school breaks.

Easy for them to ask. But she wanted that, too.

“What’s it gonna be like?” Mia asked that night as the three of them lay together on blankets on the beach. It was the first time one of them had dared to ask the question aloud.

They were holding hands, staring up at the stars.

“I’ve been dreaming about it for so long,” Mia said. “But now that it’s getting close, I’m scared.”

Lexi heard Zach sigh beside her. Because she loved him, she knew what that sound meant: he was stuck in the middle. He loved Lexi—she knew that, believed it with every part of her soul—but he and Mia were more than connected. They were twins, with all that the word implied. They could read each other’s thoughts. And really, one of the things Lexi loved most about Zach was how much he cared about the people he loved. He hated hurting anyone. Mia most of all.

That was why he was going to USC. No matter how much he loved Lexi, he loved Mia and his parents even more. He couldn’t disappoint them. And he worried that Mia was too shy to make it at USC on her own.

“We’ll still be friends forever,” Lexi said. She wanted it to be true, needed it to be.