Best Laid Plans Heather Burkett
Chapter 27: Unable To Move
"Happy birthday, dear Sarah...Happy birthday to you!" The crowd sang on the evening of my daughter's thirteenth birthday.
We had originally planned a casual get together at the Olympic Skate Park, but doctor's advised it would be wise to avoid roller skating until her fracture healed. So instead, we were gathered at my place with immediate family and Sarah's school friends sharing pizza, cake and ice cream.
After sitting down for a brief talk with Sarah early in the week, Jacob and Leah were now an "official" couple.
It was nice to see them being more open with their affection but, I had to admit, their sweet glances and simple kisses made me long to have something like that.
I envied Jacob and Leah. As complicated as their relationship was, it was really only awkward for those "in the know". To the general population, there was nothing strange about them being together in the least.
Nothing like the looks a glaring age difference would get you.
As happy as I was with my arrangement with Edward, I still couldn't picture him being an active part of my everyday life.
He deserves to be more than your dirty little secret, Bella. My subconscious scolded me.
I knew it was true, but just couldn't bring myself to bring our association out in the open. I kept hoping, with time, I might find myself more comfortable with our age difference.
How long are you going to keep leading him on? My subconscious spoke up again, souring my mood.
"Hey, you okay?" Leah asked, bumping my hip to get my attention.
"Yeah. I'm good." I lied.
"Suuure you are." Leah laughed. "All these years later and you're still a horrible liar." She teased.
I smiled and shrugged, bumping her back with my hip.
"Who wants ice cream?" I asked, heading to the freezer as Leah began cutting the cake for me.
"I do!" Several of the kids sang out in chorus.
Sunday, September thirteenth.
As of midnight, I'd officially turned forty.
I moaned as I rolled over in bed, throwing the blankets over my head and kicking my legs in a mini tantrum.
I'd been dreading this day.
There was a soft knock on the door before I heard it open with a creak.
I rolled back over, sitting up in bed and pulling off the covers to find Sarah sneaking into my bedroom.
"Oh good, you're awake!" She said with a brilliant white smile. "Happy Birthday, Mom!" She climbed into bed, embracing me tightly.
"Thank you, baby girl."
"You want to go take a shower? I have a surprise for you." She revealed with another wide grin.
"Oh yeah? What's the surprise?"
"Mom, if I told you, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, now would it?" She asked.
"Good point." I giggled.
"Great! So, go take your shower and I'll see you in the kitchen when you're done." She beamed, pecking me on the cheek before dashing out of the bedroom.
I laughed, foregoing my despair to appreciate how lucky I was.
I showered quickly, yawning deeply as I towel dried and changed into some yoga pants and a t-shirt.
"So, what's my surprise?" I called out as I walked down the hallway towards the kitchen.
"Surprise!" Sarah said happily, streaks of flour and batter spattered on her cheeks and forehead. "Grandma Sue taught me how to make pancakes so I could surprise you for your birthday!"
She was so damned cute that I had to fight the urge to giggle at her.
"That's awesome, baby! Thank you!"
"So, sit down. I'll bring you your coffee and plate in a minute – I'm almost done." She said, biting her lip as she concentrated on flipping the pancakes over with her non-dominant hand.
"You sure you don't need any help?" I asked, seeing how much trouble she was having using her left hand.
"Nope, I got it." She called over, a look of deep concentration on her face as she flipped the last pancake. It wasn't easy for her to maneuver with her cast on, but I was so very proud of her for trying and so moved that she did it all for me.
I watched as she left the pancakes to cook for a moment while she prepared a pot of coffee.
"Sue taught you how to make coffee, too?"
"No. I started watching you make it last week, to study. I'm pretty sure I got how to do it."
She couldn't have made me feel any more special that I did in that moment.
It took a few minutes – and some patience on my part not to step in – but she soon carried out a mug of coffee in her bad hand and a plate of misshapen pancakes in the other. The wonky pancakes were all different sizes and degrees of doneness.
They were perfect.
"C'mon, let me take a picture with the cook before I eat." I said, grabbing my cell phone and opening the camera app.
"Mooom." She moaned, giggling.
"Do me a favor and placate me. I want to remember this moment forever." I smiled.
She threw her right arm around my shoulders and ducked down so that her face was almost level with mine as she lifted the pancakes with her left hand to feature her handiwork. I took a couple of shots, sure to capture at least one good one.
After breakfast, Sarah asked me what time we were expected at Alice's house.
"She said she wants us over there about three, why?"
"Well, we have time. I was thinking – why don't we got shopping for new outfits? We could dress up and do our make-up!" Her eyes lit up in excitement.
I laughed. "It's just going to be the four of us. Why do you want to get dressed up?"
"C'mon! It's our birthday weekend! We should do something to make it special." She threw her arms around my neck. "Pleeeeeease?"
I laughed, unable to turn her down. "Alright. We'll head out to Port Angeles; maybe grab lunch before we head back." I gave in.
"Thank you!" She squeezed me tightly.
By the time two-thirty rolled around, I was dressed in a new black, knee-length, a-line halter dress with my hair curled and a pair of cute black pumps. Sarah had chosen a dusty-rose colored mini-cami dress with a floral crochet around the top half and dainty little ruffles in the skirt.
"Alright, hold your mouth the way I taught you." I directed, as I applied a light rose colored gloss to her pretty pink lips. "Good, smack them together."
She made a popping sound. "Let me see!" She beamed, jumping in front of me to look at herself in the mirror. "The color almost matches the dress perfectly!"
I smiled. "We clean up pretty nicely, don't we?"
"Yep!"
We grabbed Sarah's overnight bag and bundled into the Guardian before heading to Alice's house about fifteen minutes away.
"Thanks for letting me dress up, Mom. This is fun." Sarah mused, admiring her reflection in the passenger side mirror.
"Yeah, it is, isn't it? We'll try to find more reasons to dress up in the future, okay?" I promised.
Truthfully, I felt a little overdressed for dinner with Alice and Jasper, but it was worth it just to see Sarah so giddy.
Jacob called just as I was pulling up to Alice's house.
"Hey Bells." He greeted as I answered the phone.
"Happy birthday!" He and Leah shouted in unison.
"Aw, thanks you guys!" I replied with a huge smile.
"What are you and Sarah doing to celebrate?" Leah asked.
"We actually just arrived at Alice's house for dinner."
Leah and Jacob spoke over each other. "Oh, sorry!" Leah replied.
"Oh, okay." Jacob said at the same time. "We won't keep you – just wanted to let you know we were thinking of you on your birthday."
"That's really sweet. Thanks."
"Alright. Tell Alice I said hi and enjoy your dinner." Jacob dismissed.
"Will do. I'll drop Sarah off in a couple of hours as soon as we're done here." I advised.
"No worries. Take your time."
As we said our goodbyes, Sarah jumped out of the car and ran to knock on the door, too excited to show off her make-up and new dress to Alice.
Alice stepped out as I was undoing my seatbelt and waved from the front porch.
"Hey there, birthday girl!" Alice called as I stepped out of the Mercedes.
"Hey Ali. Thanks for having us over."
"Of course!" She smiled broadly before Sarah got her attention, puckering her lips to show off her lip gloss.
I hugged Alice before she opened the door, letting us inside.
I jumped as my family and friends yelled "Surprise!" the moment I stepped inside.
"You little minx, you!" I said, tousling Alice's spiky hair.
"Happy birthday, Bella." She said sweetly.
I made my way through the crowd, hugging and kissing my mom and dad, Jacob and Leah, Billy and Sue and a couple dozen other familiar faces I hadn't expected to see.
In the middle of the crowd, and the most surprising of all, was Edward.
My eyes went wide as a deer in the headlights as I saw my secret lover mixed amongst the company of my family and friends.
I'm not ready for this.
"Happy birthday, Bella." He kissed me shyly on the cheek.
"Edward, what...what are you doing here?" I asked in a whisper as everyone started mingling.
"Alice invited me. You never told me it was your birthday." He said with a frown.
"I-" I began to speak as Seth stepped forward, sweeping me up into a bear hug.
"Bella!" Seth shouted, swinging me around.
By the time he placed me back on my feet, Edward had disappeared back into the crowd.
It took me a good fifteen minutes or so to greet everyone before Sarah came over and took my hand. "Were you surprised?" She asked eagerly.
"Yes sweetie. Very surprised. You knew about this?"
She nodded excitedly. "It was my job to make sure you dressed up." She smiled mischievously.
"Well, good job you little conspirator." I smiled, hugging her tightly.
As I began to relax and mingle, Edward appeared in my periphery chatting with Jacob.
Holy shit.
My heart was in my throat, all of the things I couldn't imagine, happening right before me.
Edward spotted me, excusing himself and walking towards me.
Not wanting to make a scene with him in front of my family, I stepped away quickly, moving into the kitchen where my Quileute friends were gathered.
I was thankful he didn't follow.
I made idle chit-chat with everyone who approached me, but couldn't seem to relax enough to really enjoy any of it.
What was Edward saying?
Who did they think he was to me?
My mind was racing about a million things that were not in the least bit birthday party related.
About an hour into the party, Alice pulled me into her bedroom. "Bella, can I talk to you for a second?"
"What's up?" I tried to act casual, my eyes darting through the crowd to keep tabs on Edward.
"He's leaving, Bella." She pouted at me.
"Who's leaving?" I asked, confused.
She gave me a "Really?!" kind of look. "Edward. He's walking to his car at the end of the street now."
Oh, thank God. Maybe I had time to undo the damage-
"He thinks you don't want him here, Bella." Alice reprimanded.
I spoke without thinking. "I don't."
Alice gasped. "Why?"
"I'm not ready for him to meet my family and friends, Alice. I'm not..." I shook my head, unable to further explain.
"We introduced him as your assistant, Bella. Nothing more, and now the poor guy feels like shit."
What?
"No one knows but me and him. He just...he just wanted to be here for your birthday, that's all." She added. "But, you've been so distant and acting so uncomfortable this entire time that he said it would have been better if he hadn't come."
Shit.
I'd been so preoccupied with what my family and friends might think that I hadn't stopped to consider how my behavior would be affecting him.
Way to go.
"You should go talk to him." She coerced.
I sighed. "I'll be right back."
I made my way out of the bedroom, weaving through the crowd until I reached the front door and stepped out into the warm, late afternoon.
He was already about four houses down the block.
I ran after him as fast as my pumps would allow, but couldn't seem to catch up. "Edward, wait." I half-heartedly shouted.
He finally heard me on my second attempt, coming to a stop and turning around, looking dejected.
"Hey." I said, out of breath as I finally reached him.
"Hey." He replied sadly.
"I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to be here. It just...it just caught me off guard, is all." I explained.
"I get it. I shouldn't have come. You told me you weren't ready."
"Edward-"
"Here, this is for you." He took a small, gift wrapped box out of his pocket and handed it to me. "I'm going to go. Enjoy your party."
I swallowed, not wanting him to leave like this, but also just a little relieved.
"Edward, you don't have to go." I finally managed to say.
"We both know that isn't true. Happy birthday, Bella." He stepped forward as if to kiss me on my temple but the Quileute boys stepped out onto the porch, so he thought better of it. "I'll talk to you later."
"Bella! You're missing the party!" Jared yelled at me from the front porch.
"Yeah, Bella! Don't be a party pooper!" Embry hollered, obviously already a little smashed.
I stood there, unable to move as Edward walked away.