"Alright. Yeah. Sure. I'll see you when you get back." Phyllis looked out the window as she listened to Mark explain the events of his earlier meeting.
"Someone's having a birth.." Lauren stopped short as Phyllis whirled around and gestured wildly with her hands.
"Ok. Yeah. Bye." She ended the call, smiling as she looked over at Lauren. "Sorry about that."
"No. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were on the phone." Lauren sat the bottle of champagne and glasses on the table as she studied her friend's face. "I take it Mark's not gonna make it back in time to celebrate tonight?"
Lauren could tell by the look on her friend's face that she was disappointed, but she knew Phyllis well enough to know she'd never admit it. Mark wasn't good enough for her and Phyllis seemed to be the only person who didn't realize it.
"Oh, it's alright," Phyllis shrugged. "Birthdays aren't that big of a deal anyway."
"Says who?" Lauren protested, walking over to wrap her arms around her friend. "You know what? I've got an idea, why don't you and I throw on something fabulous and have a girl's night? What do you think?"
Phyllis smiled appreciatively, "That's nice of you to offer, but if you have a night free, you should spend it with your husband, I know that's where you'd rather be."
"Now, that's simply not true." Lauren shook her head. "I want to celebrate my best friend's birthday."
"You know what I really wanna do?"
Lauren grinned, happy she'd finally convinced her to choose an activity. "No, but whatever it is, you've got it."
"I want to go home at a reasonable hour, change into my sweats, order in Chinese, and drink wine. Billy has Aly tonight. I'm totally free."
"Phyllis," Lauren sighed, "That sounds pretty depressing. Spending your birthday all alone…"
"Do you remember what it was like to have a four year old in the house?" Phyllis grinned. "Being alone for a night will be like a mini-vacation."
Lauren laughed, "Alright, but only if you're sure."
"I am," she sighed, "Tonight will be perfect."
"Alright. Well then, I guess I'm gonna take off and go find that handsome husband of mine—see if I can convince him to paint the town red with me."
"Somehow I doubt that's going to be a hard sell." Phyllis smiled at her friend as she headed out the door.
"Billy." Lauren said, quietly, surprised to see him standing near the office door. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting to see you here. Did you need something? Phyllis is still inside."
"No. I don't need anything," he said quickly. "I was actually looking for Ashley. I thought she might have been meeting with you."
"No. I haven't seen Ashley today at all. It's just me and Phyllis here and I'm actually on my way out."
Billy glanced through the partially opened door to see Phyllis sitting behind her desk. "It's fine," he said slightly distracted.
Lauren watched him intently, wondering about his true motivation. She could see the look in his eyes, the way they softened ever so slightly, at the mere mention of her name. "Do you want to speak to Phyllis?," she asked quietly, her lips curving into the slightest of smiles.
"No, I don't. I just..I guess I'm just surprised to see Phyllis here this late. It's her birthday and I just figured she'd be out celebrating with …what's his name." Billy knew his name, quite well, but giving him a name made it more real. For now, he preferred to live in his comfortable state of denial.
Lauren shook her head, not the least bit confused as to what was happening. "Actually no," she muttered, "Mark's out of town. He won't make it back to celebrate tonight. She's planning to spend the night at home—all alone." She watched with interest as Billy's eyes flickered.
"She says she's okay with it, you know," she continued, "but birthdays can be funny things for women. I don't think anyone really wants to spend one alone." She pressed the button on the elevator, smiling to herself as she waited for the door to open. "Just saying," she whispered as she stepped inside the now open door.
Billy stood quiet for a moment as he watched the elevator doors close. He was a bit stunned. Why was Lauren encouraging this? Didn't she know he was married and Phyllis was with…Mark? They weren't together anymore. He didn't get holidays, special events, and birthdays. That was for family, and he wasn't. He stopped.
Aly. He had to pick Aly up from his mother's. There was nothing wrong with a father taking his daughter to pick up a birthday gift for her mother, right?
He headed towards the elevator with renewed purpose. He had to hurry. There was a lot to do before tonight.
"What if she didn't see her phone?" Aly asked for the twentieth time that night.
Billy smiled as he smoothed the cloth on the picnic table. "I'm sure Mommy got the message and she'll be here. I know she was very happy to know you planned something special just for her birthday."
Aly beamed. "She's here, Daddy! She's here!"
Billy watched as Phyllis approached them, her eyes widening in amazement as she took in the scene. "What is all this?" Her voice was almost a whisper.
"It's for your birthday!" Aly yelped happily, throwing her arms around her mother's waist and wrapping her arms around her neck as Phyllis knelt down to her level.
"Really? You did all this for me?" She spoke to Aly, but locked eyes with Billy. While Aly may have been completely on board with anything that involved a party in the park, she could see Billy's fingerprints all over this.
The picnic table was covered with flower filled vases and the simple wicker picnic basket added an almost romantic touch.
"I hope you're hungry," Billy said with a smile as he gestured over to the picnic table. He stepped a little closer to her, lowering his voice to a whisper as Aly busied herself by laying out plates. "I let Aly plan the menu," he grinned. "Sorry."
"So what's for dinner?" Phyllis asked, as she watched her daughter.
"Chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, and grapes," Aly chirped proudly, "And juice."
Billy shrugged as he saw a smile spread across Phyllis' face. "It sounds delicious," she said happily, before turning back to look at him, softening her voice a bit before speaking directly to him, "Really. It's perfect."
She watched as Aly happily played in the sandbox. "Welp, I think we've officially been deserted."
"Well, you know it's hard to compete with a sandbox." He smiled as he reached into the basket. "I must admit, I cheated a little." Billy pulled out two wrapped brownies and a bottle of wine and glasses. "Just for the grownups," he whispered.
Phyllis laughed. "Very smooth—but you better hope you have a breath mint. She'll sniff out that chocolate on your breath like a bloodhound and then…you've got some explaining to do."
He coughed, nearly choking on a bit of brownie. "Like mother, like daughter, huh?"
Her smile faded as she stared at him. It was hard being here with him, being there as a family—it was hard that this was so easy.
"Oh," Billy said, happy to have something to break the silence. "I almost forgot..Aly picked this out for you." He held out a plain white box, secured with a simple red ribbon and a forget me not flower.
Phyllis smiled at him as she carefully removed the ribbon and flower and lifted the lid. She felt her heartbeat quicken as her eyes read the words engraved on the simple, silver bracelet, Love You Forever
Her eyes raised to meet his, a thin sheen of tears covering the emerald orbs.
"It's from Aly," he whispered, his eyes locked on hers.
"Right," she said slowly, "Right." Phyllis shook her head, trying to shake off the moment and everything it represented. "Well, it's beautiful. I love it." She took it out of the box, laying it flat on the picnic table as she attempted to fasten it.
Seeing her struggle, Billy reached out to take her wrist. His hand touched hers and she stilled, the breath catching in her throat.
"Let me uh…Let me help you."
She nodded, not willing to trust her voice. The feeling of his skin on hers brought back the same feelings from the other night, the same doubts, the same questions. Looking at him now, she couldn't remember why she'd ever walked away.
Aly laid down as Billy tucked her in.
"Did you have fun tonight?" he asked.
Aly nodded. "Uh huh. Do you think Mommy liked her party and her presents?"
"I think she loved everything..just like she loves you." He smiled as he leaned down to kiss her forehead.
He turned towards the doorway as he heard Heather's soft footsteps. "Is it okay if I come say goodnight," Heather asked?
Aly nodded. She looked over at Billy. "We have to know when it's Heather's birthday so we can have a party too."
Heather smiled, her eyes flashing a bit of confusion as she looked over at Billy. "What's she talking about?"
Billy glanced down at Aly, who still beamed with pride. He couldn't be angry with her. There was nothing wrong with what she'd said. He hadn't asked her not to say anything and he never would. "We just had a little birthday party for Phyllis tonight at the park."
"Oh, I wish I'd known, I would have tried to come. Did you have a good turn out? It was a beautiful night for a party." Heather waited for his answer, bewildered by the faraway look in his eyes.
It certainly had been a beautiful night. His mind flashed back to the image of Phyllis smiling at him across the table, her head thrown back in laugher as Aly tried to throw grapes into his open mouth, her eyes gleaming at him as she opened her gift. He'd swear she simply got more gorgeous with each passing day.
"Billy!" Heather called his name again.
"Yeah," he said, suddenly realizing he'd been lost in his own memory. "We uh..we actually didn't invite anybody. It was just the three of us. It was really last minute."
He could see the look on her face, her displeasure obvious.
"I see," she said quietly. "Well." She smiled at Aly. "I bet that was really fun." She took a breath. "And I bet you're pretty tired, so we should let you get some sleep." She leaned down to kiss her. "You have everything you need?," Heather asked softly, determined not to let her anger with the situation impact her interactions with Aly.
"Can you hand me Wendy?" Aly asked with a yawn.
Heather looked over at Billy for a suggestion. Billy just shrugged.
"Who's Wendy, sweetie?"
"My unicorn," Ally muttered, "Mommy helped me name her after the girl in the bedtime book we read."
Billy reached for the unicorn and handed it to his daughter. His heart pounded as he looked at her. "Here you go," he whispered as he turned off the light.
Heather stepped out of the kitchen, drying off her hands with a towel. She'd decided to wait a bit to broach the subject, hoping instead that Billy would choose to talk to her. Surely he knew she deserved an explanation. Surely he understood a wife would find it strange that her husband would throw a birthday party for his ex-wife. She'd waited and waited for him to approach her, the resentment, anger, and suspicion building with each passing moment.
But now—she'd waited long enough. She watched him, his back to her as he sat still on the couch. He hadn't said a word since coming downstairs.
Billy stared straight ahead. He wasn't looking at anything in particular. The only thing that held his focus at the moment were the words his daughter spoke moments ago. She'd named the unicorn Wendy. That was no coincidence. She thought about it. She read their daughter the story—their story—the one they'd joked about in the very beginning of their time together. She still remembered. It was still real to her, just as it was for him.
"Billy."
He sat straight up as he heard her call his name.
"Yeah?"
"I think we need to talk," she said, talking a seat on the couch beside him.
Billy sighed. "Listen, Heather, if this is about the thing with Phyllis, I …I didn't mean to exclude you…I just.."
"You just kind of excluded everyone, didn't you?" She heard his exasperated sigh. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I guess that was a little bitchy. I guess I'm just a little curious as to why you thought you needed to throw a private birthday party for your ex-wife."
He shook his head. "It wasn't about me. It was Aly's idea. She knew it was her Mom's birthday and she wanted to do something nice for her." That was true, to a degree. The only thing missing for his explanation of the events had been the fact that it was all his suggestion. From that point, Aly really had been insistent on the idea.
"So Aly came up with the idea?" Heather narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, "A four year old?"
"Well, I mean, I helped her with the planning, but the idea for the party was hers and the menu…chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, grapes and juice." He smiled. "Trust me, Aly had her hands all over this."
Heather laughed a bit, feeling a bit silly. This was clearly not the romantic evening she'd been conjuring up in her head. "Oh," she breathed. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like one of those crazy, possessive, jealous women. I just…I know you and Phyllis really had something and sometimes that kind of thing is hard to let go of…especially when there's something that will always tie you together."
Billy nodded. "Yeah. I guess you're right."
Heather leaned in, kissing his cheek quickly before standing up. "But I should have known better. This was all about your daughter. You'd never use your daughter to spend time with your ex-wife. You're way too committed to your family for that."
Billy waited until he heard her moving in the kitchen again before he allowed himself to relax against the couch. She was right. He was committed to his family. The only problem was, in his heart—Phyllis would always be his family.