“Penny for your thoughts,” Kristen said, noticing my distraction.
“Oh, I was just thinking back. It was only a few weeks ago that Jack and I used to come here and throw the Frisbee back and forth. Now, I hardly see him at all. I see his sister more than I see him nowadays.”
“Jack? Patrice’s brother?” Kristen asked.
“Yeah. We used to be best friends. Still are, I guess.”
“Let me guess,” Kristen said. “The two of you lost touch with each other when you discovered… um… Patty and her friends.”
I nodded, understanding that Kristen was referring to the tickets that I found in a roundabout way. She had been “wished” to not reveal their existence to others, and I think this was a manifestation of it.
“Feeling guilty?” Kristen asked.
I looked at Kristen sharply, wondering if she knew about Marla, but there wasn’t any suspicion on her face.
Kristen, remained silent, a bit unusual for her. After a minute or so, she broke her silence. “What did you want to do for dinner tonight?”
The change of subject was welcome. “My parents are taking Merry to Vaughn’s tonight. They invited us, but I suggested that the two of us might have other plans.”
“Other plans?” asked Kristen, smiling.
“I remember a place you took me called Emilio’s. I thought we’d go there instead.”
“Oh?” Kristen asked, her smile getting bigger. “Think you’ll get lucky again?”
“Any guy that has somebody as wonderful as you must have all the luck in the world already.”
I’m not exactly sure why I said that. It just blurted out.
“You know, Jim. You are the sweetest guy in the whole world.”
My mother was setting up dessert plates for Merry’s birthday cake, and I got up and volunteered to get the cake from the car. While I was there, I found a little wrapped box that I had hidden in the car as well, and pocketed it.
After I got the cake, my mother gave me a lighter and had me set up the candles. The wind was blowing, but it wasn’t too blustery for the birthday cake.
Meanwhile, Kristen was rounding up all the girls for dessert. I lit the candles and then there was a group of girls surrounding the main picnic table.
Everybody sang “Happy Birthday” to Merry, who squealed in delight when she managed to blow out all the candles on her first try, aided a bit by a lucky gust of wind. My mother allowed Merry to cut the first piece of birthday cake, and then took over the chore of cutting all the pieces for everybody.
There was a stack of presents from Merry’s friends, and she started opening them. Kristen had a couple of bags to collect the discarded wrapping paper, and my step-father kept track of the cards that Merry received.
Most of Merry’s presents were girlish things like brushes, hair ties, with a few plush toys thrown in for good measure. Merry and her friends oohed and aahed as she opened each one, and she thanked each of her friends with a quick kiss before going to the next.
I knew that my parents were saving Merry’s presents for Monday, so when Merry was finished with all her gifts, I pulled out my little box from my pocket.
“For me?” asked Merry. “Thank you, Jim!”
“Open it,” I suggested.
Merry tore off the paper and opened the box to find a silver identification bracelet. I had the name “Shortcake” engraved on it. I had rummaged through my room trying to find enough of my own money to make the purchase.
“Jim! It’s wonderful!” Merry cooed, and ran into my arms to give me my kiss.
“As long as you like the name,” I said to my step-sister. “I know you didn’t like it a few months ago, but you don’t seem to mind it any more.”
“Is it from you and Kristen?” Merry asked.
“No, Merry,” Kristen answered for me. “I took Jim to the mall, but he had his own money for this present. You’ll get my present later on.”
Kristen’s announcement impressed even my mother, who beamed at me in a manner that soon had me cringing in embarrassment in front of nearly a dozen of Merry’s friends.
“Thank you, Jim!” Merry said, and kissed me again.
“Nothing but the best for you, kid!”
My step-father suggested that we start eating the cake, and soon everybody had plates of devil’s food cake with chocolate icing in front of him or her. That particular cake was Merry’s favorite, and the girls soon made short work of it.
The girls’ parents were due to arrive about this time, and I suggested that my parents take the girls back to the parking lot while Kristen and I did the clean up. My mother looked at me questioningly, but I nodded and she shook her head. I think she was impressed in seeing how much I had matured over the last month or so.
Kristen and I worked as a well-oiled machine, and it only took us about five minutes to get things cleaned up. We put everything where they were supposed to go: the trash bag, one of the coolers, or stored in my mother’s picnic basket.
Kristen and I were just sitting at the table when my parents came back with Merry and her friend Beth.
“You did a pretty good job of cleaning up,” my mother commented.
“Well, after you did all the work of cooking and setting up the meal, it was the least we could do,” I explained.
My mother looked at me, and then at Kristen. She smiled.
“Thank you—both of you!”
“No problem, Ma.”
“It was a fun party,” Kristen answered.
“We’re taking Beth home with us,” Mom explained. “Her parents will pick her up from our house at four. Are you sure the two of you aren’t interested in going out tonight?”
“We’re sure,” Kristen answered before I could. “We’ll see you tomorrow at the flea market, all right?”
My mother understood that Kristen was insinuating that I’d be spending the night with her. I had never seen my mother confronted with this fact in any public situation, especially with Merry’s friend nearby.
Mom looked at the two of us and slowly smiled. “All right, you two. Thank you for helping out today.”
The two of us helped my parents load the bags and cooler into the car. I lugged all the garbage to one of the trash bins at the end of the parking lot.
As I got back to the car, it was just starting up. Kristen was waving good-bye, so I did the same. In a minute, my parents were gone.
I smiled at my little blonde Goddess. We now had the rest of the day to ourselves.
I walked to Kristen in the deserted parking lot and pulled her into a deep kiss. Kristen’s embrace was warm and inviting.
As we pulled apart, Kristen said, “So, Jim. Tell me about the girl in the willow tree.”
I think my jaw dropped onto the parking lot pavement. “What?”
“Tell me about the girl in the willow tree. I think your friend Jack was involved, wasn’t he?”
“What? How?”
“Uh, huh. Those are two good places to start. What happened, and how? When and why would also be appreciated, too.”
I was too dumbfounded to answer. I was very confused. How did Kristen know?
Kristen waited patiently for a couple of minutes, and realized that I was too confused to answer.
“Jim,” Kristen said, “A couple of weeks ago, I suggested that willow tree would be someplace nice to be alone. You changed the subject quickly. Today, I saw you glancing at the tree, and when I mentioned it, you started babbling something about your friend Jack. You were definitely leaving something out. What would you not tell me, huh? The only thing I could figure was another girl. Therefore, you had a girl inside the branches of that willow tree, and something must have happened or you would have told me. You mentioned Jack, so he was involved as well.”