Page 103 of Starting Back
“The girls told me you’re seeing someone too.”
“Casual,” he said, waving a hand. “She met them by accident when she stopped by. I haven’t met anyone that I want to introduce them to.”
“I hope you do,” I told him honestly. “And I hope that after all this—” I motioned around the living room “—you know when it’s worth fighting for.”
“I guess you do,” he said, a hint of a smile on his face.
“I do.” I nodded, another smile tugging on my lips. “Now.”
THIRTY-SEVEN
LEO
“Happy birthday,primo!”
I winced at my cousin’s loud greeting in my ear. I’d answered the phone without looking, and after passing out from a double shift at the firehouse, I had no idea what day or time it was.
“Thanks.” I cleared my throat after I croaked out a reply.
“I guess you had a double shift if you’re only just getting up?”
I squinted at the phone, trying to get my eyes to focus and make out the time on the screen.
“Shit, it’s two already.”
“Yeah, half your birthday is already gone.”
I smiled at his snicker in my ear.
“I’m forty-one, not a milestone or a big deal.”
I hadn’t truly celebrated my birthday since I was sixteen. I’d kept people at enough of a distance that it was never a real issue if I did or didn’t celebrate since I never told them when it was.
I preferred to go about my day and forget about it. My family would still call, but I never had the heart to tell them to stop. If they wanted to acknowledge it, I wouldn’t take it away from them or upset them when I requested they ignore it. Waking up with the day already half gone was a relief.
“Forty-one is why a double shift has you on your ass, old man.”
“I’m as fit as I ever was. At least I don’t qualify for your senior’s discount yet.”
“Fuck off, birthday boy. Why don’t you stop by this weekend? Lona and I will make you some dinner, you can bring Kristina. I promise I won’t mention your birthday once.”
“We’ll see. Thanks for the offer, but—”
“Yeah, I know. Love you, cuz, even if you’re a mopey pain in the ass.”
“All of that right back at you, primo.” I laughed and swung my legs over my bed. “And thank you.”
I stood with a yawn and headed to the kitchen to turn on my one-cup coffee machine. My condo was more like an apartment than any other place I’d ever lived, but even after Jake laid new flooring to replace the cracked tiles in the kitchen and installed ceiling fans in the kitchen and bedroom, it still screamed bachelor pad as my newly painted walls were still bare.
I had some food stocked in the fridge, but I usually ate whatever I could pull out of my freezer and shove into a microwave. The only pictures I had on display were the ones Emma had taken of us on Thanksgiving that I’d stuck to my refrigerator door next to my work schedules.
I spent half my nights at Kristina’s house, the other half wishing I were there.
The receptionist at the fire station had wished me a happy birthday when I clocked out. I wasn’t sure if anyone heard after I thanked her and left.
Gabe was right. Every year on this day I was a mopey pain in the ass.
I picked up my phone and scrolled, surprised I hadn’t heard from Kristina yet. I was about to call her when a loud knock followed by three chimes of my doorbell filtered down the hallway.
