I pulled the ribbon off and tore the paper. When I opened the lid, I had to dig through tissue to find it and when I did, I gasped. It was Stuffie.
He’d been cleaned and his eye sewn back on. His fur was brushed out and white again. His stuffing had been replaced, and he had a new mane. He looked like he used to.
I turned him around gently in my hands. “How…?”
“Maddy snuck it out for me. Faith did it,” he said.
I brushed my fingers across the clean, soft fur on Stuffie’s head, tears welling in my eyes.
He nodded at it. “She took a little of his old stuffing and put it in a fabric heart and put it back in his chest with his new filling.”
I held the doll against me and looked over at him. “Thank you so much,” I breathed.
He smiled and leaned in and kissed me. Alex hooted and Sarah moaned about it being gross, and Justin and I grinned against each other’s lips.
Justin pulled the candles out of my breakfast and served me some bacon.
Alex grabbed a pancake and rolled it like a burrito and took a bite. “I gotta go to school,” he said, chewing with his mouth open. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.” I smiled.
“Happy birthday,” Sarah said, following him out.
Justin set a cut-up pancake in front of Chelsea and poured syrup over it and sat next to me.
“This is so sweet, Justin. Thank you.”
He watched me take a bite of my breakfast. “Like it?”
I nodded, looking at the plate. “Why are you so good to me?” I whispered.
“Because you deserve it.”
“No I don’t.”
“Yes,” he said. “You do. You take care of everyone in this house. You do driving hours with Alex and you help Sarah with homework and you give Chelsea baths. You read her stories and you do laundry and you help in my never-ending quest to keep all the dishes out of my brother’s room.”
I laughed a little but his face went serious.
“You deserve to be appreciated, Emma.”
“I think I’m just used to feeling like I’m asking too much when I need something. Unless it’s Maddy. My mom—”
“You’re not asking too much,” he said. “You were just asking the wrong person. Ask me instead.”
I peered at him, my eyes soft.
He kissed me again and I smiled after him as he got up to pour himself some coffee.
I did feel appreciated here. I liked being a part of this family. I liked Sarah’s Snaps and the funny sarcastic texts she’d started to send me during the day. I liked that Chelsea seemed to need me, that she found me comforting for some reason, like maybe I was the kind of adult I’d needed once and I was making a difference for her while she was missing her mom. I liked Alex’s Golden Retriever personality and how he was always happy, no matter what was going on. But most of all I liked that Justin was the leader of this band. A warm, capable patriarch who didn’t realize how strong and incredible he was.
They were all very lucky to have him.
I was lucky to have him.
At noon Maddy showed up to take me to lunch.
“Happy birthday,” she said, coming in the door sideways with an enormous gift bag while Brad yipped and jumped at her feet.
I shut the door behind her as Justin jogged down the stairs. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she said, handing me the empty bag. “For you.”
I laughed. This was our tradition. She never got me anything other than a gift card because it wouldn’t fit in my luggage. She always got me a certificate for a service or a restaurant and put it in the largest possible box or bag she could find. One year she used a refrigerator box she got behind a Best Buy.
We went to sit in the kitchen. Justin poured us iced teas and then took the seat next to me.
“So have you heard the Amber and Neil update?” Maddy asked, taking off her sweater.
I shook my head. “No.”
Justin glanced at me.
“What happened?” I asked.
“They broke up.”
“What?”
