Chapter 14: The Fourteenth

The long table on the lake house porch had fourteen chairs, and by six o'clock every one of them was full.

It was Odette's eightieth birthday, and the whole family had driven up for it.

Brandon's mother sat near the head of the table in pearls, and Geoffrey's mother sat across from her in a green dress.

They were sisters, and they had the same laugh, and neither of them was using it.

Maddie walked in beside me with a plate of cookies she had bought at a gas station.

"Miranda, dear!" Odette said, and she got up to hug me. "You came back. I was so afraid you'd left."

"I wouldn't miss your birthday," I said.

She held me a second longer than usual and looked into my face.

She said nothing, but her eyes went to Geoffrey, who sat at the far end with his hands flat on the cloth and his face grey.

He did not look at me.

Brandon was already on his feet.

"My girl made it!" he said. "Everybody, this is Miranda. Mira, sit by me."

"I'll stand," I said.

"She's shy," Brandon told the table, and a few people smiled.

Candice sat beside his empty chair with her hands in her lap.

Her eyes were red, and she gave me the smallest nod I had ever seen.

Maddie sat down at the end of the bench and took out her phone and did not pretend to do anything else.

Odette cut the cake.

Brandon's uncle gave a toast, and the family clapped, and a child asked for the frosting rose.

Then Brandon tapped his glass with a fork.

"I have a toast too," he said. "A year ago tonight, Grandma, at your last birthday, Geoff told me something."

At the far end, Geoffrey closed his eyes.

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