Chapter 27

I have no idea why Emilia has been looking so miserable when it’s her birthday. Her sixteenth birthday, no less. She’s been counting down the days, yet I’ve barely seen her smile today. Mom and Kate have taken full control of entertaining her today while Emilia’s dad, my dad, and I have been tasked with picking up the cake and decorating the house.

“Kate just texted me to say that they’ll be back in an hour,” I tell John. He nods and claps me on the back. I can barely look him in the eyes these days. I guess sneaking into his house without his knowledge will do that to you. If only that were the only thing I’ve been doing. I haven’t stolen any kisses from Emilia recently, but I’ve wanted to. I’m pretty sure her dad would murder me if he knew what I’ve done to his daughter underneath his roof.

My mind instantly flashes back to the day Gemma sent me that god awful photo of her tits that made my Minx cry. That was the last time I kissed her, and had it been up to me, we’d have done much more than that.

“I’m afraid there’s been a mix-up,” the lady at the cake shop tells us. “I can see you ordered a chocolate cake, but your order note is attached to a strawberry one.”

She shows it to us, and indeed, it says Happy Birthday, Emilia. My dad and I both groan, but Emilia’s dad just shrugs. “It’s pretty enough. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

I shake my head. “Emilia hates anything that’s strawberry flavored,” I tell him. I look at the employee that’s helping us through narrowed eyes. She looks familiar, but I can’t quite place her. One of Gabby’s friends? As far as I’m aware, Gabby and Kate have finally stopped being friends. I hate how Kate is all over Emilia now, as though she didn’t ditch her the second a more popular girl befriended her. I love my sister, but I hate the way she’s been behaving. I can’t believe Emilia lets her get away with it so easily too.

“That’s nonsense. Emilia loves strawberries. She eats them all the time,” John says.

I close my eyes and sigh. “Yeah, she loves strawberries. She just hates anything that’s artificially strawberry flavored.” She can’t stand the fake flavor, but she loves the real thing.

“It’s all right, John,” my dad says to Emilia’s dad. “We can just get a refund on the deposit for this one and get her another one.”

I nod in agreement, but Emilia’s dad shakes his head. “No, this’ll do. I don’t want to get her one of those supermarket cakes. I think this’ll be fine. She’ll like this better than anything else we can get her on such short notice.”

He hands over his credit card and I sigh. I can’t believe this. I know for a fact that she’s going to hate this cake and that she does, in fact, have a thing for the chocolate cake at the small bakery down the road. I wish we hadn’t trusted John to pick a cake. It’s obvious he doesn’t know his daughter at all.

I’m about to interrupt when my father shakes his head at me. He throws me a look that tells me to shut up. It’s her sixteenth birthday, for God’s sake. She should at least have a cake that she’ll love. I know it’s not our place, but it’s clear even my dad knows Emilia better than John does.

I’m stewing as we make our way back to the house. I’ll need to find some time to grab her a chocolate cake, because I know she’ll hate this one. I’ll be very surprised if she even takes a single bite. I’ve got a surprise planned for her tonight, and I hope everything goes to plan.

We make it back to the house minutes before the girls do. Thankfully, we decorated everything before we went to pick up the cake. All three of us are in a rush to get the final things done, but we just about manage.

I’m oddly excited when the front door opens and Emilia walks in. On cue, all three of us pop our party poppers, sending confetti flying everywhere. Emilia jumps in fright and then smiles when she spots us and the decorations.

“Happy birthday!” we all yell. She giggles and we hug her one by one. I’m delighted when she lingers in my arms for a couple of seconds longer, and I press a covert kiss to her neck.

My mom throws an arm around her shoulder and pulls her towards the living room. We’ve got dozens of balloons against the ceiling and her birthday cake on the coffee table. She gasps as she looks around, her eyes finding mine. I wink at her and she giggles.

Her dad starts singing happy birthday while my mom lights the candles. Emilia falls to her knees in front of the coffee table and stares up at all of us, her face lit up with pure delight. I’m relieved to see her enjoying her day. This morning it seemed like she wasn’t having a good time. She walked in with bags underneath her eyes and she was in a mellow mood. She’s been a bit odd all week, come to think of it. I’m worried about her. Gabby has finally disappeared from our lives and I thought she’d be happy about it, but she’s been acting strange instead.

Emilia glances up at me before blowing out the candles, and for a second I wonder if she thought of me when she made her wish. She and I only have a couple of months left together before I’ll leave for college, and I hope she wants to spend them with me the way I want to spend them with her.

Emilia cuts the cake and frowns a little. She looks up at her dad with disappointment, but hides it instantly and smiles. She hands everyone a slice of cake and then takes a bite of her own slice. She struggles to mask her disgust, and her smile looks awkward, but it seems like only Kate and I notice. Kate discreetly swaps her empty plate for Emilia’s and I sigh in relief.

“Told you she’d love the cake,” her dad says, pointing at her empty plate. I blink in disbelief and nod slowly. How can the man be this clueless?

I wait patiently for the evening to end. It’s not obvious to anyone but me and maybe Kate, but Emilia is definitely not having a good time. She was delighted at the start but her excitement waned quickly — her mood is back to what it was this morning. Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes and she looks impatient for the day to end, but I’ll be sure to change that tonight.