Angered Seasons: The Worst Birthday Ever (Volume One) (2 page)

I grinned. “I’m only turning thirty-two,
thank you very much, and not until seven o’clock tonight. And don’t
forget, you’re two months away from being an old man, just like
me.”

“Ah, but I’ll always be younger than you.” He
made his way to the fridge. “Want another beer? Someone forgot to
plug the truck in yesterday so it’s not warm yet.”

“You took it out last.”

“You went to Burger King after the
movie.”

I mentally kicked myself. “Ah shit. Did you
have to boost it?”

“No. It was close though.”

“Why don’t we take the car?”

“Because it’s thirty below zero and I want
the heated seats.”

“God, you’re a wuss.” I laughed and took a
drink. “You know, Mother Nature would pick today to turn winter on.
We haven’t had a day colder than minus five all season and then,
boom! Two days before my birthday and minus thirty.”

“It will come back to bite us in the ass, I’m
sure. All those people that say global warming isn’t happening need
to move up here.”

I nodded.

“So, do we need to pick up your man?”

“No. He said he’d meet us there.” I didn’t
tell him Brian had gotten upset when I’d told him the dinner
arrangements. He’d insisted on picking me up, but really, what was
the big deal? I lived with Lane and we were all going to the same
place. I wasn’t one to pick fights, but I’d bluntly reminded him
that he hadn’t even remembered my birthday while Lane had and if it
weren’t for my best friend, I’d be in my comfy sweats watching TV
while Lane read his book instead of heading to Zorba’s for supper
and drinks.

“What’s wrong?”

I looked up from my thoughts to find Lane
leaning against the counter, his ‘I know something’s up’ look on
his face.

“Nothing.” I smiled and hugged him tightly.
“Thanks for remembering my birthday.”

He gave me my usual kiss on the forehead.
“Happy birthday, Freckles.” He let go of me and turned off all the
lights in our little two bedroom house. “Alright, Iggy. Be a good
guard iguana and bite anyone that tries to break in.”

Iggy didn’t look as we left.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian was already sitting with Michelle as we
walked in. Michelle’s face lit up at the sight of Lane. She tucked
her long blond hair behind her ears and batted long lashes over her
light blue eyes. I’m not kidding. She batted. Lane pulled his parka
off, hung it on the back of his chair, and gave her a peck before
sitting in the chair next to hers. Brian looked at his watch
pointedly. He hated when people were late.

“I forgot to plug the truck in last night.” I
started to apologize then stopped. I hated how he always made me
feel like I was wrong and I had to be sorry. We’d been together two
months and I had gotten to the point where I knew it wasn’t going
to go any farther. I’d already made up my mind to call things off.
As he frowned and made me feel like I was ten, I decided that
tomorrow was as good a day as any. It was too bad, I thought to
myself. The man was quite a catch. Head of his own law firm,
thirty-five, in great shape… There were a few women out there just
waiting for us to break up. Well, they’d have to wait another
night. Tonight, I wanted to have fun. No drama allowed.

The waitress stopped at the table and took
our orders. I grinned.

“Hey, Lisa.”

Lisa, a friend of mine from highschool,
looked up from her order pad and smiled. “Hey, Gabs!” She gave me a
hug then almost choked Lane with one for him.

“I thought you were quitting here the last
time I ran into you.”

She shrugged. “I was going to, but you just
can’t beat the tips.”

“How are the kids?”

Her face lit up as she set down her pad and
pen and reached into her back pocket. She handed me a picture of a
six year old boy and a three year old girl, both of them with
Lisa’s dark curly hair and their father’s dark brown eyes.

“Oh, my god, they’re getting big.”

She smiled sadly. “Yeah. It goes by too
quick.”

Lane reached over and gave her arm a squeeze.
“How are you doing?”

She shrugged and pulled herself up a bit
straighter. “Good. Alright, I guess. We manage. My mom and
Charlie’s mom and dad help out a lot. They take turns watching the
kids when I work.” Her smile returned. “But, enough about me.
What’s the occasion? Gabs, you look phenomenal!”

My face turned red.

“It’s Gabby’s birthday.” Lane grinned at
me.

“Ooh! Happy birthday! Do you want me to
announce it? If I announce it, then the cooks come out with a cake
and do a little song and dance.” She leaned in so just I could
hear. “The new cook is on tonight and, trust me, it is worth
it.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “No, I’m good,
thanks.”

The conversation turned back to our orders
and Lisa left to get our drinks and to get the cooks on our
supper.

Supper was a bit awkward for a birthday
celebration. I fairly well ignored Brian and Michelle and talked
shop with Lane. Michelle glared at me while Brian glared at Lane.
By the time our meal was over, I was ready to call it a night. We
ordered one last drink, Lane ordering another coke since he was
driving.

“I will never be a single mom.”

I stopped gazing around the restaurant and
focused on Michelle. “Excuse me?”

“A single mom; I’ll never be one. If some guy
is going to knock me up, he’ll be decent enough to stick around
after the fact.”

I took a deep breath. “You need to watch your
mouth. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Lane was staring at her, shocked.

“I’m just saying. It’s called a condom.
They’re not that hard to put on.” Michelle gave a flip of her hair.
Ian reached across the table and put a hand on mine, his ‘calm
down’ look on his face. He turned back to Michelle.

“The reason she’s a single mom is because her
husband was killed. It was a freak accident with some machinery at
the mine where he was working.”

She had the decency to look embarrassed. “I’m
sorry. I didn’t know.”

“That’s right, you didn’t. So next time, try
to keep your opinions to yourself.”

“Gabby, she said she was sorry.”

“Whatever.” God, what was wrong with me? I
was one of those happy people that rarely got upset. The last few
days, it seemed like I was snapping at everyone and Lane, well, he
wasn’t helping with his half depressed attitude.

“Ok. Enough, both of you. Here, Gabby, I have
a present for you.” Lane pulled a long box from the inside pocket
of his jacket. It was wrapped in green wrapping paper and a yellow
ribbon. Michelle’s eyes bugged out of her head and I tried not to
laugh. The box looked like something you’d put fancy jewelry in,
but I knew better. Or, should I say, Lane knew better. I loved to
dress up, but it wasn’t something I did very often. For the most
part, the only jewelry I wore was studs in my ears. Jewelry and
power tools were never a good mix.

The tight look on her face relaxed slightly
as the box turned in his hand and it became obvious that it was too
thick to be jewelry.

I grinned and took it from him. “What is
it?”

“Open it.” He smiled as I ripped open the
package and then opened the plain brown box hidden inside. “Try not
to lose this one. You’re not allowed to steal mine on Monday.”

I burst out laughing and pulled out the
drywall rasp. “Awww… you even put my name on it!” I held it up so
Michelle and Brian could see the ‘Freckles’ in permanent marker
along the side. Michelle smiled politely and Brian looked past me.
He’d told me after he’d had a few too many drinks that he didn’t
approve of the fact I was in construction. Why I hadn’t broken up
with him then was beyond me.

My mood lifted, we paid for supper and
started back to the vehicles.

“Let’s go to the bar!” Michelle hung on
Lane’s arm and looked at him lovingly. He glanced at me.

“Feel like going?”

“Sure, why not.” I looked at Brian who I’d
found particularly quiet all evening. Not one comment about what I
was allowed to eat (good little girls eat salads, not rare steaks
with fries and gravy like I’d had tonight), nor a smirk when I’d
told Lane I’d gotten a replacement dimpler while Home Depot sent
ours to the manufacturer to get the brake fixed. “Feel like coming
along?”

He took my hand and stopped walking then
shook his head when I looked up at him. “Look, I didn’t want to do
this on your birthday, but this isn’t working out.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. No shit,
Sherlock. I waited for him to continue.

“This whole arrangement with you and Lane,
it’s weird. You’re not kids anymore. I can put up with your choice
of livelihood. Hell, I can even get used to the fact that you
refuse to do yourself up in the morning before I wake up when you
spend the night.” He paused at my frown. “But I won’t play second
place man in a woman’s life. If you want to have any chance with
me, you’re going to have to leave him. Move out; get your own
place. Just quit having him around all the time.”

“If I want to have a chance with you?” Wow,
this man was a piece of work. I gazed over to Lane who didn’t look
too happy as he watched what was happening. I turned back to Brian.
“But who would get custody of Iggy? We can’t do that to him. It
would break his fragile little heart! And joint custody won’t work.
We can’t just move an iguana around in the middle of winter. Plus,
have you tried moving that tank? It’s huge…” I said the last of my
speech to his back as he simply turned and walked away.
“Jackass.”

I made my way to the truck where Michelle lay
shivering in her tiny dress jacket. The tight silver skirt she was
wearing was so short it looked like she was naked under the coat. I
may not have been the picture of class and sophistication in my
parka, but I was warm. I slapped my big mitts together.

“Alright, lovebirds, let’s get this show on
the road. I’ve a craving for lemon pepper wings and a
Newcastle.”

All three of us slid into the front seat of
the one ton so that Michelle was in the middle. I was suddenly in a
much better mood.

“What did you say to him? He didn’t look very
happy.” Michelle seemed cautious as she glanced in my
direction.

“Well, first, he told me he could put up with
my job and the fact that I didn’t look like this every single day
just for him.”

Her eyes bugged out of her face.
“Jackass!”

I grinned. “That’s what I said.”

“What about the end? When he shook his head
and walked away?” Lane was frowning as he concentrated on the
road.

“He told me I had to move out of our house.”
I shrugged. “He said our relationship was weird.”

He grunted.

“I told him I couldn’t do it. I mean, what
would happen to Iggy? The custody battle would kill him, and joint
custody wasn’t an option.”

Lane burst out laughing. “Well, of course
not! Has he seen the size of that tank? God, it would be a pain in
the ass moving it from one house to the other!”

Both of us laughed until we noticed that
Michelle definitely wasn’t. Lane cleared his throat as we pulled
into the Rogues parking lot.

Michelle’s frown deepened. “Why Rogues? Belly
Up is much funner.”

“Because Gabby wants lemon pepper wings and a
Newcastle and this is the only place where you can get both. And,
since it’s her birthday, she gets to pick.”

I waited until he’d closed his door before
turning to her. “Look… I know you don’t like me. That’s plain as
day. But the fact of the matter is that Lane is my best friend. We
should try to get along for his sake.”

She blinked at me and nodded. I let us out of
the truck and smiled at Lane’s questioning look.

As it turned out, after a few more drinks,
Michelle didn’t seem to have any issues with my choice of pub. She
did, however, start to mind my presence a bit more.

“Gabrielle, we need to talk.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Why don’t we
wait until we’re sober?” Truth be told, I wasn’t drunk, but I did
have a nice buzz on and I didn’t want her to ruin it for me. I
looked up at the sound of two girls giggling at the table beside us
and noticed they were looking at Lane who was pressing buttons on
the jukebox.

“Maybe you should have a talk with them,” I
suggested.

“I don’t need to have a talk with them.
They’re not the one he’s in love with!” I sat and stared at her
with no smart alecky comment to make. I slowly took a drink from my
pint to give me time to think of what I would say to that. It
wasn’t the first time one of Lane’s girlfriends had told me this,
but the correct response was different with every girl. I decided
on the ‘I may be a lesbian and that’s why Brian broke up with me’
approach with her, but she cut me off as I started my protest.

“And it’s so obvious that you love him back!
I mean, come on! Why else does a girl walk around in her skimpy
underwear all the time? You’re obviously trying to turn him on! So,
now what? Now that Brian is gone, you’ll be all over Lane? Don’t
tell me you’re not!”

“Jesus, Michelle, calm down.” I tried to get
her to lower her tone as I sent an apologetic look to the tables
around us.

“Don’t tell me to calm down! He is mine!”

I looked her straight in the eyes. “What part
of this are you not getting? He’s yours! I don’t want him!”

Lane had a strange look in his eyes as he
walked up to the table. “What’s going on?”

I threw my hands up in desperation. “I’m
getting the whole ‘he’s in love with you’ speech.”

“Oh.”

Michelle whirled on him, her eyes blazing.
“Don’t you ‘oh’ me! Don’t you dare deny it!”

“Let’s get you home, Michelle.” He started to
ease her out of her chair. She pulled out of his grasp and stumbled
toward me.

“That’s all he talks about. ‘Oh, Gabby, this
and oh, Gabby, that’. He even talks about you in his sleep! He
makes love to me and dreams of YOU afterwards!”