“I hate to break it to you, Ma but Avaline and I read that book when we were thirteen.”
“Oh. Oh, my,” she says before turning bright red. “Thirteen?”
“Yep,” I reply, popping the P. “Who knew you were so saucy?”
“I did,” Daddy says, making everyone laugh.
“Colin!” Ma shouts.
“Ana,” Dad says, putting a hand over hers. Ma quits her bellyaching and smiles at him. I have to look away because I know what will happen next. Beckett and I stare at our plates while our parents make out like teenagers in a parked car. I wouldn’t actually know about that stuff, but I’ve seen it on TV.
“Alright, open your presents, Ren,” Ma says, letting Beckett and I know the show’s over.
“Why are we doing presents now?” I ask; usually, it’s after dinner and cake.
“We have a town council meeting tonight,” Daddy says. Dad is a town commissioner, and mom is the council’s secretary. They are elected positions, and they take it very seriously, so it makes sense as to the change.
I grin and pick up the first present.
“That’s from me,” Beckett says. I rip open the paper, or I try to. He must have used a whole roll of scotch tape to wrap this. I finally get it open and find a really old book. There is nothing on the cover, so I carefully open it and see Pride and Prejudice, 1894. My favorite book.
“Beckett? Where did you find this? It’s amazing,” I say in awe.
“Aaron and I were at an old bookstore looking for cheap textbooks, and we came across this, so we bought it. It’s from both of us, really, but he didn’t want to take any credit for it, though come to think of it, he was the one who told me it was your favorite book.”
“Did he,” I say, tears springing to my eyes.
“Ah, shit. Don’t cry, sister. It’s just a book.”
It’s so much more than that, but I don’t get into that with him.
Moving on to the next one, it’s the iPad I asked for, plus a keyboard for it. I grab the card on the table and open it last. Inside is a lotta cash and a gift card to Walmart for a thousand dollars. I thank my parents and eat breakfast. It’s Avaline’s turn to drive to school, so after saying my goodbyes, I grab my pretty much empty backpack and sprint across the street. I knock once on the Davis’ door once before pushing it open.
“Good morning, birthday girl,” Ella says, greeting me with a hug.
“Good morning, Mrs. Porter,” I reply.
“How many times have I asked you to call me Ella? Mrs. Porter is my formidable mother-in-law. You know her. You met her at Christmas,” she says, chuckling.
“Sorry, Ella,” I correct.
“Avaline will be down in a minute. She had a slow go this morning.”
“No worries. Thanks.”
“This is a little something from Chance and I,” she says, handing me an envelope. I tear it open, and five hundred dollar bills fall out and another gift card to Bucky’s Appliance store in town for a thousand dollars.”
“Omg, Ella. I can’t accept this,” I say, setting it down on the counter.
“You can and you will,” she says.
“But I’m going to cosmetology school in Tallahassee and living at home. I don’t need this. It’s too much.”
“The gift card is good for two years. You and Avaline might want to get an apartment or something,” she says hastily. An apartment? Where?
“Thank you,” I say, throwing caution to the wind by accepting such a lavish and wholly unnecessary gift. I throw my arms around her neck and thank her again.
“Ren! You’re eighteen!” Avaline shouts, coming down the stairs. She still has another two weeks until her birthday.
“I’m eighteen,” I say as I go from Ella’s arms to Avaline’s. I never realized how much hugging our families actually do until this minute.
“You girls are going to be late,” Ella says, and we spring into gear.
Out in Avaline’s Jeep Wrangler, she hands me an envelope.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I say but tear it open anyway.
“Of course I did. You’re my best friend.”
Inside the envelope is two different gift cards. One for IKEA and another for Target. Now, I’m suspicious.
“Did you tell the parents we wanted to move in together?” I ask. We’ve never even discussed such a thing. We are both a little old-fashioned in that we want to stay with our parents until we get married, and even then, we wouldn’t want to be very far from them.
“What? No… Why would I do that?”
“Avaline… In the last twenty minutes, I’ve been given five thousand dollars to purchase stuff for a place to live. What’s going on?”
“I can’t tell you,” she says quickly. I look over at her, and she’s got a guilty look.
“What? You can’t tell me?” Avaline and I don’t keep secrets from each other; at least, I don’t keep secrets from her. She knows my all-consuming love for her brother isn’t a fleeting notion. I know that she’s in love with my brother. Every sleepover we had since we were twelve has always diverged onto the topic of what it would be like to really be sisters.