Defined by Dakota Willink

Author:Dakota Willink [Willink, Dakota]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dragonfly Ink Publishing

19

FITZ

I pulled in the driveway to a little Cape Cod-style house in Fairfax with Cadence at six o’clock on Thursday evening. Through the large front window, I could see people milling about and hear their jovial chatter carrying through to the outside.

“You ready for this?” Cadence asked, giving my hand a slight squeeze as we walked up to the front door.

I grinned and looked down at the box wrapped in pink unicorn paper tucked under my arm. That morning, Cadence and I had met for our routine run. When she mentioned the present she bought for Mayra, I realized I probably shouldn’t show up to the party empty handed and went out during my lunch hour to get a present for the birthday girl. Clueless on what to buy, I scanned the shelves of purple and pink frill for what seemed like an hour before Google ultimately saved the day.

“Yeah. Thanks for the invite, sweetheart. I’m excited to meet them.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she laughed. “Kid birthday parties can get a little rowdy.”

Cadence knocked on the door and a short woman with dark brown eyes opened it a moment later.

“Ah, Miss Riley! I am so glad you came!” the woman exclaimed, her subtle Spanish accent coming through in the way she added importance to her vowels.

“Please, Emilia. I’ve told you before to call me Cadence,” she laughed and embraced the woman in a brief hug before we were ushered inside. “Emilia, this is Fitz. I hope you don’t mind I brought him along.”

“Not at all!”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said and extended my hand. After we exchanged pleasantries, Emilia stepped in between Cadence and me and looped her arms through ours.

“Please, come with me to the kitchen so I can introduce you to the family.”

Swarms of kids ran past my legs as we walked through the living room toward the kitchen. Balloons drifted around aimlessly on the floor and happy birthday banners draped the walls. A stack of unopened presents piled high in the corner of the room. I didn’t think I’d ever seen so much pink in my life.

When we got to the kitchen, loud conversation and laughter assaulted me. In a mix of Spanish and English, everyone seemed in competition to be heard, each person practically shouting over the next. I half wondered how any of them knew what the other was saying.

Emilia clapped her hands loudly.

“Atención! Everyone, this is Cadence Riley, the wonderful woman who is helping to bring Andrés back to us. This is her friend, Fitz.”

I nodded to the crowd of men and women who simultaneously called out “thank you for coming” and “bienvenido” before returning to their previous shouty conversations. I couldn’t help but smile. I never had big, loud family gatherings growing up and had only witnessed them on TV. However, being in the thick of it was something else entirely.

“Oh, good! I’m glad you made it,” I heard Cadence say. I turned to see who she was speaking to and recognized Joy and the woman I’d seen briefly at the fundraiser gala.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.