Hold on to Hope

Twenty-Eight

Frankie Leigh

Eighteen Years Old

Frankie Leigh blew out the candles on her birthday cake. She was pretty danged proud of herself when she snuffed out all eighteen in one fell swoop. Oh, but she was determined to get that one wish.

It cast the entire kitchen into darkness as a roar of cheers and hollers echoed through her parents’ house.

The lights flicked back on. She blinked against the brightness, and she grinned when she saw all her family and friends staring back. Still shouting and clapping where they were gathered around the table.

“Happy birthday, Frankie Leigh!”

“Whoop, whoop, Frankie’s an adult!”

“Watch out, Sweet Pea is getting ready to take on the world.”

Love overflowed. Frankie Leigh was so grateful to everyone who had gathered to celebrate her. She thought literally every person in her family had to be there, plus a mess of friends from high school and a few other people she’d met along the way.

All of them were stuffed into the kitchen and overflowing into the living room.

Maybe it was wrong, but her heart sought out only one person.

Evan.

Her eyes immediately raced to where she knew that he would be. That gorgeous boy was up against the wall just outside of the commotion, like he wasn’t sure that he wanted to slip into the fray.

On the outskirts when the only thing she wanted was him by her side.

Sipping at a beer, he watched her in a way that made her tummy shiver.

Twisted inside out.

God, she’d been lovin’ that boy her whole life, and she was praying it was time that he would finally love her back. The way she’d been dying for him to. In the way that she’d lie awake at night with her heart pounding and this vacant place inside of her throbbing, aching for him to fill it.

Her mama and her aunt Hope wedged their way through the chaos. “I hope you’re ready to taste this, Frankie Leigh. I know what a sweet tooth you have,” her aunt Hope teased as she gestured to the cake she’d made.

“Um, yes, please. That looks delicious.”

“Well, you know I made it special just for you. A brand-new recipe.”

“I think it’s a perfect match,” her mama said with a laugh.

Frankie Leigh gestured to herself. “I guess you two know me well, don’t you?”

Her mama and her aunt Hope started cutting it into pieces and placing the small squares of cake on party plates.

It was this huge sheet-cake that was about as big as the table. In cursive letters, it read, “Even unicorns become adults one day,” and it had a soaring unicorn flying for the moon.

It was frosted in a rainbow of colors and sprinkled with edible glitter.

Yeah, it was pretty much perfect, and Frankie’s heart swelled again, loving that they knew her so well.

“Here you go, Sweet Pea Frankie Leigh. This one’s for you.” Her aunt Hope handed her the piece that had the unicorn horn that was made out of a waffle cone cookie and white chocolate. “I think this is worth a second wish.”

But the thing was, Frankie would wish for the same wish all over again.

She only wanted one thing and it didn’t cost a cent.

Frankie gave her the biggest hug. “Thank you, Aunt Hope. Thank you so much for being such an important part of my life for all these years. I hope you know how much I love you.”

Pulling back, her aunt set her hand on Frankie’s cheek. “It’s me who’s thankful for you, Frankie Leigh. My son would never have had the childhood that he did without you. I love you like you’re one of my own, and I’m praying that you find all the joy in this world that you deserve.”

Emotion welled up so fast that there was the threat of tears. The last thing Frankie wanted to be doing was crying on her birthday.

That would just suck.

This was a night to celebrate.

So she did.

She celebrated with her family and friends while she and Evan seemed to orbit around the other.

He remained distant, like he couldn’t bear the thought of gettin’ too close, all the while remaining the closest person to her there.

And she wanted to call to him. Gesture with her hands in the language they knew best.

To tell him to come stand by her side because that was where he belonged. But there was something about him tonight that knotted a ball of apprehension in her belly. Something that was sad and distant.

Like that boy felt he didn’t fit in.

Everyone at the party ate and talked and danced.

Frankie Leigh opened presents. Clothes and money and gag gifts.

Frankie received a sweet ring from her parents, her uncle Ollie and aunt Nikki gave her her own camping gear, and then she opened a ridiculous check from her uncle Broderick and aunt Lillith that they said was to help with her college education.