Chapter 7 - Amelia's Birthday
Amelia turned eleven on a Saturday.
It should have been a small thing. Grant had planned a small thing. Lunch at the house, three kids from her old school, cake, presents, done by four.
Then Diane called and said she was coming.
Then Diane called again and said she was bringing her sister.
Then, by Friday night, the guest list had eleven names on it, most of them adults, most of them people Amelia had not seen since the accident.
Grant sat in his office on Friday night and looked at the list and thought about canceling.
He didn't cancel. He didn't know how to say no to Diane. He never had.
---
The party was awkward from the first minute.
Adults stood in clusters in the living room. Kids—the three from Amelia's old school—sat at the kitchen island and didn't talk. Diane held court by the fireplace in a black dress, saying things like she's doing so well and we're so proud of how she's handled it in a voice that made Amelia's shoulders climb toward her ears.
Grant kept looking at the door.
He had invited Rosa and Leo. He hadn't told Diane.
At 1:15, the doorbell rang.
Amelia sat up in her chair. "Is that them?"
"I'll get it."
Grant opened the door. Rosa stood on the porch in a plain blue dress. Leo stood beside her in a button-down shirt that was too big in the collar, and he was holding a gift wrapped in newspaper.
"Hi," Grant said.
"Hi," Leo said.
"You came," Amelia said from the foyer.
"I said I would," Leo said.
He walked in and handed her the present. She tore the newspaper off. Inside was a small wooden box, hand-painted with flowers, with a latch that clicked.
"I made it," Leo said. "In shop class. It's not good."
"It's perfect," Amelia said. She opened it. Inside was nothing.
"That's because you have to put something in it," Leo said. "That's the point. It's for whatever."
Amelia closed the box. She held it in both hands.
"Thank you," she said.
Then Diane appeared in the doorway.
"Well," she said. "This must be the young man."
Leo turned. Grant stepped forward.
"Diane—"
"I'm just saying hello." She smiled at Leo, but it was the kind of smile that had a hook in it. "You're the one who promised to make my granddaughter walk."
Leo's face went carefully blank. Grant had seen that expression before—on adults in meetings.
"Yes, ma'am."
"That's a big promise."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Do you know what happens when you make a promise like that and you can't keep it?"
"Diane," Grant said. "That's enough."
"I'm asking a question."
Leo looked at her. Then he looked past her, at Amelia. He was quiet for a moment.
"When I promise something," he said, "I try to keep it. And if I can't, I say I'm sorry. And then I try again."
The room had gone very quiet.
Diane's smile stayed in place for one more second. Then it dropped.
"Well," she said. "That's very mature for a ten-year-old."
"Yes, ma'am."
She turned and walked away.
Grant exhaled. He put his hand on Leo's shoulder. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Leo said. "I'm used to it."
That answer hit Grant somewhere low.
---
The party broke up at 3:30. The kids left. The adults left. Diane was the last to go. She stopped at the door and looked at Grant.
"You know what you're doing," she said.
"What am I doing?"
"You're letting a stranger into her life. And when it goes wrong, you'll be the one she remembers."
"It's already gone wrong, Diane."
She looked at him for a long moment. Then she left.
Grant went back into the living room.
Amelia was in her chair by the window. She had the wooden box on her lap.
"Dad," she said.
"Yeah."
"I want to try something."
"Okay."
"I want to try to stand."
Grant's heart stopped. He crossed the room slowly, carefully. "Okay. Do you want me to get your walker?"
"No."
"Do you want me to hold you?"
"No."
"Amelia—"
"I want Leo to hold me."
Grant looked at the doorway. Leo was still there, standing next to Rosa with his hands in his pockets.
Leo looked at Grant. Grant looked at Rosa. Rosa looked at Amelia.
"Okay," Grant said.
---
They went out to the garden. It was a warm April afternoon and the grass was just coming back. Grant brought a kitchen chair outside for Amelia to grip. Rosa stood ten feet back with her arms crossed, her face unreadable. Grant stood beside her.
Leo knelt in front of the chair.
"Okay," he said. "Put your hands here. And here."
Amelia placed her hands on the seat of the chair.
"Now what?"
"I don't know."
"Leo—"
"I'm serious. I don't know." He stood up and stepped behind her. "I just—okay. I'm going to hold your waist. And you're going to stand up. And if you fall, I'll catch you. That's it. That's the whole plan."
"That's a bad plan."
"Yeah," Leo said. "But it's a plan."
Amelia laughed. It came out shaky.
"Okay," she said.
"One," Leo said.
Her fingers tightened on the chair.
"Two."
Grant's hands were shaking. He stuck them in his pockets.
"Three."
Amelia pushed.
Her arms locked. Her back lifted. For one whole second, she was standing—bent forward, leaning over the chair like an old woman, but standing.
Then her legs gave. Leo caught her under her arms. They went down to the grass together in a heap, laughing and gasping.
"Are you okay?" Grant said, already moving.
"I'm fine," Amelia said. She was lying in the grass, her head on Leo's shoulder, laughing. "I stood up."
"You stood up."
"I stood up."
Grant sank down onto the grass next to her. Rosa came over and stood above them, looking down.
"That was eleven seconds," Leo said.
"It was longer than that."
"It was eight."
"You're terrible at counting."
"You're terrible at standing."
Amelia punched him in the arm. It was the most normal thing Grant had seen her do in fourteen months.
He looked up at Rosa. Rosa looked at him. Her face was wet.
May you like
Neither of them said anything.
---
