Birthright

anyone here.”
    “I’m here.”
    “Don’t put that on the line again.” She hated hearing her own voice shake. “I’m not up to it.”
    “I’m asking you to take a couple days. Take a break. Do paperwork, head to the lab, whatever works best for you. Then, after you’ve cleared your head a little, if you want off, we’ll talk to Leo, help him find replacements for us.”
    “Us?”
    “You go, I go.”
    “Jesus, Jake. I don’t know if I’m up to that either.”
    “I’m up to it. This time you’re going to lean on me if I have to kick your feet out from under you.”
    “I want to go back home.” There were tears in her throat, tears behind her eyes. She had a moment’s panic she wouldn’t be able to stop them. “I want to feel normal.”
    “Okay.” He drew her against him, then shook his head quickly as Rosie started toward them. “We’ll take a few days. Let me get in touch with Leo.”
    “Tell him . . . Christ, I don’t know what to tell him.” She drew back, tried to steady herself. And saw Suzanne pull to the side of the road. “Oh God. That’s perfect. That’s just perfect.”
    “Go on to the trailer. I’ll get rid of her.”
    “No.” She swiped a hand over her cheeks to make sure they were dry. “If I’m taking off, the least I can do is tell her myself. But it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you stuck around.”
    “In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been stuck for some time.”
    “Callie.” Suzanne actually seemed happy as she came through the gate. “Jake. I was just thinking how much fun all of this looks. That never occurred to me before, but it must be fun.”
    Callie rubbed her grubby hands on her work pants. “It can be.”
    “Especially on a day like this. Gorgeous day, so fresh and clear. I thought Jay would beat me here, but I see he’s running late.”
    “I’m sorry. We were supposed to meet for something today?”
    “No. We just wanted to . . . Well, I won’t wait for him. Happy birthday.” She held out a gift bag.
    “Thanks, but it’s not my birthday until . . .” Realization came with a quick jolt that had her staring at the pretty little bag with its shiny blue stars. Jessica’s birthday.
    “I realized you might not think of it.” Suzanne took Callie’s hand, slid the strap of the bag over her fingers. “But I’ve waited a long time to wish you happy birthday in person.”
    She saw no sorrow or regret on Suzanne’s face. Only a joy that left her unable to turn away. “Well.” She stared down at the bag again. “I don’t know how to feel about this. It’s a little annoying to be another year older to begin with, the last one I’ve got before the big three-oh. And now I have to do it earlier than I expected.”
    “Wait until you hit fifty. It’s a killer. I made you a cake.” She waved a hand back toward her car. “It might help it go down easier.”
    “You made me a cake,” Callie murmured.
    “I did. And I don’t mind telling you that not everyone gets a cake baked in Suzanne’s actual kitchen by Suzanne’s actual hands these days. There’s Jay now. Do you have a few minutes?”
    “Sure.”
    “I’ll have him get the cake out of the car for me. Be right back.”
    Callie stood, the shiny bag dangling from her fingers. “How is she doing this? Jesus, Jake, she was bubbling. How is she making it a celebration?”
    “You know why, Callie.”
    “Because my life matters to her. It never stopped mattering.” She looked down at the gift bag, then back toward the bones of a long-dead woman. “She’s not going to let me walk away.”
    “Babe.” He leaned down to kiss her. “You were never going to let yourself walk away. Let’s go have some cake.”
    T he team descended on the cake like locusts on wheat. Maybe, Callie thought as she heard the laughter, it was just what they’d all needed to push away the guilt and depression over Bill’s death. Some careless greed, a half hour of simple human pleasure.
    She sat in the shade at the edge of the woods and took the wrapped package Jay offered her. “Suzanne will tell you picking out gifts isn’t my strong point.”
    “Car mats. For our fourth anniversary.”
    He winced. “And I’ve never lived it down.”
    Amused, Callie finished ripping off the wrapping. They seemed so easy together, like different people than they’d been the day she’d seen them in Lana’s office.
    “Well, this beats car mats.” She ran her hand over the cover of a coffee-table