Happy Birthday to Me Again (Birthday Trilogy, Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

just never had anyone to take me anywhere.”
    Liesel took my
arm and kissed me on my cheek. Everyone seemed to enjoy the rare PDA from me
and Liesel, except my grandfather.
    “I’m eating,” he
said. “And nobody can stop me.”
    He started
tearing his slab of ham apart like a ravenous mountain lion, and the rest of us
followed suit. More details about Kimber’s upcoming show in D.C. were
discussed, as well as how Margaret and Darlene met, and how my grandfather’s
three-year case of shingles, which manifested itself painfully near his left
eye, had finally started calming down in recent months.  
    “Who wants
dessert?” my mom asked, nearly an hour after we had started eating dinner, and
I knew my time for making the one final announcement of the evening was
dwindling. “I’ve got two different kinds of pies, as well as my famous pumpkin
cake. Eat every last crumb, because I don’t want to look at these things after
tonight!”
    She departed the
room with my aunt Margaret for a minute, and then returned with an apple pie, a
lemon meringue pie, and a pumpkin marble cake, the latter of which she set
right in front of me.
    The cream cheese
frosted cake, surprisingly, had a candle lit in the center of it.
    What the—
    My mom started
to sing the dreaded song, the one that would haunt me for the rest of my life.
“Happy birthday to you…”
    Everyone joined
in, except for Liesel, who seemed as perplexed as I was.
    Noooooo… noooooo… it’s not my birthday!
    “…Happy birthday
to you…”
    I wanted to
start throwing plates against the wall, silverware, drawers, cats, anything , to make it stop. My attention
veered toward Liesel, who had her eyes closed, and her fingers pressed inside
her ears. I decided to follow suit. It’s
been nearly seven months, Liesel. Don’t break your non-magic steak streak now.
Please. Please!
    “…Happy birthday
dear Darlene…”
    I heard the last
word pretty clearly through my echoing eardrums, and I peered across the table
to see Darlene standing up, shaking her head, surprised as can be. “I can’t
believe this. Oh my God, that’s so nice.”
    “…Happy birthday
to you!”
    Darlene leaned
over the table and blew out the candle. I watched as the smoke rose all the way
up to the ceiling. I elbowed Liesel, signaling to her that she could come up
for air.
    “It’s OK,” I
whispered. “That wasn’t meant for either of us.”
    “What can I
say?” Darlene shouted across the table. “It’s always been hard to have a
Christmas Eve birthday. But I must say I wouldn’t want to spend it with anyone
but all of you!”
    Margaret
smooched her beloved on the lips again, and now I could swear that on my life
I’d seen the two lesbians kiss more in the last two hours than I’d seen my own
parents kiss in my entire lifetime.  
    I turned to
Liesel. She looked so luminous tonight, her green eyes sparkling, her dark red
lips so inviting, my love for her growing each and every day. I was sure. I was
certain.
    The time is now.
    My mom started
serving slices of the pumpkin cake on paper plates when I clinked my knife a
few times against my glass of water.
    I stood up as my
grandfather shouted, “No more speeches!” My grandmother slugged him in the
chest.
    My mom finished
serving the dessert and sat back down in her seat. “What is it, Cameron?”
    I now had all
eyes in the room focused on me. Not even Liesel knew what I was about to say.
    “This is a
really good night,” I said. “I’m surrounded by people I love, who I deeply care
about, and I’m so thankful that I got a second chance to live my life. As you
all know, it’s been a bit of a rough road these last few months to get back to
normal. What I went through… well… to call it traumatizing would be an
understatement. I’ve now seen what I’m going to look like when I’m Grandpa’s
age…” I looked at my grandfather, who was paying more attention to his pumpkin
cake than my speech.   “But I’ve
managed to