Happy Birthday: A Novel

“I’m doing okay,” April insisted, but she looked tired. She had been sad ever since the last time she’d seen Mike and his visit to the doctor had blown up in her face. “And I’m happy for you, Mom,” she said sincerely. “You deserve it. I don’t see why you should be alone. He’s lucky to have you, and you’re still young. I’ve always wanted you to have someone who is good to you. Dad is happy with Maddie. Why shouldn’t you have someone too? And maybe Jack figured out that all those young girls weren’t what he was looking for.” She hoped so, for her mother’s sake.

“Apparently. I still get nervous about it, though. Sixty is sixty, no matter how much I lie about it. And twenty-two is twenty-two.”

“He was probably bored with them,” April said sensibly. She hadn’t expected it, but she was pleased about Jack and her mother. Valerie told her that she and Jack wanted to have dinner at the restaurant on Valentine’s Day, and April was delighted. “I’ll make you two a special dinner,” she promised, and she hugged her mother when she left and told her again how happy she was for her.

“What did she say?” Jack asked Valerie when she got back to his apartment. They had spent every night together, at his place or hers, since they got back from Miami. And he had been a little nervous about April’s reaction. You never knew with kids, at whatever age. He had mentioned to Greg on the phone that week that he and Valerie were dating, and Greg thought it was fine. It was not an issue. But girls were different, and he knew that Valerie and her daughter were very close.

“She was great,” Valerie reassured him, and then kissed him. “She’s going to make us a special dinner for Valentine’s Day; I told her you wanted to eat there.”

“Not with arsenic in it, hopefully,” he said, still looking nervous, and Valerie laughed at him.

“I told you, she’s fine. She has her own problems these days.”

“What kind of problems?” he asked, looking concerned. “Is the restaurant doing okay?”

“The restaurant is terrific,” she said, and didn’t explain. But he was relieved to know that April was fine with their romance too. Green light. Go. Full steam ahead. All aboard. It made him feel better to know it. And so far, no one else had caught on, even though they’d been friendly and seen a lot of each other at work. People just assumed they were friends, since it had started that way. It was going to take them a while to understand, which was fine with them, although Valerie had the feeling that Dawn suspected but hadn’t said anything. As he had said earlier, their kids’ approval was all that mattered to them, and they had it.

Valerie and Jack went to dinner at April’s restaurant on Valentine’s Day, and she prepared a superb dinner for them, and sat down with them afterward. She was still at the table when one of the models Jack used to go out with walked in with a very good-looking young male model. She stopped at their table, and reminded Jack to call her sometime, and dismissed Valerie with a glance. It was obvious to her that he was having dinner with friends, particularly with April sitting at the table.

“I’ve missed you,” she cooed at him, pouting, and giving him a look that left nothing to the imagination. And a minute later, April had to take care of a problem in the kitchen. Valerie was unusually quiet when she left, and Jack could see that she was upset.

“Don’t let that idiot girl get to you,” he said bluntly to Valerie. “I only went out with her once. She’s a nutcase. She stole a hundred dollars out of my wallet. I guess she likes getting paid.” He had gone out with nice ones too, but this girl had been one of the worst. He considered it bad luck that she had shown up at April’s that night. And Valerie looked visibly shaken by it.

“You obviously slept with her, from the look she gave you,” Valerie said, looking tense and hurt. And Jack sighed as he took her hand in his own.

“Sweetheart, I was stupid enough to sleep with half the models in New York at one point, but that doesn’t mean I want them now, or ever will again. I love you. I feel stupid as hell for the life I lived before, and every now and then one of them is going to pop up like tonight, and make an ass of me, which I deserve and you don’t. But don’t let it ruin things for us, or upset you. I never cared about any of them, I was just having fun. This is a whole different world with us. I couldn’t care less about them. You’re beautiful and wonderful, and I love you,” he said, looking at her soberly, and she felt better, and somewhat embarrassed for making a fuss about it, as April came back to the table and sat down with them again.

“Sorry, one of the damn dishwashers keeps breaking. I may have to get a new one,” she said, and then noticed the look on her mother’s face and knew she was upset. Probably about the model who had stopped to talk to Jack, but she could see how in love he was with her mother. She was genuinely happy for them, and Jack told her it had been a wonderful dinner, and thanked her.