When It Rains In Ocala

16- Remember Cody's Party

“C’mon, you guys! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

“Cody, calm down.” I laughed as he dragged me out the front door of our house, followed by Brendon and our dad. We were all fancily dressed and ready for Cody’s dinner at the autism center, which he was really excited about. I wasn’t sure if he was excited to see Evan again, or if he was excited for the party, or both, but it was an adorable, heartwarming sight.

I was wearing a dark blue dress that went over one shoulder and was held against my midsection with a thick beaded black belt that matched my black heals and bracelets. I hated heals, but sometimes, they were necessary.

 “Evan’s really coming?” Cody asked, bouncing with excitement beside me in the backseat.

“Yeah, he is. We’ll meet him there, buddy. He’s really excited, too.” I told Cody.

“Does he like pizza?” Cody asked me excitedly.

“He loves pizza.” I grinned.

“I can’t wait to tell him that there will be pizza there. He’ll be so excited!”

I bit my lip to suppress a laugh. Cody could be so adorable sometimes. Well… all the time. But I’m his sister, I’m supposed to think that.

The drive to the therapy center wasn’t a long one, and soon, we were parking in the large parking lot in front of the building that had big letters on the front that read “Harry Palmer’s Children’s Therapeutic Center” with bright yellow doors that led inside of the building.

Once inside, the familiar scent of cleaning supplies and rubber hit my nostrils. The walls were all painted in ways that a little kid would find entertaining, and each one had a different theme. The hallway that we were walking down first was covered in long grass, bugs, and birds as if we were outside and laying in a peaceful meadow. We then turned down another hallway that put us in space with stars and the whole solar system painted onto the long wall.

We turned into the room that was labeled “Ballroom” and had a sign under it that read “Welcome to Palmer’s Annual Family Party!” just like it did every year.

“Welcome!” A lady chirped behind a small table that stood in front of the opened door with a list of names in front of her. “And hello there, Cody.”

“Hi, Miss. Jenson!” Cody grinned at the lady. “This is my sister Maggie, and my big, big brother Brendon, and my daddy.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Maggie and Brendon. Mr. Harris, it’s nice to see you again.” The lady chirped with a warm smile. “You are at table 13, your other guests are already there.”

“Thank you, Miss. Jenson.” My dad said warmly. It made sense that only he knew her, since he was the one who dropped off and picked up Cody from here every day.

“Enjoy your night.” She beamed at us as we walked around the table and searched for the table that was labeled with a 13. Every table had a blue table cloth covering the round surface with eight chairs surrounding it. The room was dotted with closely packed tables with a stage at the front. There were different colored balloons hovering over every table as a center piece and the same balloons decorating the stage and a small open area in front of the stage that would soon be used as a dance floor for the energy-filled kids.

“Over there.” I said, pointing to where I saw two black-haired boys and Laura sitting at one of the tables. Evan had his back towards us but when Jason saw us coming, he nodded at me and said something to his brother, causing Evan to turn and look at me. When our eyes met, his green ones were glowing with something I couldn’t decipher.