The Boy in the Woods (2014 Wattys Winner, Wattpad Version)

Chapter 23 - Gonna Give Myself a Party

“I’ll make you a nice birthday lunch.  How does that sound?” she said cheerily, and then dabbed her eyes with her napkin. 

“Swell!” Jess said with a grin.  Not only was she going to spend her birthday with Marty, they were going to have a special lunch to celebrate.

“Only, be sure not to stay too late,” Annie added more soberly.  “You need to get back in plenty of time to get ready for the party.”

“I will.  I promise,” she replied, understanding the warning.

 ~

Jess trudged down the road to the locked gate as quickly as she could carrying her school books and basket, but four inches of new snowfall was slowing her down.  Even though it would be a while before Marty showed up, since he worked Saturday mornings making deliveries for Mr. Dwyer, she was eager to get to the cabin.  She wanted to get the fires lit as soon as possible so the cabin would be nice and warm for him when he arrived.  When she reached the spot Marty had showed her to take to the cabin, she took two giant steps to cross the snow, wanting to leave as little evidence as possible where she was headed.  Then she took the now familiar route to the cabin.

Before entering, she tried to shake as much snow off her boots as she could, then she set down her basket and books and got to work on both fires.  While she waited for the cabin to warm up, she decided to set the food out on the table.  Marty was usually starving when he arrived after working and Jess decided that having to ride a bike through the snow when it was so cold was probably the reason.  She wasn’t sure if he had anything at home to eat before he left other than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but whatever it was, it wasn’t enough for him. 

Once she had everything set out at their places, she wrapped herself in a blanket and sat in front of the fire to read.  When the door opened some time later, she stood.

“Hi Marty!”

“Hey!” he said, his face lighting up.  “I thought you weren’t coming today.”

“It turns out Annie didn’t need me after all,” she said, grinning like mad.

“That’s swell, Jess!”

As she watched him take off his coat, she hugged her sides while her heart felt like it was bursting.  This was the first time he hadn’t tried to hide his reaction to seeing her.  It was obvious he was delighted she was there.  He really likes me, she thought giddily.

“I got our lunch ready,” she said, heading to the kitchen so she wouldn’t embarrass herself by looking goofy in front of him.

“Wow!  Look at the spread!” he said, coming in behind her, his wide eyes taking in all the food.  There were meat loaf sandwiches, baked beans, cabbage slaw, and cupcakes with pink icing.  Jess and Annie had made them for her to share with the girls at school.  She’d on purpose made more than she needed in the hopes she’d have extras to take to the cabin for Marty.

“It’s my birthday today,” Jess announced once they were seated.  “I’m fourteen.”

“Is it?” he replied, his mouth already full of meatloaf.  “Happy birthday, kid,” he added after he swallowed.

“You can’t call me a kid anymore.  I’m the same age as you now,” she said triumphantly, and Marty barked out a laugh.

“Not hardly.  I’m fifteen.”

“What?  When was your birthday?” 

“A while ago,” he said with a shrug.

“How long ago?”