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“Really?”

“Mm. When I ran into her at Jack’s.”

“Huh.”

“She said you don’t usually make any plans on your birthday. I thought I’d take my chances that you’d be home.”

I’m speechless.

“Worst-case scenario, I’d travel back to my sister’s and spend the day with her.” Brooklyn looks at the box in my hands. “Are you going to open it?”

“Oh.” We both take a seat on the couch and I carefully lift the seams of the wrapping paper. I look up at her before I open the plain cardboard box.

“I promise, nothing will jump out.”

I pretend to be skeptical and open the lid slowly. Brooklyn. I start laughing.

“Peanuts we can share,” she says.

I shake my head. Brooklyn is creative. My gift includes a DVD ofCharlie Brown’s Christmas, Twizzlers, gourmet popcorn and cocoa, and an assortment of whiskey nips along with a small bottle of Bailey’s. It’s all been wrapped in a vintage Carter-Mondale T-shirt.

“Well? Do you think you might share your peanuts this afternoon?” Brooklyn asks.

If I wasn’t in love with Brooklyn Brady before, I am now. There’s no way my eyes can conceal my heart. I know it. I can feel it. “I love it,” I tell her. “I think you are the first person who’s managed to find suitable peanuts to share with me.”

“I might have brought a few other snacks. You know, for me.” She reaches back into her bag and pulls out a king size bag of Peanut M & Ms.

“Covered all the bases, I see.”

“I try.”

“So, do you really want to spend a Saturday afternoon watching a cartoon and eating junk food with me?” I inquire.

Brooklyn’s gaze holds mine. I feel something shift between us. It’s a bit like standing at the edge of the ocean, the way the solid ground beneath you is washed away for a moment by the ripples of a receding wave.

“If you want to spend a few hours on your birthday with me,” she replies.

I answer with a kiss to her cheek. “Thanks.”

“Happy Birthday, Carter.”

Right now, it is—a happy birthday.

***

Relationships and love are not topics I would seek to explore with Brooklyn. She’s a free-thinker—open and curious. I’m not sure how observations about Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty, Linus and Lucy led to a discussion about our thoughts on love and its place in life. One thing is for certain; Brooklyn Brady is determined to pull me out of my comfort zone.

“You’ve never been in love?” I ask.

“I don’t know. That’s not true. I think I have. I didn’t think about spending the rest of my life with her. Is that strange?”

How do I answer that question? “No. It don’t think it’s strange.”

“Don’t say it’s because I’m young.”

“I wasn’t going to say that,” I tell her.

“Oh.”