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“Sweetheart.” She stops fidgeting with the food and reaches for my hand, tugging me to her. “Why aren’t you proud of yourself?”

“I am,” I say half-heartedly.

“Try again,” she coaxes.

“I am,” I answer more confidently. “But I’m not the first or last person to go to college, and I’m not the first or last person to have a birthday.”

“It’s not about being the first or last,” she argues. “It’s about doing the things you want to do. Living the life you want to live. And birthdays are for celebrating.”

The doorbell rings, interrupting us, and Zara quickly kisses my forehead. “And sometimes when you’re as loved as you are, people want to be around you no matter what.”

I think it’s that part that has me so overwhelmed; the wholesome family unit we’ve all turned into, surprises me at every turn. When Zara reaches the door, I expect to see my brothers, but Raine is standing in the doorway flanked by Leo and Jesse.

“Why are you ringing the doorbell?” Zara asks Raine as the three of them file in. “You have house keys. You live here.”

“I left them at the rental by accident,” Raine explains.

Jesse and Leo often come to visit. And when they do, Raine always spends the week with them wherever they’re staying, catching up. Just yesterday we picked them up from the airport for their current week-long stay in L.A.

It’s a nice reprieve. More for her than us, because ever since I agreed to move in with her and Zara, I’m extremely mindful of not overstaying my welcome. There’s a difference between moving in as the best friend and moving in as the mother’s girlfriend, but lucky for me, their easygoing relationship with one another makes it all even easier for me.

“Happy Birthday,” Leo says as he kisses me on the cheek. Jesse greets me next and then it’s Raine’s turn.

“Happy Birthday.” She hip checks me as we both lean on the kitchen counter while Jesse and Leo talk to Zara. “How was your night in the house without me?”

“Could barely sleep,” I deadpan. “Tossed and turned all night.”

“Exactly what I love to hear.”

I chuckle and then nudge her back. “How was the rental?”

“Dad and Papa are always great,” she says. “But I’m starting to feel perpetually single because of my own parents.”

I chuckle. “I thought the goal was to finish college, then date?”

“It’s still the goal,” she says. The silence stretches and she adds, “But you ever wake up one day and realize,shit, I think I want to have sex with my friend?”

I shake my head. “Literally, never. Your mom, on the other hand…”

Raine shoves her hand in my face. “Stop talking, immediately.”

I’m about to ask her who this “friend” is, when I hear Zara greet Remy and then follow up with the rest of my brothers.

She rises up on the tips of her toes to kiss Arlo on the cheek. “Thank you for picking this up for me.”

“Not a problem.” He hands her a white box that she quickly rushes into the kitchen and then he beelines for me. “Happy Birthday, Clementine.”

Ever since hearing Zara call me Clementine, my brothers have turned it into a running joke, that only they think is funny.

The rest of them all pile in after him; Frankie, Lennox, Samuel, Rhys, and Remy each carrying pizza boxes.

“Um.” I thoughtfully place a finger on my lips before brushing it down over my open palm and then using my left hand to sign the letter Y and press it to my right hand. “What’s this?”

My signing has improved immensely, and it helps that Zara and Raine also started learning, making it easier for the three of us to practice on nights we’re all at home.

Lennox is almost exclusively signing now, using his voice less and less. He puts two open hands in front of his chest and moves them in a circular motion before pointing his middle finger to his chin and then his chest.

Happy Birthday.