From Georgia to Montana

Chapter 19

I wake up to the smell of bacon and eggs. When I head into the kitchen I see Lennon making a big breakfast, bigger than usual at least.

"What's the occasion?" I ask, rubbing sleep from my eyes. Lennon just looks at me with a look that says 'you have got to be kidding me.' "What?"

"It's your birthday today. You are twenty now." Lennon replies with an eye roll. Then Peter and Maisy run into the kitchen to give me a big hug and tell me happy birthday.

"Oh. Right. I guess I was distracted a little."

"A little. You forgot your own birthday. Goodness I knew you had been busy with work and stressing over.. Xavier's visit but.. I guess you were more stressed than I thought." Lennon says, turning back to the stove and making me a plate of bacon, eggs, and a pancake with butter and syrup.

"Thank you Lennon." I say quickly eating my food before going to change into jeans and a navy blue and black stripped sweater and throw my hair into a pony tail. Just as I head back to the kitchen I get a text from Lila telling me to meet her at the barn.

I send her a quick text telling her I will be there in just a moment. Then I let Lennon know where I am going before shoving my feet in my dark brown boots and heading to the barn.

When I first walk in everything seems normal until I turn the corner and there, in the middle of the barn is our group of friends, each one holding a present, and a big banner that says 'Happy Birthday Emerald' in big black letters, and all of them shout "Happy birthday!" at the same time.

"How did you guys know?" I ask.

"It's a sixth sense." Lila says with a wink.

"Lennon told you didn't she?" I say with an eye roll and a smile.

"Yeah." Luca confirms. "She also said you forgot your own birthday until she reminded you."

"Yeah. I have been a bit distracted I guess. So what did you plan for me Lila?" I ask, with a slight blush. I have never really been good at accepting gifts, I never know what to say.

"We are going to go on a ride and when we get to the valley then we will all give you your presents, eat lunch then ride back." Lila says, bouncing up and down in excitement.

We each get on our horses, today I am riding Layla, a blonde and white paint horse with dark brown on her face, her back legs, and her tail. After mounting up we head out to wherever it is Lila is leading us. As we ride I am glad I am wearing a sweater because of the breeze.

After a half hour of riding we reach 'The Vally' all that is out here is a picnic table, hitching posts, and a small barn.

Everyone hops off their horses, then ties them up and grabs all the presents and food to put on the table.

We sit down and Lila hands me her present to open first. When I open it I am surprised to find a charm bracelet with a heart that almost matches my necklace and a horse shoe.

"You can add to it. I didn't know what all to add but I figured I could add those so that it was started." Lila says.

Eventually, I had opened all but Luca's present. I got books, candy, a couple shirts, and a couple pairs of earrings. Finally it's Luca's turn to give me a present.

When I open up Luca's present I am surprised to see four movies, stuff to make popcorn, and some pink sour straws. When I look at the movies I see 'This Means War', 'The Proposal', "The Best of Me', and 'Tangled'.

"Wow. Thank you so much. You didn't have to get me so much though." I say.

"Well I didn't know what kind of movies you liked and those are some of my favorites and I figured tangled would be one you could watch with the kids." Luca says while rubbing the back of his neck and I see what might be just a hint of a blush.

"Well thank you I'm sure I will love all of them. Thank you guys so much I really appreciate all of this." I say looking at each of my friends in turn. "I can't imagine spending my birthday any other way."

"No problem. We love hanging out with you." Blithe says.

"By the way Jerin why haven't you been hanging out with Emmi recently?" I ask after a few moments. It wasn't that I hated her it's just she wasn't fun to be around. She was rude and she always wanted to be the center of attention. And when she wasn't the center of attention she tried to ruin everyone else's time. So to be honest I was glad she hadn't been around lately.

"Oh. Uh. Well I broke up with her last weekend." Jerin answers.

"What! Why didn't you tell us?" Lila practically shouts.

"Well I told Luca and Kaden and I figured they would tell you eventually so I didn't bother." He says and it is all I can do to mask my joy.

****

Eventually, after playing a couple games of football and catch with the frisbee and eating we decide to head home.

Once we get back to our cars and trucks, I give everyone hugs and receive a couple more happy birthday wishes, then I make my way home with a smile on my face.

"Hey kiddos. Wanna watch a movie? We can make popcorn." I say when I come into the house.

"Yeah. What movie?" Lennon says with a wink and a knowing look. In return I just stick my tongue out at her.

"Luca got me several movies for my birthday. I was thinking we could watch Tangled." I say setting the bags down on the counter.

"Yay. I wanna watch Tangled!" Maisy says while jumping and running around the kitchen table.

"Alright. Here go put it in while I make the popcorn." I say, handing the movie to Maisy then going to put the popcorn in the microwave. "We can also order a pepperoni pizza. Sound good?"

"Yay." Peter and Maisy cheer together.

We are about half way through the movie when the doorbell rings. I pause the movie and go to answer the door. When I open the door however I am startled by who I find.