When We Were Young

The Birthday

When I turned thirteen, my parents threw me a huge birthday party. I didn't want a party. I didn't like all the attention. I still don't. My mother used the party as another social event to show off the house, her money; but I just wanted to ride my new horse that my father had promised me.

And he delivered. Even though he actually never showed up to the party.

He had a last minute trip to Glasgow. He woke me in the morning to apologize and wish me a happy birthday. I pouted, and threw a tantrum. Pop left the room amid my screams. Mum continued to make the last minute preparations while I brushed the coat of Rusty, my beautiful chestnut haired Norman Cob. He was mid-sized, and I had ridden him before but now he was mine and I wanted to ride him.

But Pop was away, Mum didn't ride, and Brandt was too busy helping Mum. And Eddie, who worked in the stables, was too busy taking care of the other horses. All day, I pleaded with my mother to let me go by myself but she said no, repeatedly.

She was too busy to notice, nobody was watching me, even though it was my birthday. So I went to the stables and saddled Rusty and trotted off behind the stables so Mum couldn't see. I only wanted to trot around, nothing more. Rusty had other ideas. When we reached beyond the fence, he took off galloping. I held on to the reigns as long as I could, but clearly I wasn't strong enough for that kind of ride. He jumped a small creek and I went tumbling, while Rusty continued on.

The last thing I remembered was landing in the water and pain shooting through my head.

It was a while before I woke, and I'm surprised I didn't drown, since I was lying half in the water. It was near dark, and I suppose it was the calling of my name that woke me. When I went to move, I screamed. My left arm was dangling and I thought for sure it was broken.

Soon I was surrounded and Brandt was lifting me out of the water. Mum was crying, and there was a crowd of people staring at me. All the attention that I didn't want had somehow found me.

Brandt assured me that my shoulder was just dislocated as he carried me back to the house. Hamish and my friends were there, snickering and laughing. When we got back to the house, Rusty was back in the enclosure, eating grass as if nothing had happened. He enjoyed his short time of freedom.

I, on the other hand, was grounded for a month and Rusty was taken away from me. I received a few belt marks on my arse, too.

It went down as one of the worst birthdays in my life. 

That was until I turned 26.

Skylar assured me it would be a small dinner. Just us, Robert and Annabelle, Rachel and her latest boyfriend, I forget his name, and Nathan and the girl he was dating. I use the term 'dating' loosely. I gave Skylar credit for inviting him. After, we'd head to Samuel's bar since he couldn't come for dinner, nothing too crazy.

She had a meeting with a publisher all afternoon much as she tried to reschedule it, and would meet me at my favorite steak house at 7pm. I decided to go home, change, and maybe take a nap. The day had gone well so far. I woke up at Skylar's place, with her hands all over me, and waking me up with her mouth. I had been thinking about it most of the day, wishing we could skip dinner and get back to our morning activities.

I was packing up for the day and Nate popped his head up over the wall that separated our desks.

"Hey, Skylar called. She said to meet at Orzo's instead," he said. "Something happen to the reservation?"

"Really? She didn't call me."

Nate's mouth fell open. "Uh, I don't know. She said to tell you. Maybe she changed the reservation..." he shrugged innocently enough. "I'll see you at 7?"