I let out a satisfied sigh as I take one last glance at the preparations we’ve made. The living room looks amazing—balloons bobbing against the ceiling, streamers draped like colorful rain, and a table brimming with Evie’s favorite treats. I hope, silently, that Evie will love it.
My thoughts are much louder than all the collective conversations going on inside the house. Evie’s schoolmates from kindergarten are here—Niki, Ethan and Willa—running around the place screaming and giggling playfully, while their mothers try but fail to calm them. Joe and my mother sit on the now cleaned up couch along with some other elderly neighbours, all the boxes and scattered pieces of decor stuffed away. Kinsley and Mila are engaged in a whispered conversation, occasionally blushing at each other.
“Al
