"Hello!" Lauren came rushing into the house with bags in both arms.
Nadine ran up to grab a bag and relieve Lauren. Sora went up to Lauren, who bent down to beso her niece. Her son came up high fived his cousin, only moving it higher to make Sora jump for it.
"You don't talk to him, but you're going to throw him a birthday party?" setting the bag of groceries on the counter, her eyebrows raised in high arches.
"Eh paano? Ikaw nagsabi sa kanya na birthday ni James this weekend. Walang tigil sa mga tanong na, 'Mommy, can we throw Daddy a birthday party?'"
Sora barely understood Tagalog since James and Nadine mainly spoke in English to her. The only reason she understood Tagalog was because of Nadine's parents and James' mom or when Nadine was frustrated.
"Are we throwing a party? Can it be a surprise party?"
Nadine held out her hand to the little girl seated on the stool and looked back at Lauren.
"Oh, see? Dalawang linggo ganyan sya. Kasalanan mo 'to, Lau."
Lauren rolled her eyes, laughing, and started unbagging the supplies for the weekend. After a week of persistent questioning from Sora, Nadine finally gave in and asked Lauren and Jack to help plan James' birthday party. She thought she might as well do something nice since he's been helping her with Sora for 8 months now (and also as a thank you for helping her when she was sick).
As JJ carried Sora into the living room to play board games, Nadine got on the computer to look at birthday cake designs from the local bakery and sighed when she couldn't find anything that she liked. Lauren put the final bag of vegetables into the fridge and peered over to see what Nadine was sighing about.
"Ano yaaaaan?"
"Cake design."
Lauren squinted her eyes, crossed her arms, and leaned to one side, scoffing in disbelief.
"Something happened, huh?"
Nadine made a face and turned around to face her, "Nothing."
"You're being nice to James. James seems to be in a happy mood lately. What the hell is happening? 4 months ago, you would've rather kissed a stranger's foot instead of James."
"I'm just saying thank you, that's all," she tried to say nonchalantly.
But Lauren was right. Ever since she got sick, her and James seemed to be on better terms than when they started. Nadine started coming home to have dinner with him and Sora, she made enough breakfast for him and their daughter, even though she still had to get ready while they ate, and she'd talk to him occasionally about work or whatever happened with Sora during daycare. On weekends, they'd stay in the living room and watch a movie (even though they were on different couches) after they tucked Sora into bed.
James had told Lauren about it, but she told him not to think much of it. Looking at Nadine now, Lauren thought she might be wrong and that Nadine might be opening up to the idea of James being a part of their lives again.
"This is a pretty extravagant thank you, Nadine. I mean... a surprise party? With all his close friends and family. You even went to his work to ask his assistant who to invite."
"Sora wants to do this."
Lauren leaned on the counter, closing the laptop, forcing Nadine to look at her.
"Tell me you don't feel anything for him and I'll believe you."
Nadine rolled her eyes.
"I. Feel. Nothing," she emphasized every word with a straight face. "Lauren, I wasn't going to stay hostile to him forever. I felt like I was drowning in hate whenever I saw him. When he took care of me while I was sick, I decided to drop it."
