LEXIE
Two days after my birthday Mia stopped me on my way out to work. I had my jacket on and my bag over my shoulder and was halfway to the door when she appeared from the kitchen with her hands wrapped around her coffee cup and a look that said she had been waiting for the right moment and had decided this was it. "I have something for you," she said.
I stopped. "Mia you already did the party and the cake and the lights. If you give me something else I'm going to have to sit down."
"Sit down then," she said pleasantly, and disappeared back into the kitchen.
I put my bag down and sat on the nearest stool, she came back out with a small paper bag, the kind with handles, soft and slightly worn like it had been sitting somewhere for a few days waiting.
She put it on the bar in front of
