It takes a lot of doing, but I manage to break away from all the movie crew and other actors and get some privacy in my trailer. I’ve been trying to do this since five this morning and it took four hours to do it. It’s always when you need time alone the most when you can’t seem to find it.

But I’m alone now and after grabbing a bottle of water from my mini fridge, I get myself comfortable on the couch and pull out my cell phone. I better not get disturbed in the next few minutes.

The phone is on its third ring and I’m thinking that I’m going to have to leave a voicemail when a groggy voice finally picks up.

“Hello?”

I smile at the sound of her voice. “Hey. Did I wake you up?”

“Yeah.” I can hear her yawn. “I guess I should get up anyways.”

“Happy birthday.”

There’s a pause and then a sigh. “Thanks.”

My shoulders drop a bit. I hate that I’m in Hawaii for her birthday. I tried so hard to get the day off so I could fly back to LA and surprise her but there was no way. Probably any other day but today would have worked. “You have no idea how much I wish I was in LA with you today. I’m so sorry I can’t be there.”

“It’s okay,” she replies like she has the past ten times I’ve apologized for this. But this time she sounds completely miserable and I feel even worse. “It’s just another day.”

“It’s your birthday,” I argue. “It’s a special day and it sucks that I couldn’t be up there for it. I’ll make it up to you.”

“I know.” She sighs again and I can hear the sound of her getting up. “How’s Hawaii?”

“Same as usual. Hot.” I pick up a pillow on the couch and turn it around in my hands. “Too bad you aren’t here.”

“Even if I was you’d be so busy I wouldn’t even see you.”

She’s right but that still doesn’t make me not want her here. Just knowing she’s nearby would make this better. “I still want you here. I don’t want to wait two weeks for you to come here.”

She doesn’t say anything and I realize that my words probably aren’t helping the situation any. I change the subject.

“So what are your plans for tonight? You’re going out, right?”

“Kyle, Molly, and Ryan are taking me out later. None of them would tell me where though.”

Now I really wish I was with her. I thought if anything Elodie, Chris, and Emma would be the people she was spending the day with, not Kyle and his friends. That’s enough to put me in a bad mood.

I know I should be happy that Cassie’s made some friends in LA but I really wish Kyle wasn’t one of them. With each passing day, I’m coming to dislike him more and more. Especially since I’ve been gone. Whenever I call the store for Cassie, he always picks up and half the time she’s mysteriously on another line or has just stepped out. I don’t believe that shit for a second. He’s got a thing for my girl and it’s really beginning to piss me off.

Not wanting to get in an argument about my feelings on Kyle on her birthday, I don’t respond how I want to and instead take out any frustration on the pillow in my hand by throwing it across the trailer.

“Are you going to work today?” I ask as I watch the pillow bounce off the wall and land on the floor.

“I might as well. I don’t want to just sit around here all day.”

“There should be a surprise waiting for you there.”

Her voice lightens. “Really? What?”

I smile and tilt my head up to look at the ceiling. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Is it something I’ll like?”

I can’t help but laugh at her. “Why would I get you something you didn’t like?”

“Shut up. Stop laughing at me. It was just a question.”

I manage to stop laughing but can’t keep the smile off my face. “I’m just teasing you.”

“It’s really not nice to tease someone on their birthday.”

I smile and shift on the couch so I’m stretched out across it so I can stare at the ceiling. I close my eyes as both Cassie and I fall silent. I love that we’re at that point where neither of needs to say anything, even on the phone, and it’s not uncomfortable. She doesn’t have to say anything at this point. Just knowing that she’s on the other line is enough for me.

I miss her so damn much. I flew back to LA last week for a couple days but I had to do some last minute stuff with Bridget’s album so I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted with Cassie. And the next time I’m going to see her is in two weeks when she comes down here for three days. I know two weeks really isn’t that long in the grand scheme of things but right now it feels like years.

“What are you doing right now?”

Cassie’s question causes me to open my eyes. “Laying in my trailer. Wondering how long I can go before they find me.”

“Are you shooting all day?”

“Yeah. We already did a scene this morning.” I turn my head to the side and stare at the wall across from me. “What are you doing right now?”

“Sitting on the balcony.”

Her words cause some homesickness to tear at me. I love the balcony attached to her bedroom. Some of my best mornings lately have been spent on that balcony with her. She has a thing for watching the sun rise and she’s pulled me from bed a couple times to watch it with her. I always complain about how early it is but really, I wouldn’t trade those moments for anything.

“I wish I was there with you.”

Her words are soft. “Me too.”

I fall silent as I try and rearrange my schedule in my mind so I can somehow manage to get back to LA, even if it’s just for a day. Before I can get too far there’s a knock on the trailer door and then it opens.

“Justin.”

I look over and see Rachel poking her head in. “What?” I ask, pulling the phone piece from my mouth

“They need you.”

I sigh and raise the phone back to my mouth. “I have to-”

“I heard,” Cassie interrupts. “I should get ready to go to the store anyways.”

“I’ll call you later today, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I have to force myself to hang up and I reach up my hands to rub my forehead before pulling myself up into a sitting position.

This is going to be a long day.

* * *

“Cassandra, you have a call.”

I raise my eyes to Kyle without lifting my chin from where it’s resting in my palm. “Can you take a message?”

He gives me a once over and then nods. “Sure.”

Once I’m alone again in my office, my eyes fall back to the bouquet of roses that arrived at the store this morning. I reach out my hand and pick up the note that came with the flowers. I read the words over again and shut my eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever been this depressed on my birthday.

Kyle’s voice suddenly cuts into the quiet. “It’s your sister. She’s pretty persistent and says you need to pick up the phone.”

A sigh escapes me. “Okay. Thanks.”

He disappears again and I force myself to grab the phone.

“Hello?”

“Happy birthday, C!”

“Thanks.”

“You sound less than thrilled for today. I bet a visit from me and Emma would cheer you up.”

I can’t help but smile a bit at that. It’s hard to be in a bad mood when Emma’s around. Her smiles and giggles are completely infectious.

“You’re already on your way, aren’t you?”

“Five minutes away. See you then.”

I hang up the phone and force myself to get up from my chair. I’ve been camped out in my office for the past two hours and staring at the same four walls is slowly killing me. Having Elodie and Emma here will probably make things better.

“You emerged!” Kyle says when I walk into the showroom. “I thought I was going to have to drag you out of there at the end of the day.”

I can’t help the corners of my lips from curving up. “I emerged. Elodie and Emma are coming in.”

“Great! I love Emma.”

“She loves you too.” I look around the showroom. There’s no one in here right now but Kyle did sell a few dresses this morning. He’s done so much for the store. I couldn’t have hired a better store manager.

“So you’re still up for your birthday party tonight?”

I raise my eyebrows. “Party?”

“Celebration,” he corrects. “I don’t want to talk it up too much and then have it fall through.”

“I’ll take anything at this point,” I say. “Anything that’s going to take away from how crappy this day has potential for being.”

Kyle throws his arm around my shoulders in a half hug. “I’ll do my best to ensure that by the end of the night you forget that your boyfriend isn’t here.”

I give him a half smile. “Thanks.”

“There’s your gorgeous niece.”

I look towards the windows at the front of the store and see Elodie at the curb, pulling Emma from her carseat. Pulling away from Kyle, I start walking towards the door. By time I’m opening it, Elodie has Emma in her arms.

“Hey,” I say, stepping outside. “I can take her.”

Elodie smiles and passes me Emma. “Say happy birthday to Aunt Cassandra, Em.”

Emma giggles and a smile immediately comes to my face. I love this little girl so much.

“I got you some Starbucks,” Elodie says, appearing from her side of the car with two large cups of coffee. “I figured that would brighten your day a bit.”

“Kyle already got me some this morning but that was like…two hours ago so I’m sure I can take some more.”

Elodie laughs as I lead us into the store. “I figured as much.”

Kyle’s on the phone when we walk in but he smiles and waves to Emma on our way past him. She giggles and that makes me smile. She took to Kyle faster than anyone I know.

I leave Kyle in peace in the showroom and take Elodie and Emma back to my office. Emma’s perfectly content to stay on my lap and once I’m settled I gratefully take the cup of coffee from Elodie and take a sip.

“So I’m assuming from how you sounded on the phone that your birthday isn’t going the greatest,” Elodie says, sitting down in the chair across from me.

A frown settles on my lips and I put my coffee down. “It could definitely be better.”

“Because Justin’s not here?”

I nod but don’t say anything else. It’s been so hard with him and Rachel both being gone for the past month and I know if I talk too much about it I’m going to get choked up and that’s really the last thing I want to happen while I’m at work.

“It kind of just sucks,” I say softly after a minute of silence.

“It must. Have you talked to him today? I’m assuming those are from him.”

I glance at the roses she’s pointing at. “Yeah. They were there when I got here this morning.” I run my hand over the fine hair on top of Emma’s head. “He called this morning but I only got to talk to him for like ten minutes before he had to go back on set.”

“It’s too bad you couldn’t go out there. Hawaii alone would be enough of a birthday present.”

“Even if I went he still would have been just as busy and I would have been alone all day. He told me before that he’s up by four thirty and not be in bed until midnight.”

“Oh.” Elodie takes a sip of her coffee and her eyes move around my office before landing on me again. “When is your trip down there?”

“Two weeks from tomorrow. By then it’s going to seem like years since I last saw him.” Adjusting Emma on my lap, I reach up a hand to brush over my hair. “I guess I’ve been spoiled with him being around so much that I’m not used to seeing him every day. And he’s been away for a month now and I’m still not used to it.”

“How long is he down there?”

“He’s scheduled to be there two more months. But that’s if everything stays on schedule. And even after that he may have to go back and reshoot scenes.” I drink some more coffee and then balance the cup on my knee and rub my thumb over the lid. “I just keep thinking, today especially, how I don’t think I can do two more months of this.”

When I look up at my sister after a long moment of silence, I find her fighting a smile and immediately my eyes narrow.

“What?”

Her smile breaks through and she shakes her head. “I was just thinking how six months ago you would never have gotten this attached to a guy to the point that when he’s away for a few weeks you’re almost falling apart.”

“I’m not almost falling apart,” I say defensively.

“You have to admit you’re not exactly put together.”

I frown. “It’s my birthday and my boyfriend’s across the country. I don’t need to be put together today.”

Elodie lifts her hands in surrender. “I’m not saying you need to be.”

“Then what are you saying?”

She brings her coffee cup to her mouth and merely gives me a smile. “Simply that it’s a change. That’s all.”