When Charlie and I finally got home it was almost half past 3 p.m.

He hadn’t stopped talking since we had started our way home. Mrs Black had taken him to the Bronx zoo. Charlie’s cheeks were flushed from excitement and the cold wind, and he was jumping and running, so that it was almost hard for me to keep up with him, even though my legs were much longer than his.

At the beginning he had seemed sad because neither Damien nor I had been there with him, but he seemed to forget about that the more he talked about the animals he had seen.

I had taken him to the zoo in Pittsburg once, but it wasn’t nearly as big or exciting.

In fact, you could probably hardly call it a zoo because there were probably less than 50 species and the biggest had been a lazy, old cow.

It was more of a petting farm anyways, which had been fine by me because I got scared of animals bigger than a dog even when they were behind a thick glass panel.

We finally entered our apartment building and Charlie pressed the button. The doors slid open and we stepped inside.

“Mommy, it was so cool! Can you and daddy come too next time?

We can all feed the monkeys together. There were so many, and I even touched one! But they were really small, so you don’t have to be afraid.

And sometimes there is a dolphin show but it is only in the afternoon. Can we go in the afternoon?” I laughed while the elevator started moving.

“Yes, I think we can do that. We can all go together. You, your dad, me, Clary, Graham, and your grandparents. But I am not sure if we can go this weekend, you know there is the party that I am going too with Clary, right?”, I asked, and he nodded.

“Yes, I know, and I will stay with uncle Graham. Do you think he can show me his car then? He told me, he has a really fast car and that we can drive with it? Can I, mommy? Please!”

“Yes, of course you can go but promise me you two will be careful.”, I responded, and he nodded.

“Of course. I am four now. I can take care of-”, he stopped himself when the elevator doors opened.

“What is that?”, he asked, and I followed his gaze. There was a huge blue box with a bow on it in front of our apartment door.

We stepped out of the elevator and I frowned a little.

“I have no idea.” Charlie walked towards the door and picked up the card that was laying on the box.

“What does it say? Whoever wrote that has a terrible handwriting”, he said, pursing his lips while looking at the card. He had started to learn how to read because there really wasn’t much else for him to do as the writing was in cursive.

I took the card curiously. It had my name on it.

I turned it around and started reading. It was only one sentence. Happy belated birthday, yours Clary.

I rolled my eyes.

My birthday had been almost 5 months ago.

“It’s from Clary.”, I said, and he bit his lip.

“Can I open it?”, he asked, and I nodded, now that I could be sure it wasn’t a bomb or maybe a death threat, sent from Malcolm.

“Go ahead.”

I had already suspected it, but seeing the soft, shimmery blue tulle in the box still made me hold my breath. Charlie wasn’t as excited as I was.

“What is that?”, he groaned in dislike.

“A dress. For the gala.”, I responded, and Charlie rolled his eyes.

“Why do all women love dresses? What about cars? Or diggers? Or maybe spaceships?” He seemed quite disappointed and I smiled amused. He talked about women as if already had had much experience with them while in reality, me, Celia and his nurses had been the only girls around him for quite a while.

“Well, maybe you can go to the gala too next year and we will get you a cute tuxedo. And a bow tie. Red would look very handsome on you.”, I chuckled, and Charlie shot me a mad look that was probably supposed to kook threatening but it rather looked adorable.

“I am not wearing a suit. Only losers wear stuff like that.”, he stated confidently and crossed his arms.

“Your dad is wearing one at the gala. And so is your grandfather.”, I pointed out and he reflected it for a seconds before he answered.

“Well…”, he started, “Maybe not everyone that wears a suit is a loser. And why can’t I go to that gala then if everyone else is going too? Why do I have to stay home?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I thought you wanted to go for a ride in Graham’s car? And believe me, it is probably really boring anyway. There are no children you could play with.”, I argued, and he shrugged.

“Fine, but can I go next year? I will be five already!”

I caressed his cheek.

“We will see. But now let’s go inside. Are you hungry?” Charlie nodded and he started beaming at me, already having forgotten the gala.

“Can we make spaghetti?”

After we had finished eating Charlie watched some TV and I took the box with the dress to my bedroom and opened it carefully.

My fingers brushed over the soft fabric and I pulled the dress out of the box, revealing another smaller box inside.

Curiously, I opened it after I had laid the dress on my bed. I opened the other box and put the wrapping paper on top aside, revealing stunning heeled sandals in the same light blue color as the dress.

They were decorated with little white and blue crystals at the front that were way too sparkly for them not to be real.

I grabbed my phone and called Clary. She picked up before the phone even started ringing.

“I suppose you got my present? Aren’t the shoes adorable?”, she squealed but I frowned.

“Clary, that is just too much. You can’t just buy me a dress and shoes like that. They must have cost a fortune! And you know that my birthday was last year, right?”, I said, and she snorted.

“You know, I really like you but why can’t you just accept the gift and be grateful instead of complaining all of the time? It is no big deal. You looked amazing in that dress and this is what friends do for each other. But if you really want to repay me for it then wear that dress to the gala and show my brother that he has really missed out on something. Just promise me that you will keep it.”, she begged, and I sighed deeply.

“Clary, I told you I am-”

“Not trying to impress anyone.”, she finished my sentence snorting, “I know. But you can’t let Damien treat you like that. And I told you, he didn’t mean it like that. You will see. But now I need to get back to work.

Everything is just so busy the days before big events like this. I will send someone to pick you and Charlie on Friday, so you don’t have to take the subway.

I talked to my parents already. You can stay at their apartment overnight so that we can get ready together on Saturday, believe me, it will take the whole day and we need to show up at the gala by 6 p.m. It starts at 5 already but we have to be fashionably late.”, she explained, and I sighed.

Arguing with her was pointless and I would have had to buy a new dress anyway.

The only fancy dress I had ever owned was my prom dress, which was safely stored on the attic in our house in Pittsburgh and it wasn’t even close to being this gorgeous.

The only other evening gown I had ever owned, was the one Connor had gifted to me and I had thrown it away the day after the party already, so I decided to give in.

“Okay, fine. Whatever. But no more surprises, okay?”

“Yes, I promise. I will see you later, okay? And I will call you again tonight. You have to tell me about your new work and how everything is going.”