"Got any special plans for tonight?"<br/><br/>Olivia Barnes asked Renee Chambers as they left the cafe. They had had lunch together. Today was Renee's thirtieth birthday and Olivia had taken her to the cafe for lunch. It would be surprising to most people looking at them that they were friends. Olivia was in her early twenties with jet black hair and wore goth clothes. She had on bright red lipstick that looked even brighter against her pale skin. She had tattoos and piercings. Renee had her long dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She wasn't wearing any makeup and was dressed in a tee shirt and jeans. They might have seemed like an unlucky pair but Olivia was Renee's sponsor. Renee was an alcoholic and Olivia saved her life. Renee nodded her head but Olivia could tell Renee wasn't too thrilled about it.<br/><br/>"I'm having dinner with my mom and Laurence."<br/><br/>Renee replied and Olivia made a face. Nancy, Renee's mother, didn't understand Renee's demons. She hadn't been very supportive of her daughter at all. Renee sighed.<br/><br/>"It's my birthday, I kinda have to see her."<br/><br/>Nancy would never let her hear the end of it if Renee didn't come. Olivia said and replied.<br/><br/>"I understand, just...I'm only a phone call away."<br/><br/>"I know."<br/><br/>Renee replied with a smile, she also knew Olivia was afraid of her seeing Nancy. She might say something to set her off. Renee was stronger then before, she could do this. Put in a few hours with her mom and Laurence. It would be okay, she thought. She gave Olivia a hug and thanked her for the lunch and the birthday wishes. Later that day, Renee wondered if she should have told Nancy she wasn't feeling well. Although it was Renee's birthday, she had had no say where they went. Nancy took her to fancy restaurant that served alcohol. The old her never would have resisted getting a drink, the problem was, Renee couldn't stop at one. Olivia would be proud, she  was sticking to drinking soda.<br/><br/>"So, Renee, you got a boyfriend yet?"<br/><br/>Nancy asked and Renee almost choked on her food.<br/><br/>"Excuse me?"<br/><br/>Renee stuttered and Laurence shot his wife a look. Nancy seemed unfazed by their reactions.<br/><br/>"You're thirty now, you are at risk of being an old maid."<br/><br/>"I can't be an old maid, I was married."<br/><br/>Renee shot back. It wasn't her fault she wasn't anymore. Her husband, Aaron, had served in the Army. On his second tour of duty, he had been killed in Iraq. Laurence tried, in vain, to change the subject but that never worked with Nancy.<br/><br/>"Yes, and Aaron was a good man, but it's been three years."<br/><br/>"There's no time limit on grief, Nancy."<br/><br/>Laurence tried to interject but Nancy ignored him, as usual.<br/><br/>"Aaron would want her to be happy."<br/><br/>Nancy replied and Renee knew that was true. He always told her that if he died, he'd want her to find love again. She just never imagined there would come a day where she wouldn't sharing her life with him.<br/><br/>"Plus, I need a grandchild."<br/><br/>Renee glared at her mother. She would have had a grandchild, if Renee hadn't miscarried two weeks after she got the news of Aaron's death. Those two things and her mother's attitude to it all...It started a down spiral that had only ended when Renee had lost her job as a nurse, her home, and had been in her car with a gun on her lap. She almost pulled her trigger but she remembered her late father had told her if one commits suicide, they couldn't get into heaven. The idea of never seeing Aaron, her father, and her unborn child in the after life is all that stopped her that night. The next day she went to an AA meeting and met Olivia. It was work but she was getting her life back. Being told she needed to give her mother a grandchild...She couldn't handle that tonight. Renee threw her napkin on her plate and stood up.<br/><br/>"Thank you for dinner, I'm not feeling well all the sudden. I need to call it an evening."<br/><br/>Renee said curtly and walked away, ignoring Nancy and Laurence's pleads for her to stop. She decided she'd let them pay, after all, it was her birthday. One that had been pretty good until Nancy Willows had to make her opinion known. Renee had come with her mom and stepfather and had to walk home or hail a taxi. Walking seemed like a better option, she could clear her mind.<br/><br/>Renee was walking when she saw her. A woman that looked so similar to her from a distance, she could have been her twin. The same age, the same build, she even had her hair cut the same way. The difference was that this stranger had what Renee should. A husband, a kid...A kid that would be the same age as her baby...Renee stopped and watched them a moment, they were taking their toddler into the toy store. He was so excited and his parents looked so happy...She felt tears come to her eyes and she touched her stomach. 'That should be me and Aaron...We...' She kept walking, trying to get the happy little family out of her mind but she couldn't...All she could think of was that she was thirty years old now and a widow. A mother to an angel baby. She had no husband, no child...She didn't even have her dream job of being a nurse anymore. She worked at the city morgue and she only got that job because she had tutored the head coroner back in college.<br/><br/>Renee knew she should call Olivia or stop herself from entering the liquor store but she couldn't. All she could think was that she was a loser and how much pain she was in. She wanted her family, why did that woman get a family, when Renee didn't have hers? Before she realized it, she was back in her apartment, sitting on the floor in front of her coffee table. On it was her favorite picture of Aaron. Taken at a football game before he had left before his first tour of duty. It had been such a fun day...She poured whiskey into two shot glasses. One was in front of Aaron's picture.<br/><br/>"Happy fucking birthday to me."<br/><br/>She said and toasted Aaron's picture. She downed the drink, her throat feeling on fire, but she didn't stop. Renee could never stop at just one drink. She downed the entire bottle and threw over a year of sobriety down the drain.