Michiko couldn't miss the first party of the year, especially since it was Charlie's birthday. He threw the best parties. She flattened her dress and lit a cigarette. It had been one of the first cigarettes she had had in months, she insisted that was the hardest thing about being pregnant even when it came to the growing belly and the heart burn.

She plopped down on a log and sighed, opening a package of skittles.