It was only a little after five o'clock by the time Sophie Newstrom pulled out of the parking garage connected to her workplace, but it was already pitch-black outside, and bright stars covered the sky. The car was freezing when she got into it, so she made sure to turn on her heated seats straight away and blasted hot air into the car to warm herself up. Even though she was wearing grey leggings and a pink cashmere sweater beneath her wool coat and wool gloves on her hands, she was shivering violently. Her normally pale cheeks were pink, and her teeth were chattering. Sophie shuddered as she backed the car out of the stall she had parked in this morning and began the hour-long commute home.

Sophie's phone said that the drive from her job in East Williamsburg to her apartment in Kips Bay was going to take sixteen minutes, but come on, who were they trying to kid here? It was rush hour in the city. She was bumper-to-bumper on the Queens Midtown Tunnel. It had taken her ten minutes to pay the toll that would get her over the bridge. Why was Google Maps bullshitting her with this nonsense? Sophie shook her head and turned up the volume on the music she was playing on her phone, currently jamming out a classic rock playlist and humming along to "Under Pressure," her favourite song by Queen.

It wound up taking her an hour and fifteen minutes to get home to her apartment from East Williamsburg, but that also included a pit stop at the Starbucks that was just ten minutes away from her apartment. Whenever Sophie went in there to get her usual peppermint mocha, her favourite Starbucks holiday staple, she always got caught up chatting with her favourite barista, Jared, who had become one of her closest friends since she had moved into the area. This time around, she ended up gossiping with Jared for much longer about a couple who visited Starbucks regularly who had just broken up and were fighting about whose turf this was going to become. It was pure entertainment as the discussion with the manager (the manager!) was still going on in front of them.

Sophie parked her car in her apartment complex's parking garage and grabbed her purse from the passenger seat beside her before heading upstairs into her apartment. The place smelled heavenly. That was in part thanks to the Vanilla Bean Noel wallflower from Bath and Body Works she had left plugged into her wall outlet all day and another part thanks to the fact that she had left chili to slow cook in the crock pot all day. She loved slow-cooked chili. Her mom used to make it all the time when she and her brother were kids, and they begged her to make it almost every week. Sophie's mom had passed on the recipe when both her kids left home, and they made it as frequently as they could.

The chili was ready, so Sophie immediately went over to the cupboard and pulled out a white china bowl to put the chili in. She grabbed a ladle from the bucket where she kept all of her cooking utensils and scooped herself a hearty portion. She grabbed a small spoon from her utensil drawer and carried her meal over to the kitchen table to eat, her phone in hand as she did so. Her phone had been going off all day with numerous 'happy birthday!' messages from family and friends. Today was December 14th, and it was Sophie's thirtieth birthday.

Thirty years she had been alive on this planet. Sophie shook her head. She was starting to feel old already.

Sophie's newest text was from her older brother, Scott. He lived in Louisville, Kentucky with his husband and their two kids, Reese and Logan, who were her niece and nephew. Since Sophie wasn't married or dating and didn't have any kids, she used all the energy she could have put into that doting on her brother's kids. She was their only aunt and their favourite aunt, and they loved her to pieces. She always made sure to bring them gifts when she went to visit and spent lots of time playing with them when she was there. Scott and Keith brought the kids up to see her at least twice a year if not more times than that. The kids adored New York, and Sophie loved showing them the sights.

Happy birthday, sis! Scott had written in his text. I can't believe you're 30 years old. Does this mean I get to tease you about being old yet? Well, I've been doing that since we were kids. Reese and Logan dictated that since we weren't there to celebrate with you, we should have a birthday cake anyway so that it can be like we're having a party. I think they just wanted an excuse to eat cake. I love you, Soph. From your big brother, Scott

Sophie smiled as tears filled her eyes. Scott had attached to his message a picture of his family surrounding a red velvet birthday cake. Sophie's favourite. On the top was written, Happy Birthday Aunt Sophie. Reese and Logan were waving at her. Keith's smile was nearly splitting his face open. Sophie laughed.

Just as Sophie was starting to get through her bowl of chili, her doorbell rang. That was odd. She wasn't expecting guests. Because her birthday was on a Wednesday night, Sophie and her friends decided to wait until this weekend to go out to the bar and have some fun. It was birthday tradition for her and her small group of friends. Who could possibly be at her door?

Sophie got up from the table. "Coming!" She called. She walked over to the door and opened it. "Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?"