The pink icing from my birthday cake was still visible beneath the coffee grounds when Janice’s boss arrived carrying a plain records box. He looked from the surviving gold balloon to my dress, then asked Janice who had cooked dinner. She answered without looking at me, and he slowly opened the box.
I was piping the second digit onto my cake when Janice walked in.
The six looked decent. The zero did not.
I was leaning closer to fix one crooked edge when I heard heels crossing my foyer.
“Debbie?”
“In the kitchen, dear.”
My daughter-in-law appeared in the doorway carrying a garment bag and a leather tote.
She looked at the cake.
Then at the gold balloons tied to my dining chairs.
Then at the banner I’d hung across the archway.
Her eyebrows drew together.
“What is all this?”
I waited for the joke.
None came.
“My birthday.”
“Tonight?”
I stared at her.
“Janice, I’m fairly sure it’s been tonight for 60 years.”
She didn’t smile.
Instead, she looked around the dining room again.
“You can’t have people here.”
I set down the piping bag.
“Excuse me?”
“My boss is coming. Mr. Hanks. And several people from the office.”
“Here?”
“Yes. I told you about the promotion dinner.”
“You said you wanted to have a few people over sometime.”
“I meant tonight.”
“You did not.”
Janice checked her watch like my memory was slowing down her schedule.
“Well, it has to be tonight. Mr. Hanks is making the final promotion decision next week. Our place needs some work before I can have anyone over, and I’m not hosting there while Aaron is out of town.”
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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