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Lumi
“Happy birthday, Ade, baby!” I cry, bursting into her bedroom with the world’s biggest chocolate cake in my hands. Even though it’s past eight, the room is dark thanks to the godsend that is blackout curtains. It’s perfect because the ginormous candles on her cake are enough to light up the entire room. Though I may have had a little help from a magical online cake supplies store. The cake itself is from Candela’s Cupcake Shop and it’s only magical in taste. I made the mistake of bringing a cupcake home for Ade one day and she’s been obsessed with them ever since. Once a week I get us a box full of new flavors to try but the chocolate still remains Ade’s favorite. I couldn’t choose a favorite if my life depended on it. And I couldn’t resist phoning Candela and begging her to make a large version especially for Ade’s birthday.
Behind me, Sacha follows, recording this moment on her phone.
I adore birthdays, holidays, any days where there’s a reason to give gifts. I don’t even need an excuse, I just adore spreading happiness. I go all-out for Ade’s birthday, plotting all year long to make the day as special as I can for her. We don’t have to spend or buy much to have a good time and to make memories, and being a seventeen-year-old disowned mum didn’t exactly make it easy, but I do like to spoil her now I can.
Ade’s eyes fly open like she was waiting for this moment, and she sits up, a massive grin stretching across her face.
“Cake for breakfast?” she asks in wonder.
“Of course!” I wink at her. “It’s not every day you turn six.”
“I think you should always eat dessert first,” she says seriously. “You never know when the world’s gonna end.”
“True, baby, true.”
After a quick chorus of Happy Birthday from me and Sacha, she blows out her candles and I return to the kitchen to cut us all a slice of the magnificent cake. It’s such a work of art it seems a shame to cut it, but I know from experience it’ll taste even better than it looks, so I don’t really hesitate to dive in.
“Let’s try,” Sacha says, reaching out to run her finger through the chocolate buttercream. I slap her hand away. “Ouch! What was that for?”
“Ade gets the first taste.”
“Fine,” Sacha sighs in mock annoyance before taking a deep breath and bellowing “Ade hurry up before I eat your cake!”
“Don’t forget to pack your swimmers!” Sacha shouts after Ade as she races off to finish getting ready. Ade stumbles to a stop and even though she doesn’t turn around I see her shoulders droop with disappointment.
“Okay,” she replies, forcing her voice to sound cheery.
“What are you doing?” I hiss as Sacha as soon as Ade’s left the room.
“Throwing her off the scent. You can pack her warm things in secret and it’ll be an even better surprise when she sees where we’re really going.”
“Okay,” I begrudgingly admit. It’s a good idea but I still hate to upset Ade by misleading her, even if it’s just for a short time.
* * *
“Mama!” Ade squeals with joy from the back seat of Betty the Beetle.
“Yes baby?”
“We’re not going swimming are we?”
“No baby.” I grin.
“Are we skating? Oh wow! Are we? Please say we’re not just here to visit the shops!”
“We’re skating,” I say with a laugh. “But, this is where Candela’s is.”
“Oh my god!” she squeals, unclipping her car seat and flinging the straps off so that they bang against the antique metal. “Can we go? Can we get cupcakes?”
“Hey!”
“Sorry Betty.” Ade quickly apologizes to the car before climbing out. She’s so excited she can’t stand still, hopping from foot to foot and throwing open Sacha’s door for her. She tries to pull her from the car before Sacha’s even got her belt undone. “Can we get cupcakes first? Chocolate ones?”
“Okay, okay! I’m coming. Jeez,” Sacha grumbles with a smile on her face.
“Let’s go! Hurry up! I want to skate and eat cupcakes!”
