Grandma approached.
“Is something wrong?”
Marie closed the folder.
“Nothing.”
“Is something wrong?”
At that moment, the bakery manager stepped toward us.
“Excuse me. Payment is due before we set up the cake.”
The bounce house operator appeared beside him.
“Same here.”
The blower switched off.
The enormous green castle began sinking.
Children stopped bouncing. One slid slowly down the collapsing wall, still holding a balloon sword.
The blower switched off.
The face painter closed her case.
Sebastian lifted the cake box.
“Should I make this disappear?”
“No,” Marie snapped.
Tommy looked up at her.
“Mom, are they taking everything?”
The irritation left her face.
“Mom, are they taking everything?”
For the first time, she saw the scene without placing herself at the center of it.
Her son stood in a yard full of decorations, watching adults dismantle his second birthday celebration.
None of this was his fault.
Marie opened her banking app.
