Three kinds of macarons.
Red velvet cake.
Banana pudding.
Fresh lemonade.
Every item carried additional instructions—nut-free, keto, low salt, separate serving utensils, extra sauces, special preparation.
After reading the page twice, Gloria quietly asked, “For how many people?”
“About seventy-five.”
“And this is… tomorrow?”
“The party starts at three.”
Kevin stood behind Tiffany scrolling through his phone.
“Kevin,” I called.
He finally looked up.
“Did you read this?”
“Some of it.”
“Thirty-eight dishes by tomorrow afternoon?”
“Tiffany said Mom could handle it.”
Gloria had owned Gloria’s Corner for eleven years. She knew how to cook for crowds.
That didn’t mean anyone could create nearly forty custom dishes overnight without enormous effort.
Tiffany smiled warmly.
“It’s Kayla’s eighteenth birthday. You run a restaurant. This shouldn’t be that difficult.”
The compliment sounded kind.
The expectation underneath it wasn’t.
Gloria folded the paper carefully.
“Okay.”
Just one word.
She had been saying okay for decades.
Okay when bills increased.
Okay when Kevin needed expensive braces.
Okay when my work hours disappeared.
Okay when suppliers demanded early payments.
For Gloria, okay never meant something was easy.
It meant she had already accepted the burden herself.
“You’re amazing,” Tiffany said before leaving.
Kevin nodded.
“She really is.”
Ten minutes later, they were gone.
I looked back at the list.
“We don’t have to do this,” I told Gloria.
She silently began checking the refrigerator.
“Gloria.”
She looked at me.
“It’s Kayla’s eighteenth birthday.”
“That doesn’t make this reasonable.”
“I know.”
“She waited until the last minute.”
“I know.”
“This feels deliberate.”
Gloria placed a carton of eggs on the counter.
“Kayla didn’t write the list.”
“No.”
“She didn’t choose when it was delivered.”
“No.”
“She’s still our granddaughter.”
There was nothing I could say against that.
She reached for her purse.
“We need to get to the grocery store before it closes.”
It was already after seven-thirty.
Although every movement sent pain through my lower back, I picked up my keys without another argument.
We visited three different grocery stores.
The first lacked puff pastry and specialty ingredients.
