his good girl

chapter eleven

I wake up earlyish the next morning so I can help Beth set up for Kenny's birthday party and so I can shower and look decent. By the time I blow dry my hair and apply light makeup, guests are already here. I put on a sundress and walk downstairs in some sandals. I walk into the back yard looking over all of the kids and their parents, Dean and a group of kids are in the bouncy house. Beth is making Cotton candy for some kids, Ruby is scooping some ice cream into cups for kids and Annie sits at a table. Just as I'm about to walk over to her Boomer beats me to it. He is carrying a large box and a bag towards Annie. I freeze, deciding just to watch them.

"Seriously?" She sighs looking up at him as he sets down the box in front of her.

"I upgraded you to the 32-inch." He stands back up and takes the lid off the box revealing the cake underneath, "And got it for you at wholesale price."

"Why?" She asks.

He shrugs and looks down at her, "I wanna do something nice."

"Why?" She asks again.

He shrugs again, "So that maybe we could start fresh."

"Why?" She asks once more.

He sighs and rolls his eyes, "I've been praying on it and... I'm not proud of my part in everything."

She scoffs, "Oh, so this is like an "I'm sorry I tried to rapе you" cake?"

"That was too many words." He tilts his head with a small smirk.

Kenny sees the big box and runs over to them with a snow cone in his hand, "Whoa."

Boomer smiles, "Hey, there's the birthday boy, huh?" he chuckles and grabs a basket, "Hey, check it out. This is for you."

Kenny looks between him and the basket, "What is it?"

Boomers' smile wavers slightly but remains there, "Well, just a little something. Some exfoliant, a little... little scrub, loofah, some... bubble bath, you know?" Annie listens to him, her brows knit with annoyance, "You, uh, like to take baths, huh?"

"Okay." She says.

Boomer ruffles Kenny's hair, "Get yourself all squeaky clean?" Kenny takes the basket and walks away and puts it on the gift table.

"Okay. Ah, you managed to make that disgusting." Annie says to Boomer as she gets up to walk away.

A woman walks by carrying a plate with some turkey on it, "Hey, you got turkey pinwheels, huh?" He asks annie.

"Yeah, feel free to grab some on your way out." She chuckles.

He walks over to a woman, "Hey, how much do you think they'd pay for this party?"

"I have no idea." She says as she puts some snacks on a plate.

After a while I go back inside feeling a bit too awkward to socialize with people's moms. Not too long after Annie, Ruby and Beth walk inside, Beth is carrying the cake while they talk about how Ruby just got fired.

"Dude." Annie sighs.

"Can they even do that?" I ask as I open a box of candles.

"Isn't there some kind of, like, HR protocol or something?" Beth asks. I hand her some candles and she puts them on the cake.

Ruby snickers, "It's a diner, not Microsoft."

I shake my head,"So unfair."

"What did Stan say?" Annie asks.

"I can't tell Stan." Ruby shakes her head.

"Oh, honey." Beth says sympathetically.

Ruby shakes her head again as she leans against a counter, "Not when we're this deep underwater." She moves closer and leans against the island, "I just... you know, I gotta get something else going first."