I chuckled, tossing my chin and heading back inside, struggling to get through the door. I placed one set on the table and one on the kitchen counter, then peeked into the refrigerator to make sure Joy had purchased the things I needed so Rylee and I could do our thing in the kitchen. She asked if I wanted her to handle breakfast, but we were flying out after we ate so I gave Joy the morning off and told her I had it covered but we would be seeing her later.
Today had to be about us. Somee would be pampered for the second half of her birthday surprise because there was a chance Rylee and I would fuck this up. Now that the flowers were here, I got to work on the rest.
Waking Rylee, I got her dressed then set up in the kitchen to make Somee breakfast, which my little baby was all too eager totackle. A few rounds in the kitchen with Somee and Joy and this little girl swore she needed her own cooking show.
“Do you know how to cook?”she signed when I removed the eggs, cheese, and fruit from the refrigerator.
“I can burn a little bit.”
She wrinkled her nose.“Somee won’t like burned food.”
Bruh, I had to teach her some slang. She was struggling in that department.
“Burn means like throw down, do it well.”
She frowned deeper, unimpressed.“That doesn’t make sense. I will make the eggs so you don’t burn them.”
I threw my head back and laughed, watching as she moved to the pantry to get the step stool Joy kept for when Rylee was in the kitchen with her.
“You got that.”I tossed my chin and she grinned, accepting the bowl I removed from the cabinet before I signed.“Let me crack the eggs. If she doesn’t want them burnt, she won’t want them crunchy.”
Rylee nodded and pushed the eggs toward me.“I can do it, but if you want to, I’ll let you.”
I chuckled and we moved through the motion of getting Somee’s breakfast done, making a big ass mess in the process. Rylee also did more bossing me around while I managed most of the cooking. Thankfully I didn’t mess it up too bad. I felt like we overdid it with the cheese and the fruit I chopped up didn’t look all that glorious. The pancakes were a little crispy around the edges but we got it done.
We set the table and I decided to take on the task of getting Somee up, not knowing what type of reaction I would get. I didn’t want Rylee’s feelings to be hurt if her reaction wasn’t what either of us was expecting. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t curb the irritation that lingered because she hadn’t mentionedher birthday. I did, however, manage to push that shit to the back of my mind, prepared to take one for the team.
“Stay here. Let me get her up and bring her down.”
She pouted.“Why can’t I go?”
“Because it’s going to be a bigger surprise when she comes down and sees you here with the breakfast you made, her flowers, and her present.”I dug the leather box out of my pocket that held the custom necklace and handed it to Rylee.
When I showed it to her in the car last night before we went into the dance, she was so damn giddy. She wanted to be the one to give it to Somee. Hell, I was just happy she hadn’t slipped up and leaked the surprise.
“Okay, I’ll wait.”She grinned and bounced in place while I lifted one of the bouquets and headed upstairs.
As soon as I stepped into the room, I found Somee already up, face washed because her skin was glowing with all that shit she put on it during those ten thousand skincare steps she was militant about. She was still in her pajamas, but her bonnet was off, hair tucked behind her ears while she stared at the card in her hands.
The envelope was on the bed beside her like it had just been opened. She didn’t realize I was in the room until I stepped into her line of sight. Her eyes darted to the flowers I was holding then my face before something moved through her expression. I placed the arrangement next to Somee to free up my hands.
“Happy birthday,”I signed and hooked her chin, tilting her head back for a kiss.
She smiled softly.“Thank you. How did you know?”
Damn sure not because you told me…
“You set a reminder for Rylee.”
“Right, I forgot.”She grinned at the mention of Rylee and that fucked with me a little because she was cool with sharing the day with Rylee but kept it from me.
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I don’t tell anyone.”
“But you told Rylee.”
I felt like a pussy for even addressing that shit but my feelings were very fucking valid.