Victor entered the dining room clutching his phone. “Want more bad news?”
“Not if you can help it,” Isaiah said.
“The bouncy castle rental company can’t deliver,” Victor said. “Apparently their van has a flat tire, and since they’re driving over from the next county, they can’t fix it and make it on time.”
“Murphy’s Law is really in charge today, huh?” Isaiah said wryly, moments before the air around them turned acrid.
“Is something burning?” Silas asked, shooting to his feet.
“Dammit,” Victor said, rushing back into the kitchen only to return with a tray of blackened cupcakes.
“This is a disaster,” Silas’s brother said with a laugh tinged with hysteria.
“You know what? Forget the decorations, forget the cake. It’s a party for first-graders,” Victor said with a defeatist shrug. “Fae is still coming with the catering—knock on wood—and we can put on some music and pick up some ice cream. It’ll be fine.”
“And there’s still your special guest,” Isaiah added.
“Exactly. We’ve tried and obviously failed. There’s always next year,” Victor said.
“Wait, no,” Silas said, looking between the husbands. “What happened to the hippocampus developing and creating a moment to remember?”
“There’s not enough time to pull this off,” Victor said, already removing the apron around his waist.
“Like hell there’s not. Where’s your planner?” Silas asked.
Victor hesitated but handed Silas a notepad with a to-do list.
“Okay, good. This is manageable,” Silas said, mentally dividing the tasks.
“What?” his brother said. “How?”
“Don’t worry about it. You two just focus on finishing baking. I’ll deal with the rest.”
Isaiah and Victor both skeptically looked at him, but with nothing to lose by giving him a chance to pull this party off, they left for the kitchen to crank out some cupcakes.
Meanwhile, Silas texted the Mountaintop team group chat, recruiting help from anyone who could spare the time. He offered food in exchange.
Within thirty minutes, Doc, Bodie, and Halo had showed up. It was so good to see his motley crew.
“I love you guys,” Silas said to them as he set them up with different tasks.
“This isn’t for you. It’s for the lunch you promised,” Halo said with a wink before she picked up where he’d left off with the party favor bags.
“Do you want the napkins folded horizontally or vertically?” Bodie asked him from a place at the dining table.
Silas looked at the square napkins. “Your choice, man.”
Doc came in grinning, holding a bicycle pump he’d found in the garage. “It’ll make blowing up the balloons more efficient,” he said.
“If there was any doubt you were a resourceful genius,” Halo said in amazement.
Confident everything was being executed smoothly, Silas left for the backyard and quickly set up the food tables and figured out how to operate the popcorn machine. When he entered the kitchen, dozens of cupcakes were cooling on every available surface.
“Can you help with cakes, so I can do the dishes before they get out of hand?” Isaiah said. “Victor’s gone to get the special guest.”
“Okay, can you please tell me who this special guest is?”
“Come on, it’s not obvious?” Isaiah asked. “You didn’t notice Victor was wearing a wig cap the entire time?”
