“It’s a disaster!”

I sighed and prepared myself for an evening of cleaning. “What’s a disaster, Lee?”

“The whole evening! The cake hasn’t come yet and the flowers look like they’ve already died and gone to wherever dead flowers go not to mention that the house is a mess…” I tuned Lee out and decided to wait til the rant was over, instead musing on how he could talk so long without a breath. ”...And not to mention-”

“Lee, how about I help? I’ll be on cake duty.” A hopeful look spread across his face and he opened his mouth to ask if I could possibly do whatever else he had said earlier. I quickly cut him off to save my evening, “It might take a while, though. I’ll be busy all evening.” I turned to run while his mouth was shut but stopped short.

“I didn’t want more help. Trust me, doing the cake alone is help enough. You got a package, though. From your family.” His words pierced me and I couldn’t help but think, ‘My family?’