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“Happy birthday, Breeze!”
“Thank you.”
Breeze yawned as Nya climbed onto her bed.
“Are you gonna have a party?” Nya asked.
“Nope.”
“Mommy might buy you a piñata. ‘Member I had a Dora piñata?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“And a Dora cake.”
“Yep.”
“What kinda cake you want?”
“I don’t want a cake.”
Breeze knew that Lauren wasn’t going to buy her anything. She hadn’t bought her a birthday gift since she’d turned twelve and that was five years ago. She probably wouldn’t even wish her a happy birthday.
“Can I pick it out then?”
“Sure.”
“Yes! I’m gonna tell Mommy you want a princess castle cake with pink frosting.”
“Okay.”
Nya jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. Breeze pulled the covers back over her head and closed her eyes. Her birthday was nothing special. She was another year older and hopefully a day closer to getting the hell away from Lauren.
“Happy birthday.”
Breeze sat up in bed and smiled.
“Why you here so early?” she asked.
“It’s damn near three o’clock in the afternoon. School start tomorrow, so you might as well get ready to start gettin’ up early again,” Dior informed her.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
“I brought you some cupcakes.”
“Thank you. I hope you ain’t make ‘em.”
“I bought ‘em.”
“Good.”
They both burst into laughter as they remembered the last time Dior had called herself baking something. She had forgotten all about the cookies and the kitchen was full of smoke by the time the smoke detector had started to go off.
Dior knew that Lauren wouldn’t do anything special for Breeze, and although she pretended like it didn’t bother her she knew that it hurt Breeze’s feelings. She didn’t understand why Lauren was so cold to Breeze, but Dior would always do what she could to ensure that her girl knew that she was loved.