Sugar Rush

02- They Are Overusing My Precious Name

02

I parked my car and stepped out. I could recognize a few of these kids as Liam’s classmates since I was the one who often fetched Liam because my sister and her husband usually worked over time or had  a meeting.

“Bethany!” Mrs. Garfield cried out. She was with her daughter, Annie.

“Good evening Mrs. Garfield.” I greeted her with a smile. “Please, do call me Beth. Bethany is kind of a mouthful.”

“Nonsense!” she cheered on. “Are you picking up Liam?”

I smiled again and just nodded.

“Well dear it looks like you are going to have to wait a little while.” Mrs. Garfield continued. “That boy is playing with someone and it looks like they are having fun.”

“I guess I could manage a few more minutes.” I shrugged and Mrs. Garfield just giggled and left me to see Liam.

“Goodbye Bethany!”

“Goodbye and Good night Mrs. Garfield!” I called out and entered the fast food function room.

It looked kind of messy inside. There were paper plates scattered on the kids table and a few plastic wrappers. There were balloons and streamers and buntings hung on the walls and a ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ sign in the center. A cake- which I proudly made with the big help of my staff back at the bakery was underneath the sign and only a few slices were left. And gifts were neatly piled beside it.

“Liam?” I cried out and out of nowhere a little girl knocked on me with a sweaty Liam behind. The girl muttered a quiet sorry and just continued running around. Liam waved at me with a grin and just went back to chasing her.

“Sorry about that.” I heard a voice from behind me.

It was a guy. He was dressed in black slacks and in a blue dress shirt. He sat on one of the small kid’s chair that seemed a little bit too small for him and a paper plate in front of him with a slice of cake.

“Allie doesn’t really care what’s happening around when she’s playing.” He continued and offered a smile. “And she’s pretty clumsy so she tends to bump onto things.”

“Liam is kind of the same.” I shared to him. “And he gets easily distracted too.”

“Beth!”

I swear I have no idea how many times my name is called. It’s getting kind of annoying. Beth! Beth! Beth here, Beth that, Bethany! They are overusing my precious name.

“Hey Sofia.” I greeted as Sofia encased me in a hug. We really weren’t that close. I just met her a few days ago when she wanted a special cake for her daughter’s birthday party. “How was the cake?”

“The cake was delicious.” She praised and used her hands to gesture as if money was falling down from the heavens above. “It exceeded my expectations. I loved the quilting you did and the tiara! Annie loved it too, so much in fact that she didn’t want to cut it. She wanted to wear the tiara but I told her she was going to get ants on hair. Thank you so much Beth.”

“Thank you Sofia.” I smiled. This was why I love baking. “And thank you for trusting your daughter’s birthday cake to us.”

“Oh it was worth it! Here, eat some of your creations.” Sofia rushed to the table where the cake was and prepared one for me. “Here. Liam is still playing with Allie so I suggest for you to sit and eat this while waiting.”

After placing the plate in front of me, she quickly left since she was called by her boyfriend. I followed her orders and sat down, taking a bite size of the cake and tossing it in my mouth.