In Love with the Mafia Boss

birthda

can make it, dear?” she asks with a tinge of doubt in her tone. “Yes Mom, I'll be home in ten minutes! Promise! Love you!” I cut the call drive as fast as I can. I can't disappoint her. I left her in the lurch on the previous birthday and not this, I won't do the same this time. Clearly I remember, Austin and I traveled for a vacation and could not make it back home, and that was how I fucking ditched my mom. She's always there to celebrate mine with me but hers, I made excuses. I won't do that. Not now. Not ever again. I pull over beside the road in my mom’s tight-lipped neighborhood, I see lights and some decors in and out of the apartment. I can see her sitting by the table talking to Ms. Saunders, her next door neighbor, they've been friends for a couple of years, six to be precise. I storm in and their attention is drawn to me with a smiles on their faces. I'm holding the large cake and smiling broadly at them. “Happy Birthday, Mum!” She walks up to me with her watery eyes and receive the cake, passes it onto her friend and pulls me in for a tight warmly hug. I rest my res on her shoulders and embrace her tightly, I missed her. I haven't seen her in a month and we've only talked on the phone but it feels like ages. We pull away slowly and I hug Ms. Saunders as well. She's a nice woman, whose husband was dead a year ago. Well, as for me, I know nothing about my Dad, Mom wouldn't talk much about him except the fact that he left us when I was barely three years of age. “This is beautiful, Sara, it's very pretty.” Ms. Saunders compliment the pink and yellow cake. She turns to me as we head to the dining and ask. “May, you said that you baked this?” “Yes Linda, I did! I spent last night baking the best cake for my mother!” I tease and they crack up. “Perfect right? I feel very blessed to have May, she made it incredible.” Mom added and we giggled. Ms. Saunders began to serve some food, she must have prepared it as one of her contributions. I actually wished that I was there to carry out everything with them. Good thing that mom is not angry at all, it would have been a bummer for me. I began singing the birthday song like a chorister, I'm bad at singing but I do my best either way and Ms. Saunders joins in a different tone but then, we are singing and Mom is cracking up burying her face in her palms. For that moment, I don’t feel exhausted, in fact, I feel elated to the core. “This is delicious! Oh God, Linda!!!” I speak up, eating from a spicy fish buddha bowl. “This is so appetizing, you should open a restaurant someday. I have always told you!” Mom compliments with tease. Mom holds up her glass of white wine to say a little speech. “I don't know where and how to start but anywhere is somewhere