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Chapter 1

“Why is there an ass print in the middle of my cake?”

My coworkers, who’d just finished serenading , all tilted their heads to take a look at the twin craters The words “Happy Birthday Casey” had been squashed and then re-written in light blue icing

“That’s my bad,” Darice said “My three-year-old sat on the cake But don’t worry, there was a double layer of plastic wrap over the top of it, so there was no actual ass-to-cake contact”

“You knohat? It’s totally fine,” I told her Given the waylately, an ass cake actually seemed pretty appropriate

My friend Yolanda gestured at the cake and exclai away to nothing”

I paused to think for a uish the thirty-three candles in one breath and failed miserably After a second attempt finished the job, my coworkers leapt into action

Since ere all nurses, cutting the cake was handled as quickly and efficiently as a ency One person plucked the candles while another grabbed a stack of paper plates Meanwhile, Yolanda followed behind the candle plucker and cut the huge sheet cake into precise squares After the first roas carved up, another coworker began transferring the slices onto the plates, which were passed around the break room with napkins and plastic forks

A corner piece with dark blue roses was stuck intoup, since we knew our break could be interrupted at any moment

Darice licked so, “Why the hell did you come into work on your birthday, Casey?”

I grinned at her “So I could spend it with all of you”

She shot me a look As a mom of three, her bullshit detector was finely tuned “No, really”

“That’s true, actually Besides, I didn’t have any other plans”

That earnedlooks, but the lack of plans was by choice My brother Seth and o—had wanted to take me out to dinner I’d told them I had to work, and then I’d volunteered for this additional shift

I quickly added, “I’ to celebrate with some friends tomorrow”