I’ve been dreading this day for months. I knew it would be a walking nightmare, but I still found myself dressed and driving into town as soon as the bakery opened. Because this is what I do on Lola’s birthday. I go to the bakery. I buy her a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting and gold sprinkles. We stick a pink candle in it, and she makes an outlandish wish. For world peace. For every illness to disappear. For nobody to ever get their heart broken. For a perfect life. And then we laugh, and she eats the cupcake, frosting first. Then Autumn comes around—wherever we are—and she too
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