I held it carefully while driving back to our apartment, imagining how pleased Dylan would be when he saw the cake and the dinner reservation I had secretly planned weeks earlier at a well known restaurant named Blue Harbor Table.
When I entered the apartment the living room was quiet, which felt strange because Dylan had told me he would meet his gym friend Amber Sinclair for a quick drink before returning home later that evening. His shoes were still beside the door though, and that meant he was inside the apartment somewhere.
I walked down the hallway balancing the cake box in my hands, and then I heard his voice drifting from the bedroom where he was laughing loudly while speaking through FaceTime.
“I am literally changing her name in my phone to Free Food right now,” Dylan said between bursts of laughter.
Amber’s voice exploded through the speaker with delighted amusement as she said, “Stop it, you are not actually doing that.”
“I absolutely am,” Dylan replied while typing something on his phone, then he added cheerfully, “That is all Emily is good for anyway. Free meals, free rides, and a convenient entertainment budget. She is basically a walking ATM with zero personality.”