For the hundredth time that day, Jack Maple told himself not to be embarrassed.
It’s not a stupid idea. You know it isn’t! It’s sweet and romantic and clever and she’ll love it! Stop being such a coward!
The thoughts didn’t make the nervousness in his guy go away, but they did calm it enough for him to get back to work.
In the days since Katelynn had finally come home (and since they’d finally broken that horrible anon’s spell!), Jack had been trying to think of something special to do for her. They’d missed celebrating her birthday together, and he’d finally decided that, even if it was a few weeks late, he could throw a little surprise party for just the two of them. If she wanted to invite more people, they could have another party later, but – call him selfish – he wanted her to himself just this once. A day of thinking it over had given him some ideas, a few more days of preparation, and now everything was ready.
That morning, after Katelynn had gone out for the day, Jack had made his way down to a small bakery in their neighborhood, and picked up a tiny cake with white icing. Instead of asking for it to be decorated, he’d bought some tubes of colored frosting, and drawn a picture himself. Now that it was finally finished, he set it aside in the fridge, finished the last touches on the kitchen decorations, and went to change into the, ahem, costume he’d picked up as well.
Once he was dressed, he went into the living room to wait for Katelynn.
Here’s to hoping she likes it.
Jack Maple 