This one’s a doozy.

Buckle up, buttercup. We’re about to go on a wild ride.

My son got married last year. His wife’s birthday was last week.

Earlier last week, my sister let me know that my married son asked her to bake a birthday cake for his wife’s birthday (specifically, an angel food cake). I was a little unsure why he asked her over me (considering I’m the “baker” of the family), but I told her I’d take care of the cake so she didn’t have to.

Birthday day arrives. I have a birthday card and a gift card for my daughter-in-law. While I was at work, my son texted me saying he took his bride to Cracker Barrel for lunch. I asked if he still wanted an angel food cake with strawberries for her, since I had told my sister I was going to do it. He mentioned that her mom had made her a strawberry shortcake, but that he felt like she would like the angel food cake as well. I told him I was going to pick it up on the way home after work.

After work I stopped by the bank (payday, yay) then ran over to the grocery store. I picked up a fresh angel food cake, some good looking strawberries, and stopped over in the dairy department to get some whipped cream. Headed to the checkout then go home.

About an hour later, I go to see my son and the birthday girl. She seemed happy and appreciative that I got her an angel food cake with strawberries (which she took one out of the package right then to eat) and the whipped cream. We talked for a bit then I went over to see my parents right next door. Everything seemed hunky-dory!

…until last night.

Around 8:30pm I was laying in bed, watching videos on my phone. I hear my son’s car (which is pretty loud), wondering if he was in my driveway like it sounded…

Then the car turned off. I knew he was there. The dogs started going bonkers since there was a visitor. I go to open the door for him and I could tell something was wrong.

We talked for a couple of minutes then I finally said “Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Something is wrong. Tell me.”

*sigh* “[Wife] is upset.”
“What? Did I do something? What did I do?”
*another sigh and shaking of his head* “She’s upset that… you didn’t make her an angel food cake.”
*confused look* “But I brought her an angel food cake from the store?”
*hangs head* “I know.”
“Wait, you’re saying she is upset that I gave her a store-bought cake and didn’t make it from scratch?”
*shakes head* “Yeah, pretty much.”

We continued to discuss the absurdity of her being upset over a birthday cake. We discussed how he and I work full time jobs, and how making an angel food cake from scratch would take me a couple of hours, and how she (currently not working due to her seasonal job) doesn’t understand that people have lives outside of her.

He hung out for an hour and a half, not sure of what the heck to actually say to her when he got back. I didn’t understand why she was sweet about it to my face on Thursday night, then waited until MONDAY night to have him come say something to me??? Can she not fight her own battles? Oh, by the way, she told him “You make sure she knows I cried over this.” I was like…..???????? So I replied “ok, well, make sure she knows I held my tears in because I didn’t want to upset you.” Like, her crying over this is supposed to make me feel worse??? Come on.

He went home around 10pm and I went to bed. Cried a bit but finally dozed off… angry and upset about this whole situation.

You think it’s the end of the story, right?

This morning I see my baby sis, the one that was originally asked to make the angel food cake. I sit her down and tell her of last night’s shenanigans.

She proceeds to tell me that my nephew went to her Friday and asked her to make the angel food cake, because my daughter-in-law didn’t get one and she was upset about it. My sister went out on Saturday and bought a boxed cake mix and some strawberries and baked the cake for her… all because my nephew was under the impression that his friend, my son’s wife, didn’t get the birthday cake she was hoping for. She even showed me a screenshot of a message between my son and his wife about how she was so happy to finally have a homemade angel food cake. She said she thought maybe I had picked up a pound cake or something else instead of the angel food cake like I told her I would get… and she apologized for not checking with me.

What the actual F— y’all. Not only did she manipulate people to get what she wanted, she’s ungrateful for the things she did get and I’m now even a little upset with my son for neglecting to tell me the part about my sister making the cake (which I fully intend to call him out on today).

I’m having a difficult time processing this.