When we plan a birthday party, we usually think of a day filled with joy, laughter, and memorable moments. But in this story, things went differently when a pregnant woman unexpectedly became the center of attention, turning what was supposed to be a happy celebration into a chaotic disaster.

Yesterday was my birthday, and my husband decided to have a BBQ with his best friend Matt and Matt’s girlfriend Jane, who is pregnant. Matt and Jane live just two houses away from us. It was a small gathering with just us, our three kids, and them with their three kids.

I had bought about $90 worth of hamburgers and hotdogs for the BBQ. Matt also brought over 2 lbs of hamburger meat. While the guys were grilling, I took all the kids swimming in our pond. Jane sat with the guys while they cooked, mostly on her phone.

Around 5:30, the guys called the kids over for food. My middle child, who is 9, and I weren’t hungry yet, so we stayed in the water swimming on our tubes for an extra 40 minutes or so. I wasn’t paying much attention to what was happening near the grill.

By 6:15, my husband mentioned he needed to run to the store, so I suggested to my son that we should eat now. By the time we got up to the grill, both my husband and Matt had left, and so had Jane. When we reached the grill, we found that all the food was gone — every bit of it.

I called my husband and asked him where all the food went, and he said it should still be on the grill. I explained that everything had disappeared. There was a long silence before he admitted, “Jane asked if she could take some leftovers, but I didn’t think she’d take it all.” He mentioned there were at least 8 burgers, 10 hot dogs, and macaroni salad left when he left for the store just 10 minutes earlier.

I asked him to call Matt and find out what happened to the food. After he spoke with Matt, he called me back and said Matt claimed Jane only took “a few things” and that they were already eaten. But my oldest son, who is 13, bluntly told me he saw Jane leave our property carrying the entire large foil BBQ dish.

I was upset by then. Neither my son nor I had eaten anything, and my husband was annoyed too, but he just grabbed something for us from the store instead of making a scene. I didn’t blame him, considering he and Matt work together.

To my surprise, Jane and her kids returned over 45 minutes later and asked if they could have some cake. I told Jane her kids could, but not her. When she asked why, I said, “I’m pretty sure you’ve eaten enough, considering you took off with my entire BBQ dinner before my son and I could even have a bite.”

She tried to argue that my husband said she could have it, that “half of it was hers” because they brought 2 lbs of hamburger meat, and she “didn’t realize” my son and I hadn’t eaten yet (even though she was right next to the grill the whole time). I just shrugged and walked away. She told her kids, “Let’s go,” and they left without any cake. At that moment, I started feeling like maybe I had overreacted. No one has mentioned anything since, but I can feel the tension.