AUTHOR'S NOTE: And now for part 2. If you missed part 1, it was posted Tuesday….Enjoy!

BITTERSWEET (part 2)

An hour later, Zed and Zevon were standing outside of Zoey's door. Zed held a blueberry muffin with a small pink candle stuck into it.

"Should I light it?" he whispered as quietly as possible.

Zevon shook his head. "Probably not a good idea to wake her up with fire."

Zed shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright," Zevon whispered. "You ready?"

"Pops..." Zed whispered hesitantly.

Zevon looked at his son, a look of concern passing across his face at the sudden change in his tone.

"Zoey and I have been talking...if you wanted to bring someone to the party later...we'd be okay with it."

A look of shock crossed Zevon's face. "How did you..."

"I have my ways..." he took a deep breath before continuing. "You deserve to be happy, Pops."

Zevon wiped a stray tear from his eye. "Thank you, Son."

"Gloria's good people. A bit frightening at times, but still...good people."

Zevon shook his head and smiled before slowly opening the door.

"Happy Birthday to you," they both began to sing. "Happy Birthday to you."

Zoey opened her eyes and sat up in her bed.

"Happy Birthday dear Zoey. Happy Birthday to you."

"And many mooooooooore!" Zed added on as he presented the muffin to his little sister. "Make a wish!"

Zoey giggled and pretended to blow out the candle.

"Happy 11th Birthday, my little Zombie angel," Zevon said, leaning down and hugging her tight.

"Thank you, Daddy. And thank you for the muffin, big bro."

"You're welcome, Zo. There's more downstairs in the kitchen for you," Zed said as his phone began to ring. Zed smiled as he answered it. "Morning, Gorgeous."

"Good morning to you too," Addison said. "Is the birthday girl awake yet?"

"She sure is, hold on, I'll put you on speaker." Zed pressed the speaker button on his phone. "Okay, you're good to go, Addie."

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEANUT!" Addison shouted.

"Thank you, Addie!" Zoey said laughing.

"Are you excited about your party this afternoon?"

"YES! It's going to be awesome! I can't wait!"

"Good! Me, Bucky, and Bree will see you at Jump!"

"See you then!"

Zed leaned down and kissed his sister's forehead as he took Addison off of speaker. "Hey Addie," he said as he walked out of Zoey's room and into his own.

"How are you doing this morning?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Trying to get into the party mood."

"Have you already gone to visit your mom?"

Zed sighed and laid down on his bed. "Yeah, I went before the sun was even out. I never sleep well the night before."

"I love you, Zed. If you need anything, you know I'm here for you."

"I love you too, Addie. Thank you." I'll see you in a few hours, Gorgeous."

Jump! was a giant warehouse that had been converted into an indoor trampoline park. Every kid in Seabrook wanted to have their birthday party there, but today it was all Zoey's!

Zed and Zevon were standing in the party room under a pile of Emoji themed decorations with Zoey trying to explain to them where she wanted everything when Addison, Bucky, Eliza, Bree, and Bonzo walked in.

"Woah...What is going on in here?" Bree asked as she stopped short in the doorway.

Zoey let out a frustrated growl. "Zed got himself tangled up in streamers...again!"

Addison giggled as she squeezed past Bree and walked over to where Zed was. "It looks like you could use a hand."

"You have no idea," he said with a relieved sigh. He leaned over and kissed her cheek, "Oh, and hello."

Addison started to undo the streamers from around him as Eliza and Bucky took over the mass of tablecloths that Zevon had been trying to open.

Bree began looking through the bags of decorations and smiled. She pulled out a roll of tape and ribbon and she and Bonzo got to work.

"Well it looks like you kids have things under control," Zevon said looking around. "I'm going to go finish the insurance waivers for the party. Zoey, why don't you come with me."

They were only gone for fifteen minutes. But in that short amount of time, the room had been completely transformed.

"Wow, this place looks great!" Zevon said as he and Zoey walked back in.

Zoey ran over and hugged Bree. "It's perfect! So. Many. Emojis! This is exactly how I envisioned it!"

"I'm so glad you like it, Zoey!"

"Um...where is everyone else?" Zevon asked, looking around the room.

"Oh, Zed and Bucky are over on the trampolines trying to outdo each other and Addie and Eliza are taking bets on them." Bree laughed.

Zevon shook his head and smiled, "Zombies and cheerleaders on trampolines...dangerous combo."

"I've got to see this!" Zoey said running out of the room.

Zevon followed his daughter out of the party room and made his way over to the main floor just in time to see Zed take off running and flip off the back wall.

"Your turn, Bartholomew."

Bucky rolled his eyes, "Just for that, I'm one-upping you..." Bucky ran towards the wall and flipped off, landing on his feet and then finishing with a front flip.

Zed smiled and stepped off the trampoline. "I really didn't want to do this to you Bucky..." Zed ran along the walkway and flipped off one of the metal handrails, landing on his back and bouncing back up onto his feet before finishing with a flip. "Too easy!"

"Hey!" Bucky said bouncing over. "No using zombie super-natural abilities!"

Eliza laughed and held out her hand to Addison. "Pay up!"

"Thanks, darling!" Addison yelled over to him sarcastically.

Zed jogged over and kissed her cheek loudly, "Sorry, Gorgeous. It had to be done."

Addison smiled and rolled her eyes. "Show off."

Zed threw her a wink and jumped back onto the trampoline.

"Alright children, that's enough," Zevon said. "Party guests will be arriving shortly, and I'm pretty sure they'd like to use the trampolines. Besides, you left poor Bree and Bonzo all alone to finish the decorations."

Zed jumped off the trampoline. "Poor Bree is the one who told us to go jump. We were just doing what we were told to do," he said laughing.

Zevon looked over to Addison who was shaking her head in confirmation. "She lives for party planning and decorating."

Zevon smiled and shook his head again. "Now why does that not surprise me."

"No clue, Pops," Zed said clapping his father's shoulder as he walked past him towards the party room. "I'm going to go try to sneak some food past her."

"You better not touch my cake!" Zoey shouted after him.

Addison looked at Eliza. "Double or nothing Bree chases him off with the cake knife."

Eliza laughed and shook her hand. "You're on Pom-poms."

The party was going great. Zoey and her friends were having a blast bouncing and flipping across the large trampolines. They especially loved that Coach Bucky and his sometime assistant Coach Addison were there jumping with them.

Addison jumped back over to the walkway. "Where's Zed?" she asked as she hopped off the trampoline and grabbed a bottle of water.

Eliza looked around. "I'd guess he's in the party room snacking unsupervised."

"I was just in there, no Zed and no snacking," Bree added.

"Gra ouzide."

"Thanks, Bonzo, I'll go check." Addison walked outside and found Zed leaning against the side of the building with his eyes closed. "Hey, there's my favorite Zombie," she said as she walked up to him.

"Hey, Gorgeous," Zed said quietly without opening his eyes.

She ran her hand along his arm. "Are you okay? I didn't know where you went."

Zed sighed and stood up straight. "I'm fine. I just needed some fresh air to try to get rid of this headache. Who knew a bunch of eleven year old's could be so loud?"

Addison rolled her eyes and laughed. "You're kidding, right? Eleven year old's are always loud. Then when you factor in that most of the kids in this group are either cheerleaders or zombies or both...two groups who are notoriously loud...especially at parties...and especially with sugar?"

Zed laughed. "I guess I shouldn't be too surprised then. I probably just need to eat and take a nap."

"Well, I think they're going to be cutting the cake in a few. Want me to go grab you a slice of pizza before then?"

Zed held his stomach. "You know, I think for the first time in my life, pizza is not the answer. Just the thought of all that grease..." he stopped himself from continuing. "Nope...no pizza for me. Thank you though… I could use some Tylenol."

"I have some in my purse."

"Hey, you two!" Gloria said as she walked up the steps from the parking lot.

"Oh, hi Gloria! I didn't know you would be here," Addison said giving her a hug.

"I wasn't planning to be, but Zevon called me this morning and invited me."

"Did he?" Zed said teasingly as he hugged her as well.

"Thank you," Gloria said softly. "I'm sure this isn't easy for you and your sister, and I really..."

Zed held his hand up, stopping her. "Gloria, I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to hash out all the details and everything else, but today…let's just enjoy the party."

Gloria smiled. "You're right," she held up the pink gift-wrapped box in her hands, "I'm going to go drop this off in the party room. I'll see you two inside."

"We'll be right in," Addison said with a smile. She turned back to Zed. "When did you talk to your Dad?"

"This morning. Zoey and I have been talking about it since we got back from Florida. Today...I don't know...it just seemed like the right thing to do this morning."

Addison smiled up at him. "Are you okay?"

"I think so. It's been eleven years...If Pops is ready to move on, then I'll support him."

"Do you want me to go get that Tylenol for you or do you want to come in with me?"

"I'll come with you, Gorgeous. I don't want to miss the chance to embarrass Zoey when we sing Happy Birthday."

"Please tell me you're not going to be intentionally signing badly?"

"Addison, it's tradition. You don't mess with tradition."

Addison laughed and grabbed his hand. "Woah...Your hand is freezing."

"Sorry about that, I've been cold all day."

She opened the door and gave his hand a gentle tug. "Come on Handsome, let's get you warmed up."

They walked hand in hand up to the party room, stopping short in the doorway.

"Well, would you look at that," Zed whispered quietly looking towards the other end of the room where his father and Gloria stood close to one another talking. "I can't remember the last time I saw him smiling like that."

Addison hugged him around his waist and looked up at him, smiling as they shared an unspoken conversation. They both nodded their heads. "AWWWWWW!" they called out in unison.

Zevon and Gloria both jumped and quickly put some distance between themselves. Realizing that it was Zed and Addison, Zevon rolled his eyes. "Very funny."

"You know Pops, this whole 'you dating' thing has the potential for some great pay-back," Zed said as they walked into the room.

"You may be eighteen, but I can still ground you..."

Zed shrugged. "Fair point."

Addison walked over to her purse and grabbed the pills, handing them and a bottle of water to Zed. "Here you go."

"Thanks, Gorgeous."

"You okay, Son?

Zed swallowed the pills. "I'm fine. Just a headache."

"You sure?"

"Pops, I'm fine."

"Okay...well for your sake I hope those things kick in fast. Looks like it's time for cake," he said pointing towards the group of kids heading their way.

As the horde of loud, sugared-up eleven year old's gathered in the small room, Zed, Zevon, and Addison took their place behind Zoey. Bree was excitedly flitting around the room snapping pictures and Bonzo pulled an instrument out of his bag.

Zevon placed a two-tier yellow cake covered in various emoji faces in front of Zoey and they all began to sing Happy Birthday with Bonzo accompanying. Addison cringed as Zed did his best to sing as off-key as possible. He glanced over and smiled at her, shrugging his shoulders.

"And many moooooooore!" Zed added before scrunching his face to mimic the laughing emoji on Zoey's cake.

"I swear you are a walking emoji!" Addison laughed, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "Woah...Z...you're really hot!"

"You're not so bad yourself, Gorgeous," he said throwing her a wink.

"No, I'm serious," she placed the back of her hand against his forehead. "Zed, you're burning up."

Zevon, Zoey, Eliza, and Bonzo all froze and looked over to them. "Oh, no..."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:I hope splitting up the one day over two chapters wasn't too confusing! I loved reading all the reviews and messages about the first half! Thank you so much for your continued support!

My thoughts and prayers are going out to everyone in Hurricane Florence's path. Major storms are nothing to mess around with. Stay safe!

Go Team WITLO!