“Did you eat lunch nicely for Aunt Tessa, Lily?”
“Uh huh.”
“She had three crackers and one bite of cheese,” Tessa retorted.
“Tattletale,” Lily pouted.
Tessa added, “She did, however, eat an entire bag of pretzels and several apple slices in the car on the way here. So I’m calling it a win for Auntie Tess.”
“Indeed it is,” Grace agreed. Lily was in a picky eating phase at the moment and barely sitting still long enough to eat anything. Grace had called Hank Steele, who was a doctor, to ask him about it, and he’d assured her that Lily wouldn’t starve. She would eat when she got good and hungry.
Grace said gratefully to Tessa, “Thanks for giving me the afternoon to work. The McAllister wedding guest list went up by a hundred people this week, and the wedding’s this weekend.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately, I’m fully aware. We were notified last Saturday—exactly one week before the wedding, mind you—that the bride was adding another bridesmaid to the wedding party. Charlotte and her assistant had to stop everything and sew an emergency gown for her. And we were already up to our eyeballs in dress orders from New York.”
They shared looks of commiseration.
In a complete change of subject, Lily declared indignantly, “Lo-wetta was rude to me, Mommy.”
“How was Aunt Tessa’s donkey rude to you, Sweetie?”
“She wouldn’t let me ride her.” Lily’s lower lip stuck out so cutely it was almost painful to look at.
Grace replied, “She’s not a riding donkey, Honey.”
Tessa offered, “I told her that.”
In the face of solidarity against her by the adults, Lily huffed and headed for the kitchen, where Mary was sure to sneak her a cookie.
Sensing she hadn’t heard the whole story, Grace asked Tessa, “What did Lily say when you told her she couldn’t ride Loretta?”
“She said she would’ve liked to have been informed of that before she agreed to visit the farm.”
Grace closed her eyes briefly, then chuckled in spite of her daughter’s high and mighty words.
Lily emerged from the kitchen triumphantly holding a chocolate chip cookie. She already had a smear of chocolate around her mouth. Grace grabbed a napkin from the pile beside the cash register, quickly unfolded it, and tucked it into the neck of Lily’s new dress to protect it.
“Miss Mary said I look like an angel, and angels eat all the cookies they want,” Lily announced.
“Did you say thank you?” Grace replied.
“Nuh uhh.”
“Why don’t you go back and say thank you now?”
“But I don’t have wings. Angels have wings.”
“It was a nice compliment, and you should always thank people when they compliment you,” Grace insisted without raising her voice.
“Why?”
“Because they’ll stop complimenting you if you’re not polite.”
“Oh.” A pause. Lily turned around and headed back into the kitchen.
“What do you want to bet she comes out with a second cookie?” Tessa murmured.
“I wouldn’t bet a plug nickel against you,” Grace replied, grinning.
