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Dr. McCrae.
“I’m fine, Dixon. We’ll see her later.”
He patted his belly.
“Breakfast first?”
He nodded as the pair entered the cabin. After dropping off his bag, he broke for the kitchen, keen to explore the stocked shelves he’d likely pilfered from the day before.
She heard a rattle as she laid her satchel on the table. Dixon lifted two boxes of cereal and looked at her expectantly.
“Cereal? I’ve never actually eaten that before. Chef would have killed me and then herself before letting me have any.”
So you want to try them both?
“Yes, please.” Lila left her laptop behind as she dug through the kitchen cabinets, looking for bowls. “When I was a kid, I begged her to let me have some. It never worked, though.”
Dixon grabbed a jug of milk from the refrigerator. Lila fetched spoons and bowls and joined him at the dining room table. Cereal plinked into her bowl as she shook out the pastel marshmallows and toasted oat pieces. She then added milk, which sloshed over the rim.
Lila scooped up a large bite, ready to fulfill every childhood breakfast dream she’d ever had.
But all she tasted was really crunchy sugar. Lots and lots of sugar.
The oat pieces scratched unpleasantly at her mouth.
“What’s this even called?” she asked.
Dixon pointed to the box. An artist had drawn Rain Snaps in large letters, along with bursts of marshmallows falling from warring umbrellas.
Drink the milk before you try the other.
“Why?”
The two shall not mix. Bad things happen when they do.
Lila took his word for it, watching him tilt his bowl like a child in a commercial. If her mother could have seen it, she would have been horrified, but Lila would have to get used to acting like a workborn.
Lila tilted her bowl and sipped the milk.
Then nearly spat it out again.
“What the heck was I just eating?”
Dixon pointed to two words on the back of the box.
Artificial flavors.
“What does that even mean? Fairy dust and mermaid tears?” Lila dumped the rest of her milk in the kitchen sink, rinsed her bowl out, and timidly tried the next cereal. Fruit Flair covered the top of the box. A cartoon apple, orange, kiwi, banana, and strawberry danced across the front.
She ate two crunchy bites and one chewy mouthful.
The rest turned into soggy slush.
“My whole childhood has been a lie. Are there any granola bars?”
Dixon pointed over his shoulder. She retrieved the entire box, then grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl.
“You know, our welcome decorations notwithstanding, I could see staying here for a while, couldn’t you? Everyone seems to care about one another. When Blair didn’t want to be in the family business, they let her do what she wanted. They didn’t pressure her. They seem to take the same approach with their children.”
