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“Like a picnic? Please, Miss Skylar, can we have a picnic?”
She smiled at the little girl’s excitement. “We sure can.”
They made plates of pickles, toast, slices of cheddar cheese, and cookies. When they decided on root beer to drink, Skye poured her coffee out. Why have coffee when you could have a root beer for breakfast? She put everything on the tray Tristan had used to bring her breakfast in bed.
“Stand by for a minute.” She went to the bedroom and pulled the comforter from the bed. If it got grass stains, she’d buy them another one. A breakfast picnic with a sweet and amusing little girl was more important than worrying about ruining a bed cover.
“I know where we can have our picnic, Miss Skylar,” Everly said, dragging the comforter along the ground. “Follow me.”
Carrying the tray with their feast, she trailed after Everly. The spot Everly led her to was under a large magnolia tree, its plate-size flowers scenting the air with a sweet fragrance. Fat bumblebees buzzed from flower to flower.
“Ah, that’s a lot of bees.”
“Those are bumblebees, Miss Skylar,” Everly said, walking under the tree. “They won’t hurt you if you don’t touch them. My daddy said so.”
“You promise?”
“Cross my heart.” She made an X over her chest, then set about spreading out the comforter.
Skye had sat in a tire swing that had a wasp nest in it when she was a little girl. She’d been stung so many times on her bottom and the back of her legs that her parents had taken her to the hospital. She did not trust anything that had a stinger. But she wasn’t about to disappoint her little friend, even if it ended up in a hospital visit.
“What should we eat first?” Skye asked after they were seated with the tray between them.
“Pickles!”
Skye laughed. This girl and her pickles. “What made you love pickles?”
“I don’t remember it. I was just a baby, but my daddy said I cried and cried and cried when I was getting my teeth.” She leaned toward Skye as if about to share a secret. “Did you know we was borned without teeth?”
“Yes, I did know that.” She didn’t know how she managed not to laugh.
“I wonder why.” The little girl shrugged. “So, I was crying and crying one day when my daddy was holding me, and he was eating a sandwich he got from Sandwiches, Soups, and More. Do you eat there, Miss Skylar?”
“I do. Their sandwiches are great.”
“Uh-huh. They give you a sour pickle with your sandwich. My daddy said the strangest thing happened. See, I was crying ’cause my new teeth hurt, then he picked up a pickle to eat and I grabbed it with my little baby hand. He let me put it in my mouth, and he was sure I’d make a funny face ’cause I wouldn’t like it. But guess what?”
“What?”
“Surprise!” She threw her hands up. “I liked it. Daddy said I gummed it and stopped crying. What does gummed mean, Miss Skylar? I asked my daddy, but I don’t think he splained it real good.”
“It means to chew on something when you don’t have teeth.” Skye didn’t think she’d ever been as entertained as she was by this child.
“But I had teeth. I was crying ’cause they hurt.”
“You didn’t really. Your teeth were trying to grow, but they weren’t there yet. They were just starting to come out, but mostly you just had gums. So, your daddy’s right. You gummed the pickle.”
Everly clapped her hands. “You splained it better than my daddy. You’re so smart.”
“Why thank you. So, he’d let you gum a pickle when your new teeth hurt, and you’d stop crying?”
“Yes! And that’s how I love pickles.”
“That’s a wonderful story, Everly.”
A big grin appeared. “I know.” Her eyes widened. “Look, Miss Skylar. A butterfly! I love butterflies. My best friend...my other best friend, ’cause Brandy’s my best friend, too. So, her name’s Brianna, she loves butterflies, too. Do you love them?” Without waiting for an answer, she went off on an explanation of how caterpillars turned into butterflies.
It was the best picnic Skye had ever had. She had never given much thought to having kids. Maybe someday in the future if she found a man she wanted to spend her life with and he wanted them. If not, she was okay with that, too. Now, though? An image of a little girl with Tristan’s eyes and...
