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“Do you need any help?” I asked. She usually didn’t ask and wanted to do everything on her own.
“Yes, please,” she said, and I was surprised. “If you could pick up the cake on Thursday during lunch, and come a little early to help me set up?”
“Sure I can. I bet Lark would want to help too.” She was a newer member, but still, I knew she looked forward to it every month.
“That would be great,” Joy said. “And I know that Layne hasn’t proposed to Honor yet, but I’m already planning a party for them.”
Of course she was.
“Let me guess, brownies will feature prominently?” I asked.
“I already reached out to Sweet’s and asked if they’re up for making custom brownies. They’re just waiting for me to give them the green light,” Joy said.
“You really are a good friend, Joy,” I said. “It makes the rest of us look bad.”
She smiled and ate the rest of her cobb salad.
“Give yourself a little bit of credit,” Joy said.
“You’re right, I’m amazing,” I said, and she laughed.
Chapter Six
That nightI was feeling comfort food, so I made my favorite potsticker soup. It was something I always made when I had a shitty day, or I was under the weather, but it seemed like something Lark might like. I was just slicing the scallions when she came through the door.
“Hey,” she said, taking off her boots and coat.
“Hey,” I said. “I’m making soup if you want some.”
She paused for a second, her eyes flicking toward her door as if she was going to bolt.
Clementine ran over from his spot at the window observing the bird situation to come say hello to her.
“Sure,” she said at last, and I pulled out a bowl for her.
“How was work?” I asked, trying to keep things normal.
“Long,” she said, sliding onto one of the chairs and resting her elbow on the counter. “Do you know Mia Davidson?”
“Yeah, I do,” I said. Mia had been several years behind me in school, so we hadn’t really hung out. She’d gone off to college and I had heard she’d moved back to Arrowbridge but hadn’t known what she was doing.
“I told her I was living with you and she said to say hello. She and I work a lot together at the coffee shop.”
“Well tell her I said hello back,” I said, ladling soup into two bowls and putting a spoon into the one for Lark before sliding it over to her.
“Thanks,” she said. “This looks really good.”
“It’s just soup,” I said, getting my bowl and joining her at the counter.
“It’s better than a frozen dinner,” she said.
“I don’t know, those frozen dinners are really good,” I said. “I remember I used to beg my mom to get them when I was a kid and she never would, but then I finally had one and it was so gross. I was really disappointed.”
“My mom never let us have that kind of thing either,” Lark said. “Then I went to college and it was all I ate for a while. I went wild and ate all the things that would have pissed her off in like the first month of school. Got it out of my system. The funny thing was, even if I’d sent her a picture of all of it, she probably wouldn’t have cared.”
Lark cut one of the potstickers with her spoon.
“I know I’ve said this before, but your mom really is a piece of work,” I said, shaking my head.
