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I leaned on the cool marble beside her. “Those cupcakes are mine.”
She turned sharply in my direction, her eyes narrowing. “No, they’re not.”
“They are. Your aunt Daisy made them for me. You can eat the brownies.”
“You can’t hog all the cupcakes,” she hissed.
“It’s not hogging if they’re mine to begin with.”
Her eyes were slits. Her tiny mouth pulled into a deep pout. “Why are you here?”
“To help Aunt Daisy and celebrate your mom’s birthday.”
“Do you even know my mommy?” She pushed up on her knees and brought her fists to her hips. “I’ve never seen you before.”
“I know, kid. We just met a few minutes ago. I’m Miles.” I shook my head. “Geesh, you might want to get your memory checked.”
She scrunched her button nose. “How do I check my memory?”
“It’s easy.” I put one hand on top of my head and the other flat on my stomach. “If you can pat your head while rubbing circles on your tummy, your memory’s just fine. If you can’t…well, I don’t want to talk about that.”
I demonstrated, and damn, it wasn’t as easy as I remembered. Once I got going, she started too. Kid was rubbing her head and patting her tummy then rubbing both.
“You almost have it,” I said.
Her tongue peeked out as she concentrated. “I can do it. I know I can.”
The longer she worked at it, the more family gathered around us. Daisy had edged in beside me, shooting me a warning look. I didn’t know what she was warning me about. I was on my best behavior.
“What are you doing?” she muttered.
“The kid thinks she’s entitled to cupcakes. I’m setting her straight.”
“She’s five.”
“Never too young to learn life skills. Look at her, she’s getting it.”
Sure enough, little Edie was rubbing circles on her middle and giving the top of her head pats. Her dad let out a whoop, and her mom clapped for her, which threw her off her game, but it didn’t matter. She’d had it for a while there, and that was what counted.
I gave her a thumbs up. “You passed the test, kid. For that, you can have one cupcake.”
She puffed up her chest. “Three.”
I groaned like she was hurting me. “Fine. Three, but that’s my limit.”
Edie turned to Daisy. “Miles isn’t very good at sharing. I don’t think he should come back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house until he can share better.” Then she flickered her bright eyes to me. “They taught me to share in preschool, when I was three. Did you forget to go to preschool?”
“All right, girlie.” Her mom scooped her off the stool. “Let’s leave Miles alone. If we get in his face too much this time, he’ll be too scared to come back.”
Daisy folded her arms. “Miles is just here to see what I do. He’s not coming back.”
Landry rolled her eyes. “When has Mama met someone who isn’t her new best friend? Before you know it, Miles will be over for Thanksgiving.”
“Is that an invitation?” I winged a brow, teasing Daisy. “If it is, I accept.”
“Thanksgiving is months away,” she intoned.
“I’m completely free that day.”
