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“No school today, huh?” I look down at Willa, who hasn’t stopped hugging me yet.
“Nope. It’s a teacher learning day.”
“I bet they need to stay smart to keep up with you.”
She giggles. “I wish they learned every day.”
“Can you play a game with me, Miles?” Finn’s already opening the backgammon board next to his chair. Every time they drop into the store, it’s the same thing: Finn wants to play a game, and Willa wants a sweet treat from the pastry case.
Now Miles is the one checking in with me, but I wave him on. “Willa and I can handle the front counter.”
Miles takes the seat across from Finn and helps him set up the board, while Willa and I sit down on the stools behind the counter. She tells me about what’s going on at school and all the hot gossip with her little friends.Claire’s been giving out friendship bracelets. Amina has the latest Nike Dunks that cost more than a car.We greet customers who come into the shop, and she sits quietly whenever I need to get up to make an espresso or cash out a purchase.
I actually start to think she’s entirely forgotten what she saw when she walked into the store, but her eight-year-old brain holds onto things longer than I’d hoped.
She leans over to whisper to me during a lull between customers. “I like Miles.”
“So do I,” I whisper back.
“Do you kiss him the way Sam kisses Harper?”
Nerves skate through my stomach. She’s been innocentlyfascinated by our oldest brother’s relationship ever since it started two years ago. Mostly the parts that involve kissing and hugging. Incidentally, these are the same things that give Finn a case of the gags.
I look over at Miles, but thankfully, he’s too focused on his game with Finn to have heard. I think. With him, it’s hard to know for sure. He can be low-key sneaky.
“We’re best friends,” I tell her. “So we don’t kiss.”
“You could try.”
Her goading remark shouldn’t make my stomach flip, but there it goes anyway, getting distinctly wobbly. It’s probably because I haven’t kissed anybody in a million years, and my boss-slash-best friend is a crazy pick to break that streak. And anyway, having an eight-year-old give me dating tips is a sad statement on my life.
“Friends don’t do that.” I sound absolutely scandalized, as if I really care what the people wandering the stacks and eating cinnamon rolls in the café would think if they overheard.
“Why not? I kissed Jaxon, and he’s my friend.”
Hmm. Maybe Ishouldbe getting dating tips from Willa.
“You kissed him on the lips?” Is third grade really so different these days? I had my first kiss in middle school, and it was terrible. Isn’t that still normal?
She makes a face. “On the cheek. Mouth kisses are for your really-real boyfriend.”
“I see.” I need to steer this conversation somewhere other than the best kissing locations, and quickly. “Did you do anything fun this weekend?”
“Daddy took us to breakfast on Saturday.” Her happy smile grows brighter. “Grandpa Glen did magic tricks.”
Our grandpa is still going strong at eighty-seven and is a total character. My only explanation for the one-eighty between him and Dad is that awesomeness must skip a generation. He’smy biggest champion and most trusted advisor. When my parents blew up their marriage—and lied to Sam and me about it in the worst way—Grandpa was the one I turned to. He and Grandma were the reason I came back to Magnolia Ridge after college. He lives over at the retirement center now, but I visit him as often as I can.
I wrap Willa in a side hug. “Did he pull a coin out of your ear?”
She giggles. “Out of my nose.”
That’s our grandpa.
I let her go. “What are you going to do with Dad this afternoon?”
“Daddy said we’ll have a movie date. With popcorn and blanket forts and candy!”
“That. Sounds. Awesome.” I accentuate each word with a gentle poke to her side.
